What Is Telegram, The Encrypted Alternative To WhatsApp

It uses encryption protocols to protect user communications and secret chats to send self-destructing messages. A few Days Ago, the WhatsApp servers were unreachable for about four hours. This caused a communication blackout that involved more than 400 million users who, all over the world, use the application recently purchased by Facebook to send complimentary messages. After the first moments of panic, the race to the alternative immediately started. Some opted for Line, who preferred the social soul of WeChat, and, again, wanted to give KakaoTalk an opportunity. Many others, however, have turned their gaze to Telegram, one of the latest applications to arrive on the instant messaging stage. In the days following the sale of WhatsApp, over 5 million users downloaded and installed this application, risking sending the company’s server and database into a tailspin.

Table of Contents

What Is Telegram

Born in Berlin to Russian parents – Pavel Durov, founder of the initiative, and Nikolai Durov, the developer who designed and built the software and network infrastructure -, Telegram bases its operation on an open-source communication protocol explicitly developed to reduce at least the amount of bytes sent for each message. This gives Telegram the first advantage over other competitors: even in poor reception conditions, the Durov brothers’ application allows you to send complimentary messages in less time and receive them faster.

Like WhatsApp

At first glance, Telegram looks like a carbon copy of WhatsApp. Same style, the same design, and (more or less) the same functions. The user is identified by their phone number, and the phone book is automatically synchronized and compared with the one in the application servers. This way, all the contacts already present in the Telegram “lists” will be added to the list of friends to whom you can send complimentary messages. Even sending a text – or images, or videos – is perfectly similar to WhatsApp: the receipt of the notice is confirmed by a checkmark and the display by a double check mark. As in WhatsApp, groups can be created (with a maximum of 200 participants). All the same, then? Not really.

Cloud

Unlike WhatsApp, for example, Telegram is a cross-platform application. This means that it can be used both with the smartphone – Android and iOS – and with the computer. The application of the Durov brothers bases its operation on a cloud infrastructure, which allows you to synchronize, read and send messages for free from various devices. You can connect from your computer and reply to a friend who used your smartphone to contact us or start an instant chat between two users connected to their desktop computers. Furthermore, the server infrastructure is not centralized but distributed: each network node can be bypassed in the event of a malfunction. In short, WhatsApp’s problems recorded last weekend should never manifest themselves with Telegram.

Secret Room

What most differentiates the two applications, however, lies in the safety parameters adopted by the two applications. While the WhatsApp protocol does not ensure any shielding from any external intrusions, the one created by Nikolai Drusov uses point-to-point cryptographic keys to make messages and multimedia content sent between users unreadable. Not only. By starting a secret communication session (the Secret Chat ), users can protect their communications with unique or almost unique features. Suppose you have to make mainly burning confidences. In that case, you can send self-eliminated messages within a few seconds (even 2 seconds, if desired) or within a few days (a week at most). Furthermore, all notices and multimedia content exchanged in the secret chat cannot be sent to other users and will not leave any trace on the company’s servers.

How To Delete Messages Sent By Mistake With Telegram

Among the many updates Telegram has had in recent years, the most interesting is the ability to delete messages sent to its users. How often do we send a message by mistake and regret it bitterly? With Telegram, this will no longer be possible. Users can delete a message up to 48 hours after sending it. This way, the message text will disappear from the recipient’s account, who will never be aware of the error. In addition to being able to delete them, it is possible to modify the message in case there is only some typo or typo.

Welcome, Telegra.ph

Telegram developers have also created an anonymous online blogging service. And to encourage the diffusion of the new service, they have introduced a rather exciting novelty: the Instant Opening feature. Users can open the articles on Telegra.ph or Medium as if they were Facebook Instant Articles or Google Maps. In this way, you save not only time but also your rate plan data. On this front, Telegram has integrated the possibility for users to monitor how many megabytes they consume by downloading photos and videos from the instant messaging application. All data is divided according to the category, giving you the possibility to keep your tariff plan under control.