What is Telegram and why should I use it?

Telegram is a multi-platform messaging service founded by Russian entrepreneur Pavel Durov. 

Telegram is an online messaging app that works just like popular messaging apps WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. Like WhatsApp, Telegram has also the ability to show a friend’s status online and attach and share photos, videos, location, contacts and documents.

What makes Telegram unique is its focus on privacy, encryption, and an open-source API.It claims that all its activities including chats, groups and media shared between participants, is encrypted. This means that they won’t be visible without being deciphered first. 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’. It also offers end-to-end encryption, leaving no trace on Telegram’s servers.

How does Telegram work?

Telegram’s core functionality is the same as most other messaging apps: You can message other Telegram users, create group conversations, call contacts, make video calls, and send files and stickers. However, there are a few specific features that make it work differently from other chat apps.

Telegram’s headline feature is privacy, and to ensure this it employs end-to-end encryption. This is what stops those outside a two-way conversation — be it a company, the government, hackers, or someone else — from seeing what has been sent.

However, Telegram only uses this encryption in calls and in its “secret chats” feature, not in regular chats. Those are only encrypted client to server. Meanwhile, WhatsApp, the supposedly less secure service, has used end-to-end encryption in messages, calls, and video calls since 2016.

Is Telegram safe to use?

If you’re using the “secret chats” feature, you’re getting the same level of end-to-end encryption. On top of this, users can’t forward or screenshot messages in secret chats, and messages can be programmed to self-destruct. Deleting a message also deletes it for everyone on the service, and users have the option to delete not just their own messages, but other users’ messages, too. It’s also worth mentioning that all chats are encrypted, even if not end-to-end encrypted.

In general, Telegram is as safe or safer than most other chat apps. It could be argued that WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption on all messaging is a better approach, but the company’s ties to Facebook may turn off privacy advocates.