Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov recently announced on his channel that the app will get an Instagram-like Stories feature next month. With competitors like Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp already cashing in on Stories, he said that Telegram wanted to add new functionality and offer granular privacy control. According to the post, Telegram Stories will be visible on the top of the screen in a bar that won't take up a huge amount of screen space. Like the 'Video Messages' features in the app, users can add and post photos and videos taken by the front and back cameras simultaneously. If you want to hide stories from a particular contact, just add the person to the 'Hidden' list in the 'Contacts' section. Telegram Stories will also offer granular controls like the ability to share with everyone, people in your contact list with some exceptions, selected contacts and a list of close friends. Unlike Instagram, which automatically removes a story after a maximum of 24 hours, Telegram lets users choose between 6,12,24 and 48 hours or permanently display it on the user profile. Durov says Telegram Stories are currently in the last testing phase and will be rolling out to everyone in early July. Earlier this week, the app added a new feature that lets users create a custom username without having to share their phone number.
