In the beta version of Telegram for Android for the upcoming 12.10 update, admins can now set and edit welcome messages in groups and channels they manage.
The welcome messages are ephemeral, which means they can only be seen by the user who just joined the chat, and are invisible to the rest of the members.
@telelakel notes that bots will also be able to send welcome messages to joining users (including Rich Text messages). Such messages will appear to be sent anonymously by the chat owner, not the bot itself.
Currently, Telegram allows to prepare up to 3 welcome messages on the main server. On the test server the limit is higher — up to 5 messages. These values might change in the future.
To create a welcome message, open group or channel Settings › Welcome Message.
⚠️ Keep in mind: When welcome messages are released, it is likely that the feature will be available not just in group chats, but channels too.
Bad-faith admins can abuse this feature by tricking newly joined users with messages like “The channel admin has a message for you...”
#Android