Telegram Vs. Signal

Instant messaging (IM), in its most basic form, was introduced to the world way back in 1971 via a US government computer network that served the American Office for Emergency Preparedness.

It was only a few decades later, in the mid-to-late ’90s, that IM services were widely adopted by ordinary people, with the likes of ICQ, AOL, AIM and Yahoo Messenger among the most popular.

Since the early days, several other messaging services have popped up and gained real popularity, but it was Whatsapp that really changed the industry in a way that had never happened before.

Launched in 2009, Whatsapp was first offered as an exclusive iOS service, but by 2010, it was available across devices and operating systems, and today, it’s the most popular IM app in the world with an estimated two billion active users every month.

However, despite the platform’s resounding success and dominance in the market over the last ten years, it hasn’t been without competition.

In fact, plenty of new instant messaging platforms have emerged over the years, bringing in millions – and for some, billions – of users from all over the world.

 

Who’s Competing with Whatsapp? 

 

Whatsapp may be dominating the IM industry, but that doesn’t mean that it hasn’t faced significant competition. In fact, there are several notable platforms that have achieved real success and are continuing to grow, including options like WeChat, Facebook Messenger, Snapchat, Microsoft Teams and more.

However, two of the biggest names in the IM industry around the world are Telegram and Signal, both of which have enjoyed significant success over the years, and even more so recently.

Both Telegram and Signal have been around for around ten years, launched in 2013 and 2014 respectively, not only operating within a highly competitive industry but surviving and thriving.

So, what is it that makes an IM platform favourable in this day and age, and how have Telegram and Signal managed to maintain their competitive edge while existing in the so-called shadow of Whatsapp?

We’re going to do a deep dive into these competitors and explore the most important features that make  Telegram and Signal distinct.

 

Signal and Telegram: The Origin Stories 

 

Both Signal and Telegram emerged in the world of instant messaging in the wake of Whatsapp’s incredible success which had taken the world by storm in 2009 and pretty much achieved global dominance by 2010.

 

Where Signal Started

 

 

The full story of how Signal started is a complicated one that involves several different parties and organisations, ultimately culminating in the platform we know today.

Most importantly, however, it was launched in San Francisco in 2013 under NGO Open Whisper Systems with Matthw Rosenfeld, better known as Moxie Marlinspike, and Brian Acton leading the charge.

What started off as an app offering only phone-call services quickly evolved into a messaging platform, now offering a revered platform for secure communication.

In fact, privacy is probably what Signal is most well known for, using end-to-end encryption and several other features to maintain users’ security and privacy. To this end, Edward Snowden, the infamous NSA whistleblower, has been an outspoken advocate and user of Signal for many years.

 

The Launch of Telegram

 

 

Telegram was founded by Russian-born brothers Nikolai and Pavel Durov and launched in the British Virgin Islands in 2013. Today, the company’s headquarters are based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

The establishment of Telegram followed the brothers’ departure from VKontakte (VK), a social network they founded in their home country in 2007. The Durovs asserted that VK had been taken over by the Russian government, raising serious privacy and free-speech concerns, leading to their departure in 2014.

As of March 2024, Telegram has an average of 900 million monthly users, demonstrating its immense continued success, with particular market dominance in Russia.

Telegram offers users various services, including different chat options, media sharing and more.

Main Features of and Differences Between Signal and Telegram 

 

Since both Telegram and Signal have been immensely successful over the last decade, we’re interested in the two platforms’ similarities as well as the most important features that set them apart.

 

 

Different Messaging Options

 

With regards to the applications’ most basic messaging functions, they’re fairly similar. Both Telegram and Signal allow for ordinary messaging as well as the sharing of audio and video files, as well as images, files, location information, contacts and more.

The differences between the two apps with regards to the above are a little more specific, and a lot of it comes down to encryption.

We’ll get into more detail regarding privacy in the next section, but the basic difference between Telegram and Signal is that the latter encrypts all messages, while Telegram only encrypts some specific messages as designated by the app’s “secret chat” options.

In addition, the way in which messaging data is stored is also different. Telegram stores unencrypted data (that is, most ordinary messaging data) on a cloud server that can be accessed from anywhere by means of any device. However, encrypted messages – messages sent via the “secret chat” feature” – can only be accessed from a specific, single device.

Signal, on the other hand, stores all messaging data on the devices used by senders and recipients, but the data is still accessible from any other device that uses a Chrome browser by means of a mirroring option provided by a Chrome extension.

Put simply, Signal allows for all messing data to be encrypted and accessed from anywhere and any device, while Telegram only allows for specific messages to be encrypted, leading to limited accessibility outside of the specific devices used to send the original messages.

Here are some other key differences between the two platforms with regards to messaging:

 

• Video Calls: On Telegram, users can voice and video call large groups of users at once, while Signal users can only call groups of up to five people simultaneously
• Group Chats: Telegram allows for group chats of up to 200,000 members while Signal caps group chats at 1,000 members.
• Broadcasting: Telegram offers a private or public broadcasting service that allows recipients to receive but not respond to messages.
• File Transfers: Signal allows for file transfers capped at 100 megabytes, while Telegram offers file transfers of up to two gigabytes.
• File Storage: For Signal users, file storage is limited to the device in question, while Telegram users are offered limited storage on central servers.
• Bots: Signal does not allow the use of automated conversations by means of bots while Telegram does.

 

Those are the main functional differences between the two platforms’ features, but what about the most important question of all: encryption?

 

Types of Encryption and Messaging Privacy

 

The issue of encryption has long since been the main topic of conversation with regards to instant messaging platforms, regarding different levels of encryption and subsequent privacy concerns, and this has been a defining factor with regards to the success of these applications.

As we’ve already noted, the primary difference between the two apps is the varying types and levels of encryption: Signal imposes end-to-end encryption on all messages while Telegram only does the same for selected messages.

So, what does that mean for privacy?

In the most basic sense, this high-level of encryption issue means that overall, Signal offers users more security. The app implements complete end-to-end encryption on all data as well as providing the option to permanently delete all data at any given moment from any device.

Conversely, Telegram only offers this security feature for “secret chat” messages. All other data is pretty encrypted, but it’s not the same.

What’s the difference between encryption and end-to-end encryption? We won’t get into the nitty gritty, but basically, the former means that if a message is sent from person A to person B, person A’s device encrypts the message and person B’s device decrypts it. The actual message cannot be decrypted and “read” at any point between these two destinations.

If a message is merely encrypted, on the other hand, there is potential for the message in question to be read by a third party between the time at which it’s sent from person A until it’s received by person B.

Thus, end-to-end encryption is more secure than ordinary encryption, and Signal’s messaging services offer more privacy than Telegram’s messaging services.

Part of the reasoning behind the difference in encryption levels between the two apps is due to their varying protocols. Signal uses Signal Protocol developed by Open Whisper Systems, while Telegram uses  MTProto. Generally speaking, Signal Protocol is considered far more robust than MTProto, although the latter has improved a lot recently.

 

Personal Privacy

 

Messaging privacy and different types of encryption are one thing, but it’s actually well worth having a look at personal privacy in a separate capacity.

That is, what and how much personal information is collected and stored by each app, and how much of this information is and can be shared?

Unsurprisingly, this issue has become a hot topic within the instant messaging industry recently. In fact, Whatsapp, IM industry leader, received overwhelming criticism for its lack of consideration for user privacy, leading to larger numbers of users jumping ship – some only briefly, but others permanently.

So, how do personal privacy and instant messaging systems work and why are the differences between platforms important?

It mostly comes down to what different applications have the ability to collect in terms of users’ personal data and information, along with what their guidelines allow them to share openly.

Unsurprisingly, many users aren’t particularly keen on having any and all information available via messages and other apps collected freely and shared and looked at by others. Of course, the main question is, who is seeing this information and for what purpose? Ultimately, the sharing of private information leads directly to questions about free speech.

Now, at the outset, both Signal and Telegram seem to fare better than Whatsapp in this regard as both protect user data more than the Meta-owned messaging system. So, what’s the difference between the two?

Essentially, Signal has permission to collect users’ contact numbers and store them – that is, the user that is holding the device accessing the message in question.

Telegram, on the other hand, is able to not only collect and store the contact number, but it’s also able to collect data regarding the users’ other contacts as well as the IP address of the device in question.

