Left-edge swipe to open camera breaks chat list scrolling for left-handed users (iOS regression)

[DragonVova]

Description

In recent Telegram iOS versions, a left-edge swipe gesture was introduced to open the camera (Stories).
This gesture conflicts with normal chat list scrolling for left-handed users.

Left-handed users naturally scroll starting from the left edge of the screen.
Because of this, vertical scrolling of the chat list frequently triggers the camera instead,
making normal navigation difficult or impossible.

This appears to be a UX regression introduced in recent versions.

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Steps to reproduce

1. Use Telegram on iOS as a left-handed user
2. Open the main chat list
3. Start scrolling vertically with a finger placed near the left edge of the screen
4. Observe that the camera opens instead of the chat list scrolling

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Expected behavior

• Vertical scrolling of the chat list should work regardless of finger position
• Camera opening should not override basic scrolling gestures
• Ideally, users should be able to disable or customize the left-edge swipe gesture
  (e.g. accessibility or left-handed mode)

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Actual behavior

• Left-edge swipe frequently opens the camera
• Chat list scrolling becomes unreliable or unusable for left-handed users

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Environment

• Device: iPhone 13
• iOS: 26.0.1
• Telegram for iOS: 12.4

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Additional context

This is an accessibility issue affecting left-handed users.
Many apps prioritize vertical scrolling over edge-based horizontal gestures
or provide an option to disable such gestures.

[nick318]

Plus it's a counter intuitive that you have 2 swipe behaviours depending on place where do you start a swipe. If you start a swipe from the channel icon, then it opens a camera. If you swipe from the text of the channel, then it swipes a channel.

[DragonVova]

Exactly — and that’s why this is a real UX problem.

This behavior appeared only after the camera swipe was introduced. Before that, the swipe gesture was consistent for years, including for left-handed users who naturally start swiping from the channel icon area.

Now the same swipe from the same place unexpectedly opens the camera, breaking established muscle memory.

When a single gesture produces different results depending on a tiny touch area, it becomes unpredictable. That’s a design regression, not a user error.

[ali-fareed]

The swipe behavior has been around since 2018 I believe. The camera swipe behavior is an extension of that (since 2023).

[nick318]

@ali-fareed Don't you agree that this is an UX issue? Even though that has been implemented a long time ago.

[DragonVova]

@ali-fareed
The camera swipe from the chat list cannot originate from 2023.
Based on my own experience, it was introduced in last updates(12.4 or maximum 12.3).

I have been using Telegram since ~2016 and am a left-handed user.
If this gesture existed in 2023, it would have been a persistent UX issue for me long before now.

The issue appeared only after a recent update, which indicates a recent UX change, not a long-standing behavior.

[harvasyuk]

Extremely annoying experience.

Apart from triggering stories (which I never use because it’s a chatting app), this issue also constantly interrupts audio player and makes the sound in headphones unexpectedly louder.

There should be a setting to disable this swipe to open camera behaviour.

[DragonVova]

@harvasyuk Agree
Unfortunately, Telegram decided that this was not a problem and closed the issue without the possibility of reopening it
@ali-fareed As you can see, this is a real problem and not just for me. This feature couldn't have been there in 2018, because swipe to camera was added in 2025. You just closed the discussion without any reason.

[harvasyuk]

Hello! Why the hell is this issue closed?
@ali-fareed why did you close this ticket? It’s obviously not fixed yet!