Telegram Bot API Update: Rich Messages, Ephemeral Messages, Communities, and More

Rich Message Formatting

Telegram Bot API now supports rich message formatting with the new InputRichMessageMedia class and the media field in InputRichMessage, allowing bots to explicitly specify media used in markdown or HTML formatting when sending a rich message.

New classes introduced:

• InputMediaVoiceNote - voice message to be sent.
• InputRichBlockListItem - item in a list.
• InputRichBlockParagraph, InputRichBlockSectionHeading, InputRichBlockPreformatted, InputRichBlockFooter, InputRichBlockDivider, InputRichBlockMathematicalExpression, InputRichBlockAnchor, InputRichBlockList, InputRichBlockBlockQuotation, InputRichBlockPullQuotation, InputRichBlockCollage, InputRichBlockSlideshow, InputRichBlockTable, InputRichBlockDetails, InputRichBlockMap, InputRichBlockAnimation, InputRichBlockAudio, InputRichBlockPhoto, InputRichBlockVideo, InputRichBlockVoiceNote, and InputRichBlockThinking.

The blocks field in InputRichMessage allows bots to specify rich message formatting via block entities.

Ephemeral Messages

Introduced support for Ephemeral Messages, allowing bots to send group messages and receive commands visible only to a specific user and the bot.

• is_ephemeral field added to BotCommand.
• receiver_user and ephemeral_message_id fields added to Message.
• Parameters receiver_user_id and callback_query_id added to methods: sendMessage, sendAnimation, sendAudio, sendDocument, sendPhoto, sendSticker, sendVideo, sendVideoNote, sendVoice, sendContact, sendLocation, sendVenue.
• ephemeral_message_id field added to ReplyParameters; message_id becomes optional if ephemeral_message_id is present.
• New methods: editEphemeralMessageText, editEphemeralMessageMedia, editEphemeralMessageCaption, editEphemeralMessageReplyMarkup, deleteEphemeralMessage.

Communities

Initial support for Communities: several supergroups, channels, and bots linked together around a shared topic or audience.

• Community class represents a community.
• CommunityChatAdded and CommunityChatRemoved classes, with corresponding fields in Message.
• community field added to ChatFullInfo.

General Updates

Added updates about changes to user payment subscriptions via BotSubscriptionUpdated class and subscription field in Update.

Security hardened for Mini Apps: disallowing usage of Mini App methods from origins different from the original Mini App domain. Protection auto-enabled on July 20, 2026; opt-out via @BotFather.