Why has it captivated thousands of users in markets such as Spain and Latin America? What is it that makes you so interesting? Why should we have WhatsApp as an alternative? Well, today in our category How it works we explain in detail what is telegram and we try to provide answers to those questions.
Privacy, speed, coverage, freedom, free, capacity, security and functionality are some of the characteristics of Telegram, a WhatsApp-style messaging system that seeks to make millions of users around the world fall in love, including Spanish-speaking users for whom there is a version fully translated into Spanish and with complete support in that language.
What is Telegram
It is an instant messaging system to chat with friends, family and everyone who is on our phone contact list on our mobile and who also has the application that can be downloaded on iPhone and Android installed (there are even unofficial applications that are They can test on Windows, Windows Phone, Mac OS X and Linux). Conversely, those who have us on their phone list can start a new conversation with us.
It is completely free and has many features similar to and superior to WhatsApp, for example, security is such that messages are encrypted and can be self-destructing so that the curious do not even have a chance. In fact, offering a more private and secure alternative to WhatsApp has been one of the reasons why Pavel Durov, the same founder of Vkontakte, Russian Facebook (the most popular network in Russia and the second in Europe) created him. .
Features, mode of use and differences with Whatsapp
If you have used WhatsApp the appearance of Telegram will not surprise you since it is almost a clone, although with more elegant blue tones; The best differences are on the technical side. higher speed, more security, more capacity in sending files, totally free, etc.
If you have not used it, it is not a thing of another world: a blank initial screen that is the one that will contain your chats (each conversation with a certain user), an envelope-shaped icon at the top to start a new chat with one of the available contacts (again, all those who are on our phone list and have Telegram installed on their mobile), a magnifying glass to search faster for a certain contact, and a button that will list four important options:
New group: To create group chats or conversations with a specific group of contacts at the same time. Groups of up to 200 people can be created; on WhatsApp only up to 50.
New secret chat: An even more secure chat with mobile to mobile encryption whose messages leave no trace on Telegram’s servers and are self-destructing after reading. Of course, that of any trace does not mean that messages of the other type, those of conventional chat, are stored in an insecure way but that to be able to access the histories from multiple devices it is required that they go through the cloud (with their due high encryption) .
For activate self-destruction of messages in a secret chat, you need to slide your finger from right to left in the chat window to display a window with quick security options, including activating self-destruction and defining the desired interval (2 seconds, 5 seconds, one minute , an hour, a day or a week); Go back to the chat and you’ll see it working.
Contacts: Another way to access contacts quickly.
Settings: The configuration section includes, among other things, options to control notifications, change the background of the chat (there are 20 available by default and you can upload your own images from the gallery, instead on WhatsApp you have to install them separately), manage blocked contacts and define the size of the text.
The chat window with a specific user
The chat window has the classic messenger service, it comes with space to write and a smiley icon for emoticons (the same ones on WhatsApp). When sending each line of text, the two verification chulitos are also shown, one if the message has been sent correctly and two chulitos if it has also been read (with the specific time it was read).
A fascinating feature is that of send files up to 1 Gb With which it will be possible to share instant photos, gallery images, locations, videos and any other file stored on the computer. Whatsapp also allows you to send contacts but does not allow you to send non-multimedia files, so, on this topic, it is also surpassed by Telegram.
Finally, another nice detail is that by turning the phone to write two-handed in a more comfortable way, unlike all the other messaging services (Hangouts, Skype, WhatsApp, Facebook, etc.), the previous messages are still displayed (in a small space but they are seen).
Free software and maximum security
Whatsapp and Snapchat are applications that have suffered a lot from hacker attacks due to the way their system is considered. Well, Telegram works with servers around the world that, in addition to making communications faster, guarantee maximum security with a complex encryption system that, although not infallible, does exceed thousands of times that of these two options. For more information about the Telegram security system on this page of Genbeta they explain it very well (with images like the following) and in complete Spanish.
Another good detail is that Telegram is mostly based on free software licenses, that is, in addition to being free, anyone in the world can review the code that gives it life and alert them to possible failures so that they can be solved instantly, something This is not possible when the software is private and in the hands of a limited group of people in a company.
How to start using it
You can download Telegram for Android and Telegram for IOS from their respective app stores. It is completely free and will surely stay that way until the end of your days thanks to the server infrastructure of its sister network, Vkontakte (again, the Russian Facebook).
By the way, the free software is what opens the possibility for some to work and publish versions for more devices, for example, for Windows, Mac, WP8 and Linux (chatting even from a code console). All about apps Unofficial is available at this link.
Dare to try this good alternative to WhatsApp and leave us your opinion in the comments.