WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram- all are popular messaging platforms that offer multiple features to their users. Today, messaging software are not only confined to text chats but have added on multiple other features including video calls, voice chats, document sharing, group chats, payment systems, etc. Amidst the controversy of WhatsApp’s new privacy policy, Telegram and Signal are gaining more popularity these days. Here we have carried out a comparison of WhatsApp versus Signal versus Telegram.
Currently owned by Mark Zuckerberg, WhatsApp was founded in 2009 by Jan Koum and Brian Acton. It is a well-known messaging service having around 2 billion active users worldwide, that keeps coming up with new feature-updates now and then.
FEATURES:
- End-to-end encryption of messages, calls and everything
- Broadcasting messages to multiple contacts at the same time
- Lets up to 256 members in one group chat
- Allows 8 users on a single video call
- Sharing live location with other contacts
- Allows to share content (photos, audios, videos) up to 18 MB
- Allows to share document files of up to 100 MB
- Restores messages and data on the cloud platforms like Google Drive, iCloud, etc.
- Allows in-chat payment
- Provides the feature of in-app dark theme
SIGNAL
Signal is an application founded by Brian Acton and Moxie Marlinspike in 2014. It has been successful to gain 20 million active users worldwide by now.
FEATURES:
- End-to-end encrypted communication
- Voice and video calls
- Group calling
- Allows different storage periods (30 days, 6 months, 1 year, Forever)
- Allows storage by message limit (100 messages, 500 messages, 1,000 messages or custom)
- Enables incognito keyboard
- Sending a message to yourself to review later with the feature named ‘Note to Self’
- Inviting people to groups via link
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TELEGRAM
Telegram is an instant messaging software founded by two Russian brothers- Pavel Durov and Nikolai Durov in 2013. It is the 16th most used social media platform in the world with 20 billion active users worldwide.
FEATURES:
- End-to-end encrypted chats and data
- Supports the group chat of up to 2,00,000 members
- Supports features like polls, quizzes and hashtags
- Allows to add people by ‘Add People Nearby’ feature
- Lets the users share files of up to 1.5 GB
- Offers two different dark modes
- Self-disappearing messages (like Snapchat) after the set time
- Unlimited storage capacity (storage gets saved on the app’s cloud)
- Offers secret chat mode (messages disappear after a fixed time)
The table below shows the data of the users collected by the three apps- the least being of Signal app and the most being of WhatsApp.
BOTTOM LINE
After the discussion of all the features, the Telegram app is the best suited for the majority as it has impressive features with quality security standards. While if privacy and security is the main concern, Signal app is highly recommended that has all the necessary features and highest quality security standards. However, WhatsApp seems a bit unreliable, especially after the new policy.
