“How Telegram Became the Anti-Facebook”

I read this very long article about Telegram today and somehow it left me with mixed feelings. The article is also from WIRED, but it offers more balanced coverage than an article from a year ago.

On the one hand, Telegram is an excellent messenger that works well across multiple devices. Every month there are new and improved features, usually before any other messenger offers them. Because the messages are stored in the cloud, there is little chance that the chat history will suddenly be lost due to a loss or defect of your own phone. The bot API is also quite awesome.

On the other hand, Telegram is not really transparent. Sure, the apps are open source and the app builds can be reproduced, but the whole network of companies, the headquarters in Dubai, the TON story, and the fact that there is still no secured and sustainable funding leave some uneasy feelings.

For some time now, I’ve been advocating using an app like Delta Chat instead of WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram. But at the same time, it’s not a perfect solution either. Not all email providers work with Delta Chat, and entering IMAP and SMTP connection data is a bit more complicated than simply registering with your phone number.

But I don’t have any recent experience with Delta Chat, maybe I could give it a try again. In any case, I have installed the app again. If you want you can contact me and try Delta Chat with me: deltachat at this blog’s domain.

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