In what year did Telegram introduce channels?

Telegram introduced channels in 2015.

Channels were launched as a broadcasting feature, allowing an individual, organization, or public figure to publish messages to a large audience. Unlike ordinary group chats, channels are primarily one-way: administrators post updates, while subscribers receive them. Public channels can be discovered through usernames and shared links, making them useful for news, announcements, and large communities.

The feature appeared during a major period of Telegram’s expansion. In September 2015, Telegram was reporting about 60 million active users and billions of messages delivered daily. Channels helped the service move beyond private messaging and small-group conversation into public broadcasting. Telegram later expanded the feature with comments, reactions, statistics, stories, and other tools.

A frequent mix-up is confusing channels with groups. Groups are designed for conversation and member participation, while channels are designed for publishing. Telegram also introduced its third-party bot platform in June 2015, but bots and channels were separate additions. The 2015 date refers to the original introduction of channels, not later feature upgrades.