What are the advantages of using Telegram?

If you are thinking to switch from WhatsApp or any other Messanger app to Telegram, then first you should what are the advantages you are getting in Telegram messenger App? This will help to know how Telegram is different from WhatsApp?

Telegram Messanger is no longer an unknown app, aginst WhatsApp it is gaining more and more users in the messenger/chatting app market. While WhatsApp has long been the absolute leader and virtually unrivalled, Telegram has become increasingly popular lately. This is due to different functions of the messenger which are better than Whatsapp either in terms of security or handling media files, everything is quite smooth.

Here are the top 10-advantages of Telegram-over-WhatsApp 

Telegram is Cross-platform

Yes, indeed the WhatsApp is available for Android and iOS smartphones as an app (officially) along with the ability to use it on the Web browser, however, Telegram is more than this. It is cross-platform in the true sense, the first advantage of  Telegram is it officially not only available only as an app for Android & iOS platforms but it even covers Linux, Windows, macOS desktops including Windows smartphones. So, doesn’t matter which popular platform you are on, Telegram is always there to connect you with your loved ones.

See: Telegram App vs WhatsApp

Open Source

Telegram is a cloud-based whose client-side app code is open source, however, the server-side source is closed. Yes, empathically, its provided API will not that much great for developers as it not going to allow a person to create an independent app with separate servers or data; instead, the created app will use the same Telegram servers along with accounts and data.

Second thing if you develop some messaging client app using Telegram open source code then as per their license you have to publish the source code of the same on Github. Overall, being an open-source doesn’t sound that much great, perhaps if someone wants to create something better for their own or friends usage then it is an option. If you want to use your own client app with Telegram;  you will have to register the same here.

Account Self Destruction

Just like WhatsApp or any other instant messaging, the Telegram also uses the phone number to create an account. For verification, it uses an SMS.  A user can delete its account any time with all data stored on Telegram servers, however, besides this, there is one more interesting option known as Self Destruction, which once set, the app will automatically delete the user account and its associated data in a given amount of time.

Telegram Account Self Destruction

The advantage of this, suppose you are new to Telegram and after creating an account, in case you didn’t like it and either you deleted the app or your phone gets lost, in both the scenarios your account will automatically get deleted from the Telegram servers, once it reaches the set time threshold. You pre-define time period are 1 month, 3 months, 6 months and 1 year.

See: How to Delete Account in Telegram Permanently- Android & iPhone

Telegram Cloud-based messages

The cloud-based messaging feature is one of the biggest advantages of Telegram in my view. It gives an upper hand to Telegram over Whatsapp. So what happens, in other messaging apps all your media files and data stored locally on your phone whether it is an image, video, music or something else which ultimately eat up all your local storage space. However, with Telegram, this is not a problem, all media files including chat store on the Telegram secure cloud servers and remain there until and unless you want to download some of the files manually to save on your local storage. Yes, the cache will be created by the app on local storage. See: How to install the Telegram app on Ubuntu 19.04/Linux Mint?

Up to 1.5 gigabytes in size per file

Are you getting frustrated on Whatsapp while sending some big files? If yes then here is one more advantage of Telegram which is its ability to send larger files. In contrast to WhatsApp that only allow sending files up to 16MB to 100MB( depending on file type); the Telegram users can share photos, videos, audio messages and other files up to 1.5 gigabytes in size per file.

48 hours message revoke

Unlike Whatsapp, the users of Telegram can edit or delete their sent messages up to 48 hours. This means you have plenty of time to correct your mistakes or typo errors. It allows a user to delete from single message to whole chat any time from the beginning without any time limit. Moreover, if the chat deletes process initiated by one user it automatically deletes the same from the other user’s end including from Telegram servers. Thus, no strings attached at all…

Add People Nearby without phone number

It is really annoying to add someone on your Instant messenger because for that first one has to add her/his number into the phone’s local contact book and then need to refresh IM app to send a message; even if you don’t know that person and just want to send some single time message. This procedure ultimately creates a lot of contact junk on our phone. Telegram can save us from all these unwanted phone numbers saving tasks by simply allowing us to add them in our chat list using GPS.

