BERLIN: Telegram is launching a paid subscription that offers the chat app's users a range of additional features, like the ability to upload larger files, convert voice messages into text and use exclusive stickers.

The Telegram Premium subscription costs US$4.99 monthly and is currently being rolled out for user internationally, Telegram announced in a blog post.

The premium version includes more options for organising chats, notably the ability to divide up various chats into sections, such as family, work and friends, which you can swipe between.

Subscribers can also send files up to 4GB in size - twice the limit set for free users of Telegram. Telegram’s previous functions will remain free of charge, founder Pavel Durov recently assured users.

The Internet entrepreneur first found success with Russia’s answer to Facebook, VKontakte (vk.com), and founded Telegram after he had to give up control of the social network.

Telegram, which has blurred the lines between private chat apps like WhatsApp and social media platforms like Twitter with its myriad public channels, says it has since grown to 700 million monthly active users.

The chat app is currently being used heavily by both the Ukrainian and Russian sides in the Ukraine war.

 - dpa