Telegram 5.8 lets you add contacts without sharing phone numbers, location-based chats, and more

The Telegram messenger is a popular choice among privacy enthusiasts. During the last update, Telegram for Android received the option to hide your mobile number from other contacts. With the latest update to version 5.8, the messenger is adding the convenience of adding a new contact based on a fresh chat even without their number. Besides this, the update adds location-based updates to Telegram, including the ability to scan other users nearby to add them as contacts as well as create location-based groups. There are some more options including a feature to transfer ownership of groups and manage notifications in a better fashion.

First off, the ability to add new contacts even without having them reveal their number upholds Telegram’s stand in terms of privacy. Now, when you receive a message from a new contact, you will see a button on the top to add them to your list of contacts. This button will now be visible even if they have chosen to hide their mobile number after the Telegram 5.7 update. Instead, if you wish to stay away from the contact, a Block User button is now also available on the top. Unfortunately, the feature is not available for chats from new contacts before the update.

Secondly, the update for Telegram brings a feature to scan nearby users and groups based on your GPS location. This is ideal if you wish to add someone as a contact that you’ve just met as it removes the hassle of dialing the phone number. Besides messaging other users and joining existing groups, you can also create location-based groups which other users can find and join.

Apart from these, users can toggle message previews on or off for each exception that you add in Notifications and sounds settings. If you want to reset all exceptions, now, there’s a new button which lets you “Delete all exceptions” per notification category.

Lastly, there’s an addition for group admins and it allows them to transfer the full admin rights of any group or channel to other admins.

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