Yes, it is possible Simply open Contacts > Add People Nearby to quickly exchange contact info with Telegram users who are standing next to you (and also have this section open).

Location-Based Chats

The new People Nearby section also shows Groups Nearby – location-based group chats open for anyone around to join.

Groups

While writing this Telegram advantages article as per the official page, the groups created on Telegram can have up to 200,000 members which is really a huge amount. The member of the Group can search for any message instantly posted within the group. The group admin can pin some message on the top of the group that will show to everybody.

The administrator of the Group can delete messages in mass along with control over membership, furthermore, he/she can only join the group via the link provided by the Administrator (if set). Admin can also restrict members from posting some special kind messages, for example, Adult.

Group administrators can set their own headline titles, and they won’t be the same Admin/administrator. Now you can set the little fairy/queen/master/boss/ boss, anyway, your group, you are the master.

Telegram admin 2

For a large group of people, this can be seen as an administrator privilege, but there is also a group in the Telegram: private group in which everyone can be an administrator, and everyone can set a custom title. Then you can do a lot of things.

The advantage of this Telegram feature, For example, some workgroups, pull in new people, they can set an identity title to what exactly they do, and avoid the embarrassment that others do not know what the new person is doing. You can also give each person a nickname in the group of friends…

Transfer Group Chats

If you have some group or channel on Telegram and want to carry forward the burden of it any more on your shoulder then simply transfer the rights or ownership that group to someone else. Yes, you grant full admin rights to your Chosen One to see the Transfer Ownership button.

In this way, one can end his Night Watch…

Transfer owener ship of Telegram group

 

Channels

Apart from Group, the Telegram also allow creating Channels which will slightly be different as compare to Groups. The Channels are similar to WhatsApp broadcasting groups, however, on Telegram, you can cater larger audience than WhatApp. If I say broadly, then in Channels, there are no limits of subscribers.

Anyone can subscribe to channel like YouTube channels, to get the latest updates posted by the admin of that particular Channel. All the post and photos posted in a channel will be signed by the name of the Channel rather individual.

It also shows the view counts of each update or message when viewed by the subscribers, including its forwarded copies. You can see an example of our Telegram channel, here is the link: https://t.me/how2shout

Video timestamp function

Among other advantages of Telegram, this is, particularly for Video sending. When sending a video, you can set the timestamp and then note: look at it from here. After someone clicks, they will jump directly to that timestamp to play, saving time for both parties. This feature exists in the sharing function of some video websites, and it is very convenient to specify the playing time to share with friends.

Video timestamp function

Telegram has group chats. It allows a lot of group chats to be duplicated (50 chats in Whatsapp and 99 in telegram). In Telegram, each team member can invite a new participant (in WhatsApp only chat organizers can invite anyone).

Siri Shortcuts

Owners of iOS devices can now use Siri shortcuts to open chats with people.

USe Apple Siri to control Telegram Chats

Slow chat mode

This slow chat mode benefit of Telegram is even more difficult to understand where did the developers get this idea but useful, though. This option can be found in the group permissions settings:

The slow mode will limit the frequency of messages sent by everyone in the group, from one 30 seconds to one hour. Each time a message is sent, the text box will count down to show the countdown of the next message.

slow chat mode Telegram advantage

This can very effectively improve the quality of group chat, but also can turn a popular group into a dead group. Of course, it is not recommended that the general group open this function for a long time, and choose a suitable time to try.

Silent information

When you send a message, long press to send, the Send Without Sound will pop up and the message will be sent.

The other party will receive the message immediately, but regardless of whether the other party sets the phone to mute, Telegram will not prompt the message, it will only be marked with 🔇 on the notification, this is a silent message.

For example: If you are chatting with your girlfriend and if she got slept or you want to send something her silently then simply can use this function.

Sent silen messages on telegram

Furthermore, if you feel that the time is already late and your message is not much important then simply send a silent message without disturbing the other party, which is perfect. Silent mode is also suitable for groups, avoiding disturbing colleagues who are resting…

Telegram Bots

Telegram will never make you bored again. Instead of long chats, you can also invite your conversation partner to a game duel. Within the app, there are mini-games that you can play directly in competition with the chat partner.

