There’s also the ability to check the security of your ‘Secret Chats’ using an image that serves as an encryption key. It also offers end-to-end encryption, leaving no trace on Telegram’s servers. The app also lets you set self-destruct timers on messages and media that you share which can range from two seconds to one week through its built-in feature ‘Secret Chat’. This means that they won’t be visible without being deciphered first. It claims that all its activities including chats, groups and media shared between participants, is encrypted.

Telegram’s distinctive feature is security. Like WhatsApp, Telegram has also the ability to show a friend’s status online and attach and share photos, videos, location, contacts, and documents.

The service launched in 2013, and since then it has reached 700 million active monthly users.įounded by Russian Pavel Durov, who’s also behind Russia’s largest social network VKontakte (VK), Telegram claims to combine the speed of WhatsApp with Snapchat’s ephemerality. Telegram is cloud-based and claims that it prioritises security and speed, making it a good alternative to other popular messaging apps. This means that you can use it to send messages to your friends when connected to Wi-Fi or your mobile data, with video calls, group chats, and 20,000 stickers available. Telegram is an online messaging app that works just like popular messaging apps WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. And while Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp are generally the most famous of them all, in countries such as Russia, Brazil, Germany and Malaysia, it’s actually Telegram Messenger that is the #1 most popular social networking app in the iOS Apple Store, possibly because it claims to be the most secure of them all. Messaging apps have become our preferred way of communication, giving us the opportunity to connect with our friends anytime and anywhere. What is Telegram and how different it is from other messaging apps?

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