Pavel Durov just announced that Telegram is back on Apple Watch. And not as a notification relay. A full, native app.
It’s been a long time coming. Telegram first launched Apple Watch support back in 2015 with Telegram 3.0. Then it quietly disappeared. Now, more than a decade later, it’s back.
What It Does
The app is fully native, which means it runs on the watch itself rather than just displaying notifications from your phone.
You pair it with a QR code from the Telegram iPhone app, similar to how you’d log in on the web or desktop. If you have a cloud password, you’ll need that too.
Once you’re in, you get the full list of your contacts and conversations. It supports:
- Text messages and voice messages
- GIF playback and video playback
- Location sharing
- Stickers
The pairing flow and interface look polished from the demo Durov shared. It’s clearly more than a minimum viable port.
The Comeback Story
Telegram was actually one of the first messaging apps to support Apple Watch. The original app landed in June 2015 with version 3.0. Back then, the Watch was brand new and every app was figuring out what a wrist app should look like.
After a few years, Telegram dropped it. It wasn’t alone. A lot of apps abandoned native watchOS support during what you could call the Apple Watch app winter. Most people used their Watch for notifications and fitness, not full app interactions.
But the landscape has changed. watchOS has matured. Apple Watch hardware is fast enough that native apps actually feel good. And Telegram is clearly seeing enough demand to bring it back. It’s the same kind of platform maturity shift we’ve been seeing across Apple’s ecosystem this year.
Where to Get It
The app is available now through the regular Telegram App Store update. Interestingly, the App Store release notes don’t mention the Apple Watch support, so you might not even know it’s there until you check.
Open the Telegram app on your iPhone, look for the Apple Watch companion, and scan the QR code. If you’ve been waiting for this, it’s live right now.
