Russian messenger MAX launches stories feature

The Russian messaging platform MAX has introduced a Stories feature, the platform's press service announced on July 27.

Android users can now post photo and video stories, edit them, add text and choose who can view their posts, Caliber.Az reports, citing Russian media.

Stories can be created from the Chats section by tapping the "+" icon next to the user's profile picture. Users can also set how long a story remains visible and view statistics on reactions and views. Viewers can reply to stories and react to them.

The feature is available in the latest version of the app, which can be downloaded from the RuStore app marketplace.

Stories were first rolled out in a test phase in early July, with more than 100 content creators and influencers taking part. Participants included family blogger Denis Kukoyaka, singer Grigory Leps, sports influencer Aleksei Stolyarov, Regnum editor-in-chief Marina Akhmedova, war correspondent Alexander Kots, and singer Anita Tsoi.

On July 15, MAX CEO Farit Khusnoyarov told Izvestia that the messenger's mobile web version for iOS had already been installed by 7 million users.

He added that developers had restored push notifications for iPhone users, who can enable them by launching the app in a browser and confirming the notification request.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov