7 Reasons Why You Might Want to Stop Using Telegram
Telegram is a solid chat app, but it's not a perfect. Here are some considerations to think about before utilizing Telegram for your messages.
There are a variety of causes to use Telegram, from its convenient multi-device sync to its fun stickers and other chat features. And while Telegram has greatly improved its popularity in recent years, there are some downsides of the app to consider, too.
Let's look at some of the causes you might want to step away from Telegram. Not all of them will apply to everyone, but it's good to know the weaknesses in every app you rely on.
1. Telegram Chats Aren't End-to-End Encrypted by Default
If you're not too familiar with Telegram, you might suppose that all your chats are protected with end-to-end encryption, like they are on Whats App and Signal. But this isn't the case.
Telegram does the encrypt your messages as they travel between your device and the Telegram server. However, these messages sit on the server so you can access them from a multiple devices. A break of Telegram's servers could thus result in your messages being exposed.
The service gives end-to-end encryption in its secret chats, but you have to start these manually. If you forget to start one, or someone else begins a non-secret chat with you, it doesn't enjoy the similar privacy protections.
2. Telegram Collects Your Contact Data
By default, Telegram gathers basic data about the contacts on your phone. The company tells it does this to notify you when someone you know signs up for Telegram and to show their name in the service. When someone you recognize joins Telegram, you'll see the name you have saved for the contact, not their Telegram screen name.
While Telegram only stores the first and final name and phone number of your contacts, this is still a bit about for an app that's focused on privacy. Even , getting a notification every time a friend joins the app is a pain, mainly if you have most other notifications turned off.
3. No Personal Read Receipts in Group Chats
If you utilize a messaging app for a lot of group chats, Telegram lacks a handy feature that might be a deal-breaker. While Telegram group chats do contain read receipts, they don't keep track of each person who has read your message.
Instead, immediately one member of the group has opened a message, two checks will appear. There's no way to be sure who hasn't seen the message yet, aside from utilizing people's Last Seen status to infer who hasn't opened the app in a while. Depending on what you utilize group chats for, this might cause you to jump to another app.
4. Telegram Has Limited Support
Hopefully, you won't ever have a trouble with Telegram that needs you to contact a support team.
Telegram gives limited support; the main choices are reaching out on Twitter, visiting the Telegram help form, or going to Settings > Ask a Question in the app. This is staffed by volunteers, so while you may obtain an answer to your query, there's no guarantee. If you can't receive an answer by reaching out, you'll have to hope it's in the FAQ.
If you have deeper troubles with the app, getting a hold of someone who actually works at the company could be difficult . This isn't a big knock against Telegram, but it could be a concern for some.
5. Your Friends Might Not Use It
A lot of the probable reasons to ignore Telegram are related to usability, privacy, and security. But there's another practical cause that's easy to overlook: if your friends aren't on Telegram, there's not much point in utilizing it.
You might be able to convince a few friends to create an account on Telegram to make a group chat with them, but that only goes so far. Most people won't wish to bother downloading a secondary messaging app just to talk to you when Whats App, i Message, SMS, or whatever else they already utilize works fine for their needs.
Telegram still has some value if you utilize it alone; check out the best Telegram channels to join to see how. But any messenger is a lot better when you can talk to most of your buddies in one place.
6. Ads and a Subscription Plan
Apps such as Telegram have to make money somehow, mainly as they scale to serve hundreds of millions of users. Most of the time, apps introduce monetization by describing ads, and Telegram is no exception.
In late 2021 and early 2022, Telegram began rolling out ads in its app. These ads do not see in one-on-one messages or group chats. Instead, they are limited to public channels with more than 1,000 followers, and only appear in definite regions. See the differences between Telegram groups and channels if you aren't friendly.
While these ads are non-intrusive and privacy-conscious, they're still annoying to see in what was once a fully free app.
In June 2022, Telegram introduced Telegram Premium, an optional subscription service that offers you extra goodies. These contain doubling the file size upload limit, giving unique stickers, letting you create more folders to organize your chats, and removing ads.
At $5/month, Telegram Premium isn't worth it for most humans . But it's annoying that the app locks some handy features behind a paywall, mainly compared to other messaging apps that don't include ads or any subscriptions.
7. Miscellaneous Telegram Concerns
We've looked at some of the major causes you might want to step away from Telegram above. There are a some other minor considerations to keep in mind, containing :
While this is up to individual preference, some people complain that Telegram's interface isn't visually pleasing. Telegram helps custom themes, though, which should take care of any problems here.
You can only sign up with a mobile phone number; there's no choice to sign up with just an email address, or something else. This might be a roadblock for you.
