How many different options do you have for sending messages with your phone? Even setting aside the obvious ones like SMS and email, we're looking at dozens upon dozens of apps that either exist purely as messaging solutions, or incorporate messaging into a broader app. The companies behind these apps know you have your pick of which to choose, and do what they can to stand out with new features, slick interfaces, and powerful security tools. Today messaging-app Telegram's sharing a page from its own success story with news that it's racked up an impressive 200 million monthly users, while also telling us a little about the new Telegram 4.8.5 release.

200 million is an impressive number, and this is just counting users who have engaged with the app over the course of the past month. Now admittedly, that's just a drop in the pan compared to competitors like WhatsApp, which can brag about its 1.5 billion monthly users, but it's still a remarkable accomplishment.

Telegram credits its success not just to the merits of the app itself, but to the philosophy by which the company operates, committing to open source and open APIs, and placing a strong emphasis on user privacy—as we just saw with CEO Pavel Durov refusing to back down and share encryption keys in the face of government demands.

Sticker search, sticker suggestions, and multi-photo capture.

As for the Telegram 4.8.5 update, we've got two main things to focus on. First up is stickers, and as you may know, Telegram is seriously obsessed with these things. The changes in this update center on new-sticker discovery, both through an automatic recommendation system, as well as a manual search function.

The other tweak we're learning about concerns sending photos or video with your messages. Now you can easily send a string of multiple shots, just by tapping the on-screen “+” icon. Check it out for yourself on the Play Store, or with our APK Mirror download.

Version: 4.8.5