With WhatsApp deciding to share its information with Facebook, many users are looking for a powerful alternative to WhatsApp. Right now, Telegram is perhaps one of the most popular instant messaging app, trailing behind WhatsApp in its number of users, and for good reason.
Telegram might not be as widely-used as WhatsApp, but it does have its advantages over the crowd’s favourite.
The Advantages of Telegram
- Secret Chats
- The great thing about Telegram is that you can create self-destruct chat messages. To do this, just click on the triple liner button on the left and create a secret chat with your friend.
- Subsequently, just set a self-destruct timer by clicking the button on the top right and then selecting your timer.
- If you choose a 5-second self-destruct timer, then your messages will be auto-deleted after 5 seconds once your recipient has opened it.
- This is a great way to erase all digital footprints, especially if you are having a sensitive conversation.
- Unlike WhatsApp, Telegram can be used on more than 1 mobile phone, tablet and computer. You can sign in across multiple devices at the same time, allowing you to text your friends anytime, anywhere.
- WhatsApp only allows you to transfer files of 160MB, but Telegram allows you to transfer files up to 1.5GB in size. You can send videos, pictures, songs and all kinds of documents with ease. The file transfer capacity is even greater than the amount of you can send over in emails.
- Telegram’s groups can hold up to 1000 groups, much more than WhatsApp’s 200.
- It has public broadcast channels that any Telegram user can join.
- Telegram’s stickers are insanely funny and cute. It even supports GIFs that are literally sent as GIFs and not videos that WhatsApp converts it to. After all, why should we text when a picture tells a thousand words and a GIF tells a million?
Advantages of WhatsApp
- Popularity
- WhatsApp is popular, because its popular. Users will obviously join an app that most people are on obviously. Since most of your friends are already on WhatsApp, it probably doesn’t make sense for you to join another app to chat with friends that don’t have that app.
- Calls
Credits: Android Police
- WhatsApp is giving telcos a run for their money by introducing free calls. Telegram still doesn’t have calls at the moment. Nevertheless, WhatsApp calls are often laggy and suffer from poor quality as well as connectivity.
- On WhatsApp, you get sent, delivered and read receipts. On Telegram, all you get is sent and read receipts, which is much less comprehensive.
- You also cannot opt out of read receipts like WhatsApp, so if your girlfriend texts you and you ignore her, you’re screwed. #glhf
- It’s interesting how you can bold, italicise and strikethrough your text to give more weight and meaning to your text.
Conclusion
If you ask me for my completely subjective opinion, I honestly prefer Telegram. However, if you ask me which one I use more, it’s obviously WhatsApp for the simple reason that everyone else is using it and I have succumbed to peer pressure. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Telegram’s multiple features have really convinced me to go blue instead of green, but until most of my friends realise that, I’ll be sticking to WhatsApp for the majority of my time.
