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Aditya Mitra
Aditya Mitra

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Telegram - The one Messenger app to rule them all

I have been using Telegram Messenger for almost a year now. It has now become my personal preference for instant chat messaging. Telegram has it all which most other Messenger apps in the market have and more, that most other apps do not. I have a lot of reasons why I like Telegram as much as I do, and I’d like to share them. Read on to find out!

Cloud-Based

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This is one the best features of Telegram. Telegram allows users to share multiple photos, docs and other file types (which are not so large in size) to be shared through its cloud based service without users having them to download in their device storage. So, you need not to worry about storage when sharing multiple small files and photos. Also, telegram provides unlimited cloud storage for all its users. This time you might not need a backup service to watch for your back!

Synchronization

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Telegram provides seamless synchronization for its users. As mentioned earlier, all of the users' messages from chats to files are all saved into telegram's cloud. When logged in multiple devices for Telegram, all of the chats are updated and files appear for download. Telegram has its own desktop app which can work independently without your phone being in proximity or connected to the internet.

Groups (Public and Private)

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This another big perk of Telegram services. Groups can as big as 200,000 members (public) or smaller (private). Public groups are completely transparent and can be searched for through Telegram or even search engines. Public groups also have their own customizable invite link(t.me/) which can be cited on websites or blogs for interested users to join. Public groups help user to chat with people globally sharing common interests or are there for a particular motive.
Private groups are more often used for people who know each other. Private groups are not transparent cannot be found using search. The powers which an admin in a telegram group can hold are far more interesting. Admins can have their own custom tiles (for example:the founder of this group). Admins while adding other admins can change these admins' permissions of what they will be capable to do in the group. Admins can also change the permissions of not only what chat-members in a group can do as a whole but also change a member's right individually. Moreover, they can bots which can only respond to them.
Members in a group can also be mentioned and replied and some messages can also be pinned for the extra attention of the users.

Bots

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Bots are the most powerful tools Telegram has given to us. If you are programmer and good at using APIs, Telegram might have the perfect tool for you- Telegram API. Bots can:-

  1. welcome users in a group
  2. stop spams
  3. take anti-flood measures
  4. report statistics
  5. mark important messages
  6. fetch content (like news) from websites
  7. act a medium between two users when required
  8. and all other stuff you can think of! Truly, bots are handy when you are using Telegram for your business purposes or managing a large public group.

Encryption

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Private and normal text-chats have server-side encryption for securing users' chats. If the user still does not feel satisfied, he/she can start a secret chat for more security as secret chats provide an added level of encryption - the client-side encryption. Anyone who can crack a Telegram secret chat conversation can win a prize of $300,000 in the Cracking Contest.

Gifs and Stickers

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Telegram has an arsenal of official and user made stickers and animated stickers, and integration with Giphy for gifs which can be used without downloading. Users can access gifs and stickers from the stickers panel or search for gifs using @gif followed by the gif they are searching for. There are also a handful of stickers created by some Telegram users which can be downloaded by the users and sent in the chats. Users can also create their own gifs using loop feature in videos.

Channels

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Telegram provides another feature besides the awesome groups it provides. Telegram channels are one-way communication chats which a user can join to get useful information about their interests. There are channels in Telegram which provide web series, movies and discount coupons for e-shopping. I joined some of the telegram channels and found them very useful.

Other Awesome Features

Besides the features I talked about above, there are a couple of other features there in Telegram too.
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1. Telegram Chats can be archived.

2. Any useful channel or group can be searched for in the Telegram search bar.

3. Polls (for the silent members :D) can be conducted to get everyone's opinion.

4. Sent messages can be deleted by the sender as well as the receiver in private chats, and in groups messsages can be deleted by the sender and the admins, without leaving any trace.

5. Wallpapers look more amazing when you use them in Telegram with its animated features for wallpapers.

6. Phone number stays hidden and also you can deny to accept calls from any user using Telegram.

7. To save any message for future use, one can easily forward it to the saved messages chat in Telegram.

8. There are many different themes to choose from and later customized for using Telegram.

9. Any message in a chat can be searched for using the search bar in the chat.

10. Telegram has its own app lock making it unnecessary for third-party app locks to lock the application.

After all these features I have discussed, I find myself very attached to using Telegram. I just cannot imagine myself using another messaging application beside Telegram for chatting.
JUST LOVING TELEGRAM

Top comments (18)

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jmfayard profile image
Jean-Michel πŸ•΅πŸ»β€β™‚οΈ Fayard • Edited

Nice post. I love Telegram too.

I want to become less dependent on Facebook and convincing friends to switch from WhatsApp and messenger to Telegram has worked out pretty well.

Also I use Telegram as my bookmark manager and to send notes to myself in the future.


I don't agree with the title however that there can or should be one single messaging app that rule them all.

It's all context dependant.

Signal or Threema are probably better in a professional context where security matters a lot
securemessagingapps.com/

In a work context, something more asynchronous (not Slack) will probably allows people to focus more.

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jeikabu profile image
jeikabu

I've lived a bunch of places, and work with partners in a bunch of other places. My work phone has:

  • Telegram
  • WhatsApp
  • Skype
  • Skype for Business
  • Teams
  • Chime
  • WeChat
  • Xoom

Telegram is ok, but I go through phases of either hating or merely tolerating all of them. Except for Skype for Business, which I always hate.

I do like Telegram's ability to edit/delete messages and decent PC app (although I wish it had more in the way of settings). It's biggest problem is too many people aren't on it. =)

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adityamitra profile image
Aditya Mitra

Which instant messaging platform do you prefer?

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jeikabu profile image
jeikabu

"Meatspace" ;)

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danjessen profile image
Dan Jessen πŸ‰

So no Slack ... how odd!

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jeikabu profile image
jeikabu

We used it briefly at one company. But it didn’t work well in China and didn’t want people to have to use VPN all the time, we dropped it.

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john__mct profile image
John McTavish

Also love Telegram. A few things to add:

  • The super-clean 'instant view' feature for reading news articles. Also a good way to get around some paywalled content.
  • The multi-device syncing really works! Unlike slack, which leaves a red notification bubble on my iPhone even after I've read all the new messages on desktop, forcing me to open the app just to clear it. I know other messenger apps have figured this out but WTF slack?
  • The 'Edit' - > 'Read All' shortcut on mobile is a sweet way to clear the notification bubble on iOS.
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dvc_96 profile image
Ω…ΩŽΨ³ΩˆΩ…ΩŽΨ³ΩˆΨ―

Telegram is Best messenger app in world !! we use it in Iran with vpn because government blocked that ! :)) but we just use that

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pavelloz profile image
PaweΕ‚ Kowalski • Edited

Telegram will not be sold.

And bitcoin can only go up. ;-))

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panoscool profile image
Panos K.

There is one missing thing so, encrypted calls, it will be a great future if they added to the app.

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adityamitra profile image
Aditya Mitra

Yes man
Agreed with you

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aahnik profile image
Aahnik Daw

whatsapp is crap. I hate it like anything.

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obaaa8 profile image
MAHMOUD ABDELSAMEA

Me too

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billymawahib profile image
Urip Hidayat

Excuse me, i repost your article.
Credit & source are included.

telegra.ph/Telegram-All-About-10-30

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adityamitra profile image
Aditya Mitra

My pleasure!
Hey, but please mind spelling my name correctly - It is Aditya Mitra

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jeansmaug profile image
jean-smaug

Do you know how Telegram makes money ?

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adityamitra profile image
Aditya Mitra

No.
But I would love to listen.