Professionals can even create and use their own bots to perform certain tasks automatically, like proving some information to the newly joined member to some group or channel.  They are made by third-party developers using the Telegram Bot API.

Sticker+Emoticons

In addition to the emojis, there are stickers at Telegram – another amusing feature of Telegram. Some of them simply express the mood a bit better than a simple emoji. They are always funny. Plenty of Stickers are available on telegram to represent every mood of your further a user can create and use its own stickers.

Secret chat, the benefit of Telegram

Out of the other advantages, security is a big concern and Telegram will full fill that via Secret Chat. You can chat to someone secretly using the Secret Chat option of Telegram which will transmit each and everything encrypted, moreover, the secret chat will automatically get deleted from the Telegram servers and don’t allow forwarding.

Moreover, as the secret chat will not be a part of Telegram Cloud, thus, it can only be accessed on the device where it was originated or initiated. For example, if I select new Secret chat on the smartphone, then that will only available on that particular smartphone – for the duration, I have set.

Access telegram on several devices (simultaneously)

Another big advantage of Telegram over WhatsApp the, user can access it on multiple devices concomitantly.  It can be an app on a smartphone or Desktop client or web version. You simply enter your mobile number and then receive a code, which you must enter on the new device. Moreover, the login message code will receive by the user in Telegram previous activated device; means no need of SIM card to activate some new device for example if you want to use Telegram app on Desktop…

Yes, aforementioned, the user must have the access of the device which already been registered with Telegram and authorized to receive messages.

Free and No ADs

Telegram is absolutely free to install and use without any within app advertisements or spammy ads.

Encryption benefit

In Telegram, you can secure chats with end-to-end encryption. So, only you and the recipient can read the message. If someone could prove to Telegram he/she has decrypted someone’s encrypted message then Telegram will reward that person with $300,000.

Although all messages of Telegram messages are always encrypted, however, Secret Chats messages use client-client encryption, while Cloud Chats use client-server/server-client encryption.

Few Other Telegram Advantages

  • Voice calls available to users around the world.
  • Replies, mentions, hashtags
  • Based on the MTProto protocol and more secure than messengers like WhatsApp and Line
  • 2-Step Verification, passcode and Fingerprint authentication method to lock and unlock app locally.
  • In case your phone gets stolen,  then simply use any other new device log with Telegram or some other device with pre-login Telegram account and go to Telegram Settings — Privacy and Security and turn on Two-Step Verification. This way the phone number alone will not be enough to log in to your account.
  • Supports high-quality 60 FPS motion, lightweight Animated Stickers which require less battery than GIFs and less bandwidth than regular stickers.

So, these are the Telegram advantages, enough to compel someone to lay his hand once on this app…

4 thoughts on “What are the advantages of using Telegram?”

  1. Hi. Thanks for bringing this article. But there were a couple of more things which might have been interesting to add, like animated stickers, Geo location-based groups, saved messages and etc. (You can find more: https:/t.me/s/telegram). But there are a few points you might need to edit in this article.

    – messages can be edited up to 48 hours even if the other party has seen it! But on deleting! I can say there was a major update in security, it’s been a long now Telegram allows you to delete any messages from the day one until now just by a single tap. There is no more time limit (except in large supergroups). Plus you can even delete messages from the other side of the conversation. Or just tap and hold on a chat and delete everything from your and the other side’s phone and also Telegram server. So please edit that section of text

    – Telegram releases it’s code as soon as possible that they see all the bugs reported to them are done and there is no more issue. It usually takes 10 to 20 days. In rare cases, it may extend more than a month. Because they are updating on a monthly basis, and they are constantly introducing new features and enhancing both security and chatting experience.

    Thank you.

    Reply
    • We are really appreciating your efforts and thanks for taking out some time to give your feedback, We will definitely update the article accordingly. Once again thanks to being our reader and tech community member…

      Reply
  2. Oh, I forgot to add that you could have added Telegram comment widget here, probably it could’ve been a more convenient way, so I could even get notifications to any to follow up…

    Reply

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