As a Telegram user since 2014, I’ve always been an avid fan of the messaging app Telegram. Since its launch in August 2013, the app has undergone several developments and changes, but it has remained one of the world's top messaging apps.
This is not a surprise because Telegram is truly an innovative and great app that provides users premium features for no cost at all. However, there are still many hidden features and fun facts to know about this cool app. Read on and discover ten fun facts about Telegram and discover why it’s one of the best apps out there!
Telegram Can Be Used Everywhere
Telegram is an app that can be used by iOS, Android, Mac, Linux, and Windows users. This is an important feature for me because I use multiple gadgets across different platforms.
Moreover, Telegram can also be used from your browser, which is another great feature for users who have slow internet connections or are trying to cut down on data usage. Telegram also seamlessly syncs across all devices.
Telegram Has Over 500 Million Active Users
This app is, without a doubt, one of the most popular messaging apps in the world. It is also one of the ten most downloaded apps globally, spanning different types and categories of apps. With over 500 million active users, the app is truly one of the best ways to connect with people from different parts of the planet.
Telegram also allows users to create groups and channels with 200,000 people! This is why I love Telegram because I can be part of communities with people with whom I share common interests.
Whether it’s about a certain television show, artist, music, film, hobby, game, activity, place, technology, or life hacks, there’s sure to be a Telegram group I can be part of! Telegram’s large base of users and great networking features allow me to reach out to people wherever they may be. This is why I use Telegram not just for work but also for socialization.
Users Can Schedule Messages And Send Silent Messages
I’ve only come across these features recently. I found out that I can actually schedule when messages are to be sent, I couldn't stop using this feature. It’s been something I've always wanted to use in a messaging app, much like how I schedule to send my emails.
Unlike other messaging apps, Telegram is the only app that allows me to schedule when messages are to be sent. I find this particularly helpful when I want to send something to people, but I don’t want them to know that I am online, so to avoid forgetting my message, I use the scheduling feature instead.
Telegram also allows me to send silent messages, which are great if I want to send messages without notifying or disturbing the receiver. To do this, all I have to do is long-press on the send button and choose among the options for scheduling and sending silent messages.
Store Messages And Files With Unlimited Storage
Another mind-blowing fact that perhaps not everyone knows about is the app’s Saved Messages space for each user. Here, messages which I save will be backed up on Telegram’s secure cloud, similar to the rest of my chats.
This is a great feature for me because having space where all of my saved messages are compiled saves me a lot of time searching and scrolling through my inbox. As a person who uses Telegram for work, I save many work-related messages in the app, so this feature comes in handy for me.
And it gets only better from there! It’s unbelievable how Telegram can provide unlimited storage for users. Unlike cloud-storing apps, which provide a 15 to 20 GB limit on storage, Telegram provides unlimited storage for free. However, I can only send files that have a maximum file size of 1.5 GB.
The App Was Made To Evade Russian Security
This is a bit of a back story, but nevertheless an interesting one. When brothers Nikolai and Pavel Durov lost their company, VK, to the Russian government and found themselves in conflict with their home country, they realized that they had no safe means of communicating with each other.
VK was a popular social media app in Russia, even more, popular than Facebook. When the Russian government took hold of it, Pavel and Nikolai left the country in a self-imposed exile. They created Telegram as a protected channel for communication that Russian security would not track, trace, and decipher.
To prove the app’s top-tier security, they held a contest and offered a $200,000 prize to anyone who would be able to crack the app’s encryption. No one was able to do it, and until now, Telegram remains to be one of the safest and most secure messaging apps in the market.
Telegram Spent Nothing On Advertising
Another fun fact about Telegram is that while it is a successful app that has taken the world by storm since its release in August 2013, it has spent absolutely nothing on an advertisement. As a Telegram user, I never really saw any ads about the app anywhere. I started using this app because my friends were on it.
Despite being a newcomer in the world of instant messaging in 2013, it has managed to get a wide base of users. In just a little over a year, they have reached 50 million users with 1 million new signups every week and deliver one billion messages every day!
Now, I can only imagine how many messages are being delivered by the app eight years after its release. These milestones of the app are purely all because of the users and nothing more - no fancy gimmicks and tricks to catch people’s attention.
Telegram Is Ad-Free
Another great feature that I like about the app is that it is completely ad-free. In a world that is run by consumerism, it’s tough nowadays to find apps that provide premium features without a price.
Knowing Telegram’s features, I wonder how they can provide these services for free without relying on advertisers and sponsors. I am very happy to have come across Telegram because I am not targeted with annoying, intrusive, and persistent ads, which are often enabled because of data-breaching.
The app promises to remain free forever, never show ads, or ask users to pay for a subscription. This is the reason why people use Telegram, aside from security.
Secret Chats Can Self-Destruct
As told by its origin story, Telegram's claim to fame is its god-tier security that encrypts data and chats. However, another tip on Telegram is that normal and regular conversations are less secure than secret chats, so I always use secret chats when talking over the app.
Messages sent via secret chats can be automatically deleted using self-destruct timers, allowing me to choose between two seconds to one week before deletion once the chats have been read.
Moreover, secret chats are more secure as these are end-to-end encrypted, meaning no one will be able to decode or access the content and messages that I am sending using the app. I always use secret chats because my friends in the computer programming industry believe that secret chats are the only truly encrypted data on the app.
I Can Delete Messages Sent By Others
Another cool feature that I thought didn’t exist was the ability to delete messages sent by other people. While some say this is a divisive feature, I really don’t mind having this feature.
At first, I found it very disturbing to have people delete my messages, but I guess this is okay because I don’t use Telegram to send important messages to strangers. It’s also a way for the person I am talking to take control of our conversation in the app.
Users Can Now Join Group Voice Chats
Lastly, this recently introduced feature has been a hit with all users. I had always been waiting for the day when Telegram would release a voice chat feature so that my friends and I would no longer have to switch applications to hear each other.
I’ve found the app’s voice chat feature to be simple, direct, efficient, and easy to use. It’s a no-brainer, no-frills feature that gets the job done.
Conclusion
Telegram is an app that continues to revolutionize the instant messaging landscape of the future. I am excited to see what Telegram has in store for users who trust and rely on the app for everyday messaging for personal and work purposes.
Through Telegram, the world is assured that our data is safe, secure, and protected from data theft, illegal data phishing, and others.
