iOS Contest 2025

Prize fund: Up to $50,000
Deadline: 23:59 Dubai time on December 26, 2025
Who can participate: Everyone

Telegram is hosting a contest for iOS developers to bring Liquid Glass effects to older versions of iOS. The winner will get a chance to join the Telegram Team.

Developers at Telegram can earn up to $1,000,000 per year before taxes.

THE TASK

Implement custom versions of some of the Liquid Glass effects and the relevant interface flows into Telegram for iOS so these appearances work on iOS 18 and older.

You must precisely replicate the animations and look and feel (highlight on tap, scale-up, bounce, and stretching) on the glass elements. This applies in particular to:

– The tab bar
Omit background blur behind the bar itself, while preserving the glass lenses’ ability to blur the bar’s own content.

– Buttons
This includes attach menu icon, voice and video message recording buttons, etc.

– Switches and sliders
Only the moving element itself should apply blur.

Contest Requirements:

– Support for iOS 18 is mandatory.
– No third-party UI frameworks or new dependencies are allowed.
– The submission must be consistent with the existing Telegram for iOS codebase. You may reuse what is already included in the app's codebase.
– Changes must not negatively affect performance, memory usage, or app stability.

Evaluation:
During the evaluation stage, submissions will be tested on a broad range of devices and iOS versions (13-26). In addition to aesthetic accuracy and appeal, we will evaluate:
– Performance;
– Memory consumption;
– Battery impact.

Submissions:

We will announce detailed submission instructions closer to the deadline. The final submission must be your implementation integrated into Telegram for iOS, not a standalone demo app.