❓ What is Durov doing with Telegram?

He lost thousands of dollars and the developers lost time to release checklists that will not be used by anyone, for the simple reason that they are only available to premium users. Transcriptions, translations, higher limits, downloads and cosmetic features, are the kind of features that will increase premium numbers. Checklists (just like tags in saved messages) are not the kind of features that will increase the number of premium users.

Worse, in addition to not being able to create checklists, non-premium users cannot even mark a task as done... Which would be the minimum requirement for this feature to be used inside a messenger.

I know that Telegram needs to make money and charging Premium for cosmetic features (like custom emojis and animated photos), server-side features (like higher limits) or features that are not available in other apps (like translations) seems fine to me. Charging for NFT gifts is excellent, it increases the app's profit, creates a resales ecosystem and does not reduce the number of useful functions for the average non-paying user. I have premium myself and I do not intend to stop having it.

But Telegram as a whole would improve if the following functions were made available to non-premium users:
▶️1) Business features such as address, opening hours and quick replies (Whatsapp has them for free and it would bring small businesses to Telegram)
▶️2) Local audio transcriptions (it is an accessibility feature for deaf people that Whatsapp has for free and does not consume server resources)
▶️3) Checklists (at least the option to mark them as done so they don't become useless)
▶️4) Tags in saved messages (just like checklists, it is not the feature that will raise Premium numbers)

I hope Durov has not surrounded himself with people who treat all his decisions as brilliant and do not suggest obvious improvements. Unfortunately users no longer see Telegram as a privacy-focused messenger but they continue to use it for its user-friendly interface and high number of features. Telegram cannot afford to lose basic features by making them premium-only.

#shame