Immediately, based on this, Signal allows users to maintain more privacy than Telegram, but there are actually additional features that make Signal slightly more preferable in this regard, including features to protect user privacy, including an incognito keyboard option and a sealed message option (hiding senders’ device details).

An important factor affecting these platforms’ ability to protect data is the laws of the countries in which they’re based. Indeed, in some places like the US, government and law enforcement agencies are able to gain access to companies’ data without having to inform users.

Thus, what businesses have realised is that a great deal of their ability to protect and ensure users’ privacy is based on what they collect in the first place. Thus, Signal is able to offer users almost absolute privacy, because they simply don’t collect personal data other than what’s necessary.

Whatsapp, on the other hand, operates very much on the other side of this conversation, collecting very detailed device and behavioural information, including purchasing history, location history, payment details and more.

One additional difference between Telegram and Signal in terms of privacy that’s worth noting is the signup process. The protocol for both apps is pretty much the same in that both require a contact number.

However, Telegram also asks for a username, and instead of having other users identify you by your contact number (which is how Signal works), users will know you by your username, hiding you contact number.

Ultimately, the general consensus is that when it comes to personal privacy on instant messaging platforms, Signal is the most secure, followed by Telegram, with serious concerns being raised over Whatsapp’s widespread collection of private data.

 

Device Support

 

One thing Telegram and Signal have in common is that they both support all the general operating systems, from iOS and macOS to Windows, Android and Linux.

The main difference in this regard comes down to two features:

 

• Signal requires the use of Google for notifications, but that’s only an issue for devices that make use of custom Android operating systems.
• Telegram also supports Windows phones in addition to the ordinary options.
• Telegram allows users access to a universal portal that contains encrypted messages that are stored on its servers.

 

Other than these specific differences, Telegram and Signal are fairly similar in terms of the devices on which they can be used, making both platforms fairly broadly accessible.

 

The Overall Consensus: Telegram or Signal? 

 

If you want a clear-cut answer as to whether Telegram or Signal is preferable, it’s pretty difficult to say, because there are plenty of factors to consider, and it also really comes down to your personal preferences and concerns. Thus, neither one is necessarily better or worse than the other.

Having said that, however, the best way to answer that question for yourself is to identify the key aspects of the IM platforms and how Telegram and Signal differ in each respect, and then decide what’s most important to you.

Here’s a basic list of the key features of and differences between Signal and Telegram:

 

• Encryption: Signal uses end-to-end encryption for all data, while Telegram uses less secure encryption methods and end-to-end encryption only for specific features.
• Group Chats: Telegram supports large group chats and Signal only allows for relatively smaller group chats (that is, 200,000 as opposed to 1,000 members).
• Broadcasting Channels: Telegram allows for widespread broadcasting of messages, including public or private viewing, while Signal doesn’t allow the same.
• Automated Responses: Telegram includes an automated response feature powered by bots while Signal doesn’t.
• File Sharing: Both apps allow for the sharing of files of different types, but Telegram can share fr larger files.
• Self-Destructing Messages: Signal and Telegram both allow for messages to be deleted automatically after a set amount of time, but on Telegram, the messages in question must have been opened for this to work.
• Adverts: Sigal doesn’t allow for any advertising as it’s a non-profit organisation, whereas Telegram does allow for some adverts (although this is still limited compared to other platforms).
• Device Support: Telegram and Signal are pretty similar in terms of device support, so this isn’t normally a deciding factor (unless you’re using a device that uses a custom Android operating system).
• Personal Privacy: Both Signal and Telegram offer far more privacy than Whatsapp, but Signal collects the least personal data between the two.

 

These are all the main things that set Telegram and Signal apart, but generally speaking, the most important question users have to ask is which platform is safer. Indeed, the straightforward answer, although there are lots of issues to consider, is that Signal is safer than Telegram due to its use of end-to-end encryption.

However, if safety and privacy aren’t your primary concerns, then there may be other reasons that Telegram could be better for you. That is, if you’re looking for an IM platform that allows you to communicate with large groups of people in more of a social-media-type environment with lots of additional features, Telegram may be the right choice.

It all comes down to individual user preferences, needs and priorities, and if you’re able to identify exactly what it is that you’re looking for, deciding between Signal and Telegram based on the features and differences we’ve outlined above ought to be fairly easy.