blindGram 14.1 makes Telegram stories and reactions accessible

blindGram 14.1 Final, released on July 24, 2026 on Telegram 12.9.0, gives the story viewer real buttons, opens reactions as a grid and adds six app languages.

Three parts of Telegram that used to be guesswork with a screen reader now speak and respond: the story viewer, the reaction picker, and the side buttons that count what is waiting for you. This release also moves blindGram to Telegram 12.9.0 and makes the new upstream features usable with TalkBack and other Android screen readers.

Stories with real buttons

• The story viewer normally works by tapping invisible zones: left for previous, right for next, hold to pause. 14.1 adds labeled Previous, Play or Pause and Next buttons, so you move through stories the way you move through everything else.
• The switch is Show Story Next, Previous and Play Buttons in the Video section of Media settings, and it is on by default. The Media settings guide lists it with the rest of the player options.

Reactions as a grid

• Reactions open as an accessible grid you can walk through, instead of the strip beside the message. The option is Show Reactions As Menu in Menu settings.
• Reacting in Saved Messages no longer crashes the app.

Counts you can trust

• The Go to bottom, Mentions, Reactions and Poll votes side buttons now say how many items are behind them.
• The unread count you hear in the chat list now matches the count inside the chat.

Emoji and fewer empty stops

• Emoji in messages are read by name again.
• Decorative animations, dividers and empty spacers are skipped by the screen reader, so there are fewer stops that say nothing.

Six more app languages

• Arabic, German, Italian, Korean, Dutch and Portuguese join the app languages.
• Reported unlabeled buttons got labels, and other reported bugs were fixed.

Newer releases have since replaced 14.1. The current one is on the download page, and the Menu settings guide explains the reaction grid and the message menu.