Telegram Rolls Out Major April Update with Built-In AI Editor, Mighty Polls, and Managed Bots

Telegram has released its biggest update of 2026 so far, introducing a built-in AI text editor, dramatically enhanced polls, native Live Photo support, and a new system that lets bots create and manage other bots. The update, version 12.6, began rolling out on March 31 and is now available on both Android and iOS.

AI Text Editor: Privacy-First Writing Assistant

The headline feature is a new AI-powered text editor built directly into the message composer. Once a user types more than three lines of text, the editor activates and offers grammar correction, style rewriting, and translation — all in one step.

The editor supports seven distinct writing styles: Formal, Short, Tribal, Corp, Zen, Biblical, and Viking. Users can combine style adjustments with translation, making it possible to rewrite a message in a formal tone and translate it to another language simultaneously.

What sets this apart from competing AI writing tools is the privacy architecture. All processing runs through Telegram's Cocoon Network, described as a confidential computing environment with zero access to user data. Unlike cloud-based AI assistants that process text on remote servers, Cocoon ensures that message content remains private throughout the editing process.

Mighty Polls: A Complete Overhaul

Telegram's polling feature has received its most significant upgrade ever, gaining more than ten new capabilities that transform simple polls into rich, interactive tools.

Poll creators can now attach media files and locations to both questions and individual choices, add descriptions for additional context, and allow participants to suggest new answer options in active polls. New control options include the ability to shuffle choices per user, set time limits, hide results until a poll expires, and lock votes to prevent changes.

For group administrators, the update adds creator notifications showing which option each voter selected, visible voter names next to each option, and a dedicated poll tab on group and channel profiles for easy access to past and active polls.

Live and Motion Photos

The update brings native support for iOS Live Photos and Android Motion Photos across all Telegram apps. Users can share these dynamic images with three playback styles: Live, which plays the animation once; Loop, which plays continuously; and Bounce, which plays forward and then in reverse.

Managed Bots: No-Code Bot Creation

Perhaps the most forward-looking feature is Managed Bots, a new Bot API capability that allows bots to create and manage other bots on behalf of users. This opens the door for non-technical users to build and deploy personalized bots using AI-powered manager bots, without writing a single line of code.

The system effectively creates a meta-layer where specialized manager bots handle the complexity of bot creation, enabling anyone to launch AI agents, business automation tools, or mini-programs through a conversational interface.

iOS Document Scanner

iOS users also gain a built-in document scanner that automatically removes backgrounds, crops images, and converts multi-page scans to PDF format. Manual adjustments are available for fine-tuning results.

What This Means

This update signals Telegram's commitment to becoming more than a messaging app. The AI editor positions Telegram as a productivity tool, while Managed Bots could democratize bot development for millions of non-technical users. Combined with the enriched polling system, Telegram is building a platform where communication, creation, and automation converge — all while maintaining its signature focus on privacy.

Source: Telegram Blog