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Comment by barbs | Hacker News Reader

Am curious to know why they prefer Telegram to Whatsapp.

Telegram you don't need to share your phone number, easily synchronises between all of your devices, stores large files, has better controls for managing group chats.

The CEO of Telegram has a track record of bad security decisions: https://thehackernews.com/2016/06/vk-com-data-breach.html Better use https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_(software) . It is recommended by Edward Snowden.

There's always the network effect: if 90% of the people you want to talk to are on Telegram vs about 20% of them being on Whatsapp, then Telegram is vastly preferable.

Also stickers. Custom stickers that are easy enough to set up that lots of people do.

Pros: - Secret Chat - Share different file types up to 1.5 GB - Multi-device access - Supergroups and public channels - Telegram Bots - Lock chats and Ability to hide last seen for particular contact - Edit Messages and Mention People

Cons I can thin of: - No calls support or ability to backup chats - lacks user base

How can secret chat be a pro for Telegram when it's the default in WhatsApp?

Telegram actually does have audio call support :)

For me it was because, on iOS, you can use a Telegram-specific PIN/touch-id lock to prevent the app from being opened by anyone but you.

I wish this feature was built into iOS on an app-by-app basis.

Telegram is a better tool for groups.

WhatsApp is more secure because everything is end-to-end encrypted.

Telegram can use end-to-end encryption, it just isn't enabled by default.

I know, and I use and like Telegram. But the result of optional end-to-end encryption is that most people don't use it. The whole idea of WhatsApp and Signal is to encrypt everything end-to-end to defeat mass surveillance.

Honest question - do you consider only surveillance done by governments as mass surveillance or would you add "surveillance" done by Facebook (to better target ads) also into that classification? The reason I ask is because metadata from WhatsApp (whom you messaged, when, from where, etc.) is used by Facebook unless you opted out (or if it's been declared illegal in the jurisdiction you live).

Signal is the only one to trust for security, privacy and handling mass surveillance better than the other apps.

Whether it's done by a government or Facebook, mass surveillance is still mass surveillance. But at least, with WhatsApp and Signal, only the metadata are observable, but not the content of my messages. It's still an issue, but something I'm willing to accept in exchange for a communication tool I can use with my non-technical friends, family, co-workers, etc.

I don't like apps that take over my phone number. Telegram doesn't do that.

But you do need a phone number to setup Telegram. I like the fact that it allows not having to share one's number with others by setting a username and sharing that instead (though setting a username increases the chances of getting spam/unsolicited messages especially if your profile pic looks like a human female and your name sounds like one too).

Wire [1] on the other hand, doesn't need a phone number and can work with an email address.

[1]: https://wire.com

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