Telegram Enhances User Experience with In-App Browser and Expanded Mini-App Store

SNEAK PEEK

  • Telegram’s browser now supports decentralized websites and TON Sites.
  • The upgraded app store offers enhanced search, app previews, and Stories sharing.
  • Telegram introduces ‘Stars’ payment and supports Toncoin games like “Catizen”.

Telegram’s update released on July 31 introduces new features to boost user interaction and accessibility, including an in-app browser, a revamped mini-app store, and other enhancements to improve the overall user experience.

A key feature of this update is Telegram’s new in-app browser, which supports decentralized websites. This feature, accessible through both mobile and desktop versions of the app, taps into The Open Network (TON), enabling users to access decentralized web pages known as TON Sites. Telegram’s move to integrate Web3 technologies offers its nearly one billion monthly users a seamless gateway to these emerging digital spaces.

Alongside the browser, Telegram has upgraded its mini-app store with several new functionalities. These enhancements include advanced search options, previews provided by app developers, and the ability to share mini-apps directly into a user’s Stories. This streamlined integration aims to foster a more engaging and interactive user experience.

Further expanding its platform’s capabilities, Telegram has introduced a new payment system within the mini-app store. Users can now send ‘Stars’, a unit of the mini-app payment system to friends, enhancing the social connectivity aspect of the app. 

This update also expands the popularity of games in Telegram, including web3-based “Catizen”, which together with “Hamster Kombat”, encourages the use of TON’s native token Toncoin. According to recent data, Toncoin has risen in price by 1. 05% over the last 24 hours meaning the currency is now valued at $6. 79. 

This is evident from games such as “Catizen”, an application that has been able to record about 16 million of in-app purchases through the Telegram app. These games not only increase the entertainment and engaging characteristics of the platform but also help to promote cryptocurrency within society and the financially oriented community by showing their everyday practical use. 

This latest update, announced by Telegram CEO Pavel Durov on July 19, showed that the platform continues to develop and incorporate the latest technologies enhancing its usability and compatibility in line with the shifting landscape of technology and web decentralization.