BotNews

Don't miss TDLib, our new library that makes creating custom Telegram clients a breeze.

Telegram Database Library takes care of all network implementation details, encryption and local data storage, so that developers can dedicate more time to design, responsive interfaces and beautiful animations.

More about TDLib on our blog:
https://telegram.org/blog/tdlib

Documentation:
https://core.telegram.org/tdlib/docs/
Code on GitHub:
https://github.com/tdlib/td

Many thanks to everyone who submitted bots for our Bot Contest! We have collected a lot of requests.

New applications are no longer accepted – this stage of the contest is over. We will continue awarding creators of great bots this year. Have fun using and building bots in 2018!

The Bot API v.3.5 is alive and well.

- Added support for the new albums feature.
- Added support for pinned messages in channels.

Full changelog:
https://core.telegram.org/bots/api-changelog#november-17-2017

The Bot API v.3.4 is here!

- Added support for the new Live Locations feature (see the Telegram blog).
- Bots can now get special entities like usernames, URLs, etc. from media captions.
- Bots can now get and manage the official sticker set of groups.

See the full changelog here:
https://core.telegram.org/bots/api-changelog#october-11-2017

Some more good news for bot developers from Russia. Sberbank is now available as a payment option in the Bot API.

To connect it to your bot, pay a visit to @BotFather > Edit Bot > Payments and select Sberbank.

Read more about the platform here: https://core.telegram.org/bots/payments

African bot developers, rejoice! Rave by Flutterwave is now available as a payment option in the Bot API.

To connect it to your bot, pay a visit to @BotFather > Edit Bot > Payments and select Rave by Flutterwave there.

Read more about the platform here: https://core.telegram.org/bots/payments

The Bot API v.3.3 has arrived!

- Mention users via inline mentions, without using usernames.
- Get pinned messages from group chats.
- And a little more.

See the full changelog here:
https://core.telegram.org/bots/api-changelog#august-23-2017

A new provider has been added to the Bot Payment Platform: CLICK.

To connect it to your bot, pay a visit to @BotFather > Edit Bot > Payments and select CLICK Uzbekistan there. Read more about the platform here: https://core.telegram.org/bots/payments

The Bot Payment Platform currently supports payments from more than 200 countries via 5 payment providers.

May the Bot API v.3.2 be with you! Your bot can now handle sticker sets:
- Create sets of stickers or masks
- Rearrange and delete stickers from sets

See full changelog:
https://core.telegram.org/bots/api-changelog#july-21-2017

Bot API v.3.1 is here! Build your own robotic police force for supergoups with these new methods for admin bots:
- Ban and restrict group members
- Promote new admins
- Manage group info and invite links

See full changelog:
https://core.telegram.org/bots/api-changelog#june-30-2017

The Bot Payment Platform now supports payments from more than 200 countries via 4 payment providers.

Three new payment providers have joined the platform since launch:

- Paymentwall, a global provider that works in 200 countries
- Yandex.Money, well known in Russia
- Paycom, popular in Uzbekistan

To connect them to your bot, pay a visit to @BotFather > Edit Bot > Payments. Read more about the platform here: https://core.telegram.org/bots/payments

We will be adding more payment providers soon.

Finally, our DNS provider fixed it (took them a while, sorry).

You may still see some residual issues due to caching, but things will get back to normal very soon.

We're having some DNS issues with our web properties (the issues are not on our side). Messaging is alive and well, but your bot may have trouble reaching api.telegram.org until this is resolved. Working on this, back soon!

Sorry about that.

Bot API v.3.0 is here!

- Brand new payment platform. Stripe supported out of the box, a dozen more payment providers on the way. See the Telegram blog for details:
https://telegram.org/blog/payments

- Tools for sending and receiving the new video messages.
- The User object now has a field for the user's language.
- Bot admins can unban people in channels.
- Bots can delete messages.
- And more...

See the full changelog:
https://core.telegram.org/bots/api-changelog#may-18-2017

Moar good news, everyone!

We're extending the #BotPrize and will continue giving out grants to great bots in 2017.

Introducing The Telegraph API

You can now create bots and standalone tools to log in and manage Telegraph posts, and get page view statistics for any post on Telegraph.

See the @Telegraph bot for an example.

API Documentation:
http://telegra.ph/api

Introducing Bot API 2.3.1, a nifty little update that will give you more control over how your bot gets its updates.

Changelog:
https://core.telegram.org/bots/api-changelog#december-4-2016

Bot API v.2.3 is now live!

- Bot privacy mode updated for the sake of consistency.
- Bots can now get messages from channels as updates.
- And more.

Full changelog:
https://core.telegram.org/bots/api#recent-changes

In the coming Bot API update, the edit_message parameter in setGameScore will default to True (currently defaults to False).

Please consider explicitly passing False in the cases where you don't want the message with high scores to be updated.

https://core.telegram.org/bots/api#setgamescore

Meet the first five #BotPrize winners!

In this batch we focused on bots that have already gained massive popularity in some markets. The $200,000 that we divided between their developers will help create an even better experience for their existing and future users.

@icon8bot – an AI-based bot that allows you to apply great-looking filters to photos using neural networks and machine learning technology.

@integram_bot – a bot that allows you to set up integrations with third-party services for developers such as Trello, Gitlab, Bitbucket, and more.

@werewolfbot – a ‘Werewolf Game’ bot for group chats that gained popularity in SE Asia long before we launched our gaming platform last month.

@strangerbot – a bot that connects two random users to chat anonymously that gained huge popularity after going viral in Southern Europe.

@octopocket_bot – a smart-wallet bot that allows users from the EU to transfer money to each other and is integrated into the ATM system of Spain.

We will continue awarding creators of great bots this and the following year in $200,000 batches.

Read more:
https://telegram.org/blog/botprize1