Gaurav Rathore
His write-ups blend creativity, personal experience, and tailored technical advice, meeting reader needs effectively.
Telegram is one of the prevalent chat apps used by extensive audiences that entitles you to send messages, photos, long-length videos, and many other things.
Recently, the app has been facing various sorts of rumors after the arrest of its CEO and founder, Pavel Durov. Since the controversy has come into the limelight, many other pitfalls of Telegram have raised public concern about their safety.
Adhere to this article to learn the pros and cons of Telegram, along with the potential reasons to get a clear idea about whether is Telegram safe or not.
Is telegram safe?
— Nobel Will (@WilliamNobel11) April 30, 2024
Telegram is a cloud-based messaging application that allows its users to transmit messages, share media files, and make phone calls worldwide. Currently, the platform has over 950 billion active users. It was launched on 14 August 2013 by two Russian brothers, Nikolai Durov and Pavel Durov, who worked on both Android and iOS. You can also use it on macOS, Linux, Windows, and even modern authentic browsers.
Mainly, it is free to use; you just have to download the application and create an account to connect with the boundless audience. Moreover, the app contains numerous elements such as:
Along with the above-mentioned features, one of the salient features of Telegram is that this platform allows you to store up to 2 GB of files and for premium users, they can store up to 4 GB. All your media and files will be saved on the cloud, so you can log in and log out of the app multiple times on varied devices without being afraid of losing the data.
However, Telegram has been criticized due to many controversies. Stick to the article to know what creates suspicion in everyone’s mind about its security and privacy.
Telegram is widely well-known as a messaging app for its speed, security features, and creativity. The platform offers various tools to enhance your privacy; so if you ever wondered how safe is Telegram app is, then you must know that security is in your hands while using the app by configuring the settings.
One of the limitations of Telegram app is that its chats do not have end-to-end encryption by default, which means the conversation you have on the platform is between you and the app server. But in the exceptional case, if you wish to chat secretly, you can enable the built-in “secret chat” feature manually, after which the server does not access your chats anymore
Furthermore, noticeable aspects of the security features consist of self-destructing messages, restrictions on forwarding messages, two-step verification, and password protection. Telegram has made itself more transparent by implying an open-source API that allows independent inspection, which might raise security concerns for many of its users.
Therefore, Telegram is a secure platform for having a casual conversation. However, it can breach privacy concerns in the matter of crucial conversations or media sharing.
The CEO and founder of Telegram, Pavel Durov, was arrested in France on 24 August 2024. This incident has changed the whole perspective of the platform in its user’s mind. There are lots of things that come into the spotlight, which creates tension among the users about their security.
We have listed sorts of issues that have arrived after Telegram faced the security breaching controversy.
Many of the users misuse the feature of privacy and large media sharing of Telegram, due to which the platform has become a hub of inappropriate content. The application is easily accessible to anyone like kids and teenagers. Sharing content like this without any restriction is not safe for their future.
The app is well known for its privacy terms; it uses encryption to deliver privacy and assure its users that the conversation is secured between them, even if the app authority does not have access to their chats. But the same feature invites criminals, and they misuse the characteristics easily.
Therefore, after these incidents, Telegram has become the most controversial app across the world.
There are massive active users of Telegram right around the world. However, after being in controversy for a long time, many of its users are tense about their privacy, and some are still clueless about the risk.
Here, we have listed 4 potential reasons that will make you suspicious about continuing the use of Telegram.
As a new user of Telegram, there might be a chance you assume that your chats are encrypted by default, just like further messaging apps like Signal and WhatsApp. But you will be surprised to know that this is not the case.
Thus, your chats are not just between you and your contact; messages are also traveling from your device to the Telegram server, which assists you in accessing your chats on any device but also breaches the privacy concern.
However, the platform has introduced a new feature named “secret chats,” which means your chats are not end-to-end encrypted by default, and if you wish to chat privately, you must be on the secret chat feature at the start.
But if you have started texting manually or another person hasn’t enabled this feature, then you won’t be enabled to use privacy protection.
In the Telegram Privacy Policy, it has been mentioned that their server traces the user’s mobile number to know which of your contacts know the most Telegram users.
Also, by syncing your contacts, they collect the basic data of your contact list, such as their first and last name along with their mobile number. The company states this feature is to notify you when your family and friends sign up for the app. Therefore, you will receive the notification by the name you have saved on your devices, not by their account name.
