MM News

NEW YORK: Messaging app Telegram has rolled out a new update that now makes payments easier, a blog post on the app’s website said on Friday.

“With Payments 2.0, it’s even easier for merchants to post their products and let buyers securely pay for them without leaving the chat,” the app said in a Tweet.

“Telegram charges no commission and stores no payment data,” it added. Moreover, the new update has brought Payments 2.0 for all Telegram chats, Scheduling and, Mini Profiles for Voice Chats, new Telegram apps for your browser, and more.

With Payments 2.0, it's even easier for merchants to post their products and let buyers securely pay for them without leaving the chat. Telegram charges no commission and stores no payment data. Whose turn is it buy lunch?https://t.co/qJo9saQoaF pic.twitter.com/Gea2hVnKyV

— Telegram Messenger (@telegram) May 7, 2021

Telegram had become the most downloaded non-gaming app worldwide in January 2021 with more than 63 million installs, according to the latest research.

According to the research by market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, the messaging app registered 63 million installs, 3.8 times its downloads in January 2020.

The countries with the largest number of Telegram installs were India at 24 percent, followed by Indonesia at 10 percent. The telegram reached the top position in the overall downloads (non-game) on Google Play Store moving from the ninth position in December 2020.

The app also entered the list of the top 10 most downloaded (non-game) apps on App Store, directly gaining the fourth position. The spike in Telegram downloads comes after WhatsApp released its new terms of service raising grave privacy concerns.

WhatsApp fell from being the third-most installed app on both Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store in December 2020, to seventh and sixth in January 2021.

TikTok was the second most installed non-gaming app worldwide last month with close to 62 million installs followed by Signal and Facebook and finally WhatsApp.

Facebook has been rolling out business tools on WhatsApp over the past year as it moves to boost revenue from higher-growth units like WhatsApp and Instagram while knitting together e-commerce infrastructure across the company.