Looking for a secure messaging system to contact family, friends, missionary partners around the world? What about Telegram? Telegram is a cloud-based mobile and desktop messaging app with a focus on security and speed. Unlike some messaging platforms, Telegram is a cloud-based messenger with seamless sync. As a result, you can access your messages from several devices at once, including tablets and computers.
Thanks to Telegram’s multi-data center infrastructure and encryption, it is fast and secure. On top of that, Telegram boasts that private messaging on Telegram is free and will stay free — no ads, no subscription fees, forever.
Telegram’s API and code are open, and developers are welcome to create their own Telegram apps. They also have a platform for developers that allows anyone to easily build specialized tools for Telegram and even accept payments from users around the world. What messaging system do you prefer? www.telegram.org/
Except that using telegram trusts Russian hackers.
I use Signal app for security.
I have an ethical objection to telegram because it is a platform that is used to spread pornographic photos and the perpetrators are protected by Telegram’s policies. Despite many requests by the victims Telegram is really slow to take these photos down. It has been an humiliating experience for many women who were unknowingly having their photos taken doing normal things like showering in their homes.
Telegram has a history of problematic positions on privacy and security (especially around their encryption protocols, and collecting users’ social maps, which is of particular concern in closed countries). I use and recommend Signal over everything else.
(details – and since this was several years ago, some issues may have been fixed, but the judgment lapse that allowed them to arise in the first place remains: https://medium.com/@thegrugq/operational-telegram-cbbaadb9013a#.l0535x2yu )
Definitely Signal — it has less convenience to an extent (e.g. transferring messages from one device to another can be more difficult), but it is far more secure. By default Telegram does not enable end-to-end encryption.