However, getting notified every time your contact signs up for the app can be annoying; fortunately, you can turn it off, but also sometimes it can raise privacy concerns.
In late 2021, Telegram started rolling ads on its app. The reason is obvious, the company holds an extensive audience, and they have to manage the funds from somewhere.
However, these ads do not appear in one-on-one messages or group chats. These ads are limited to channels that consist of more than 1000 followers and in a specific region.
Afterward, in June 2022, the platform launched the Telegram Premium at $5/monthly. The prime characteristics of this subscription are making your app ad-free, having access to unique stickers, increasing the sharing large media size limit, and allowing you to create more folders to manage your chats. Meanwhile, paying for a once-free app is not worth it for some people.
We have mentioned some major issues, after which there is a chance you neglect using Telegram. But also, take a look at some minor concerns that affect the user’s experience:
Hence, here we have listed some major concerns that might make you think twice before using the app. But also, continuing the use of Telegram or not is totally up to you. Just be cautious and take the necessary measures to be safe from any cyberattacks.
At first glance, you might contemplate Telegram and WhatsApp as similar apps for 1v1Chat. However, the features of both apps are quite identical, as they both assist you in sending a text message and sharing files and media across the world while taking care of the user’s privacy.
Let’s have a quick view of the similarities and differences between both messaging apps.
| Features | Telegram | |
| End-to-end encryption Privacy | Only in Secret Chats | ✅ |
| Self-destructing messages | ✅ | ✅ |
| Hide Personal Mobile Number | ✅ | ❌ |
| Two-factor authentication | ✅ | ✅ |
| Chat history cloud storage | ✅ | Optional |
| Screen lock | ✅ | ✅ |
If you are wondering whether Telegram and WhatsApp collect your personal information, then your answer will be yes. Almost every application you download on your devices collects some essential data to enhance your experience with them.
Just like that, according to the Telegram Privacy Policy, the company collects miscellaneous data such as the devices you use, IP address, and activity on the platform. Along with the username, and store this data for up to 12 months on their server.
By default, the chat does not encrypt messages, which makes your chats collected on the Telegram server, until you have enabled the secret chat feature.
Whereas WhatsApp is owned by Meta, which updated its privacy policy to maintain its user’s security and privacy in 2021. Presently, the company does not share any of your information with the Meta server, but they collect further data such as IP address, mobile number, device information, and transaction data. The company says these data were collected to enhance your experience; simultaneously, they do not access your messages and contact information also WhatsApp has a built-in feature where you can set up parental control to secure your child’s experience on the application.
Hence, we have gone through the various aspects of Telegram and WhatsApp, which tells us that both apps are partially similar and safe. The major thing to keep in mind is that you have to take some precautionary steps while using the Telegram app, whereas you can use WhatsApp freely without being concerned about your privacy.
After learning about the gray side of Telegram, you might be concerned about your children interacting with insensitive content on the app. Here, we have directed you through the various ways to secure your children’s experience.
Telegram did not have any specific parental control built-in feature, but there might be some other proactive measures you may take to ensure the appropriate experience for your children. Such as mentioned below:
Regarding bots and channels, Telegram has a function to enable and disable content filters, which you can use to control explicit content. Make sure you adhere to the steps and enable this feature to make your children’s experience secure.
Therefore, by following the simple steps, you can enable the content filter for your child’s security.
There are a lot of reputed paternal control software readily accessible, that you might install and configure to monitor your child’s Telegram activity, set a usage limit, and filter explicit content floating around on the app.
Here, some established parental control software is listed below for you.
Therefore, by taking some vital steps that we have mentioned above, you can safeguard your child from explicit content on Telegram without stopping them from using the app.
Summing up, Telegram, a messaging app blends extensive group abilities, ideal cloud storage, connectivity with a vast audience, robust bots and an innovative privacy policy. However, its users have changed their perspectives on their privacy practices after falling under the gray controversies.
Hence, in this article, we have brought up some potential reasons why you should be aware while using the app. Meanwhile, Telegram is considered to be one of the most secure messaging platforms, but there are still some things you should be mindful of to avoid any kind of personal information leak.
Telegram is not just a messaging app, here you can connect with a vast audience, share photos and videos throughout the world, and also get valuable information by joining the channels of your niche.
The platform holds the built-in feature, “secret chat”. Make sure you activate this feature before continuing the private messages to overstep any kind of privacy breach.
Telegram is partly free, with access to unique features such as the ad-free version of the app, unlocking the unique stickers, extending the size limit of the media, and so on.
