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Russian businessman, invented the multi-platform communication app. Telegram, which has no ties to any organizations or governments and was briefly outlawed in his home country. With an estimated 550 million monthly users as of this writing, it launched for the first time for iOS and Android in late 2013. Every time one of its more established competitors is involved in a privacy scandal, Telegram’s user base tends to grow. Telegram stands out thanks to its emphasis on privacy, encryption, and an open-source API. Along with the official Telegram apps and web interface, there are a tonne of unauthorised clients.
Various accounts on the same device are also permitted, as well as the usage of multiple devices with the same account (confirmed by SMS). Like most other messaging apps, Telegram’s primary features include the ability to chat other Telegram users, start group conversations, call contacts, make video calls, send files, and apply stickers. However, it functions differently from other chat apps due to a few unique features. The privacy feature of Telegram is its main selling point, and end-to-end encryption is used to guarantee it. This prevents anyone not involved in a two-way discussion from seeing what has been sent, whether they be a business, the government, hackers, or someone else.
Getting Started With Telegram
All that is needed to use and set up Telegram is a phone number. My mobile number was unexpectedly barred, which is strange considering the last time I used Telegram was to contact Telegram directly to request feedback on an earlier draught of this review. That cannot be a coincidence. I was able to create an account using my Google Voice number, which is a blessing. Telegram allows you to establish and access several accounts from the same app, in contrast to the majority of secure messengers and social networks.
Despite being designed for mobile devices, Telegram also has apps available for iOS, Linux, mac, and Windows, in addition to a web gateway. These are beneficial, but you must register with one of its mobile apps. In order to connect with other Telegram users, Telegram will ask upon signup to upload your Contacts. Everything here is optional. Similar functionality is available in Signal Private Messenger, however Signal uses a hash of the numbers instead, so the corporation is never aware of what information is contained in your contacts. You can download this app from its official website.
Telegram review: Telegram Company Background Information
Nikolai and Pavel Durov, brothers, developed Telegram Messenger in 2013. It is one of the most widely used messaging apps in the world, with over 500 million active users. The company’s headquarters are in London, and the Dubai-based development team works there. Pavel has made a donation to the business.
Telegram review: Getting started with Telegram
All that is needed to use and set up Telegram is a phone number. My mobile number was unexpectedly barred, which is strange considering the last time I used Telegram was to contact Telegram directly to request feedback on an earlier draught of this review. That cannot be a coincidence. I was able to create an account using my Google Voice number, which is a blessing. Telegram allows you to establish and access several accounts from the same app, in contrast to the majority of secure messengers and social networks.
Chats, Groups, and Secret Chats
Chats are routine activities. Since 2008, if you’ve sent text messages, you are familiar with how this operates. Little speech bubbles containing your messages can be seen on the right side of the screen, while your friends’ bubbled messages can be seen on the left. Unlike standard SMS conversations, when you remove a message from your phone, it also disappears from the recipient’s phone.
Similar to ordinary conversations, secret chats employ end-to-end encryption (E2EE) so that not even Telegram can decrypt the data. Telegram doesn’t even know when these messages are being exchanged, according to the business, who also claims that there are no logs of Secret Chats. Everything about it is fantastic, but as I’ll explain below, I wish Telegram had seen fit to extend this protection to all of the material on its platform. Similar configurations with optional E2EE chats are used by Facebook Messenger, although Editors’ Choice winners Signal and WhatsApp encrypt all messages end-to-end by default.
Telegram review: Telegram Third-Party Testing and Audits
“Multiple researchers and security experts have studied Telegram’s encryption,” Telegram claimed in an email to us. The offered a report by two Italian researchers that studied the MTProto 2.0 as an illustration, as you can see here.
However, we were unable to locate any official security audits or analyses that were carried out by cybersecurity companies. As opposed to some of the other well-known secure messenger services, this These encrypted chat apps have undergone official third-party audits, as we reported in the Wire and Signal reviews.
Final Words
Telegram is one of the few instant messaging apps that can claim to be both “popular” and “safe” in the market. Given the ongoing controversy surrounding WhatsApp and Messenger’s privacy practises, Telegram may soon become one of the most reputable chat services available. However, that doesn’t negate the fact that Telegram has its own tasks to complete. Telegram may yet be improved, especially in terms of security and effective team collaboration.