15 things you need to know about Telegram

Among so many instant messaging applications, one that has come to stand out is Telegram. On some select occasions when WhatsApp was down in certain countries for legal reasons, its users needed a good and reliable alternative. Enter Telegram! Of course, even if it is a popular app, not everyone knows everything it has to offer its userbase. And when it comes to Telegram, there are many features to talk about. If you’re curious to know what you need to know about Telegram, just check out our list below!

1. Security and privacy

First of all, it’s worth mentioning that Telegram is one of the safest messaging apps you can find.

It features secret chats, encrypted messages, the possibility of destroying your account if it is compromised and much more. Other than that, you can add passwords or lock the app with your fingerprint.

2. It’s fast

In general, instant messaging apps aren’t very slow. What you need to know about Telegram is that it manages to be even better in this regard. In several comparison tests, it has even been proven to be one of the fastest chat apps in the world.

This obviously makes your conversations more dynamic and prevents annoying crashes from occurring, something that still happens sometimes with users of WhatsApp and other apps in this category. As the app also compresses messages as much as possible, sending these can go very smoothly even on slow connections.

3. Free, and without ads

Telegram is not only secure and full of features, but all of its functionality can be used completely free of charge. Fortunately, there are no in-app ads or anything invasive of that kind to spoil your experience.

According to the developers, they have a good amount of money to continue working on the app for a long time without having to resort to other options.

4. Bigger groups

Many of today’s instant messaging applications have restrictions on the number of members you can have in a group. WhatsApp groups, for example, can hold about 256 people.

The number looks good enough for normal groups of friends and family, but there are situations where a larger number is needed. In these cases, using Telegram will help you immensely.

What you need to know about Telegram is that it currently supports no less than 75,000 people in its groups. We are aware that you’ll hardly hit even a fraction of this limit, but at least you’ll never have to worry about maximum capacity.

5. Stickers

Like it or not, emojis are no longer enough for people these days. In order to properly communicate with their friends, most people use stickers! Fortunately, most instant messaging apps already have support for this feature.

That includes Telegram, of course, but that’s not even the best part. The app simply lets you create your own stickers however you want, in addition to providing more professional packages.

It’s worth mentioning that the sticker creation process is super simple, since Telegram allows a bot to do almost everything for you. The only thing the user needs to do is upload the images they want to turn into stickers.

There’s also the fact that you can create animated stickers, just like in Facebook Messenger. Just like the normal ones, the animated stickers can also be created by users with the help of bots. Another detail worth mentioning is that all sticker packs can be shared with any user, just like on WhatsApp.

6. Customizable

Another thing you need to know about Telegram is that it’s fully customizable! And we are not just talking about changing the wallpaper or activating a night mode!

It allows you to use different themes, whether created by developers, other users or yourself. This isn’t limited to the mobile app, as you can also find really cool themes in the desktop version. Customizing your user experience is always going to be a big selling point to any app.

7. Test version

Many apps have beta versions for their tests, but Telegram has a totally different version full of test features available for its users. Known as Telegram X, it even has an interface and customization options totally different from the normal version.

Other than that, it’s a lighter, faster version that works on certain devices that the normal Telegram has problems running on.

8. It is easy to tag your friends

In groups that tend to send a lot of messages, it is quite common for you to send a message to someone in specific and it ends up getting lost in the middle of the conversation. What you need to know about Telegram is that fortunately has a mention system.

You can mention your friend’s name and they will be tagged and taken directly to the message you want them to see. Following up on that, they can use the same system to answer you and make sure you see the message.

9. Editing messages

It’s quite common to send a message with some spelling mistakes, especially because of the smartphone autocorrect function. Luckily, Telegram allows you to edit any message sent while using the app!

The only thing you need to know about Telegram’s system is that it leaves a little notice saying the message has been edited. It just doesn’t show the edit history.

10. It is easy to delete messages

Another very nice point worth mentioning is that in addition to editing, you can simply delete the messages you sent. And there aren’t even time restrictions like in WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, so you can feel free to delete messages sent minutes or months ago.

This is great not only for those who ended up sending the wrong message or to the wrong person, but also for maintaining your privacy. Imagine having to pass your bank details or something similar like that to someone and wanting to delete it after a while, for example. That’s not something you can do in other apps.

11. Secret chats

Of course, you shouldn’t only need to rely on editing and deleting messages to maintain your privacy on an app. What you need to know about Telegram is that it offers the option of secret chats that are even safer.

This way, your messages are encrypted end-to-end, so only you and the person in the chat can see what is being sent. There is also no way to forward secret chat messages, any print attempts are notified, and messages, videos, audios and photos can be self-destroyed after a period of time.

The best thing is that after using secret chat, you can simply erase it from your smartphone and the other person’s device with a simple button. This way, all its contents are guaranteed to be destroyed.

12. Larger file transfer limits

File sharing is more than common in messaging apps, whether to send videos, photos, audios or documents. The problem is that apps like Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger have some restrictions on the size of accepted files.

Unfortunately, these restrictions still end up being pretty limited to a few MBs overall. In the case of Telegram, you can share any type of file up to 1.5 GB without any problem. Definitely a great perk.

13. Constant updates

Most current apps get updates to add small features or to make it more stable. In the case of Telegram, many new features and new tools are added quite frequently.

The best thing is that most of these are features suggested by the users themselves. So you will see many updates that really improve your user experience with Telegram, either with more security measures or just making thing more convenient.

14. Cloud storage

While some messaging apps store their content on the device itself, Telegram keeps everything saved in the cloud.

Not only does this make it easier for you to use it on other devices, it helps the app run faster and have a much higher size limit on files.

15. It can be used in multiple platforms

Finally, the last thing you need to know about Telegram is that it can be used across multiple platforms. You can use the mobile app on your smartphone, the desktop app on your PC or the web version on your browser.

And they can all be used independently of each other, unlike WhatsApp, which needs to be connected and online on your smartphone to work in your browser, for example. All these versions are complete experiences and offer similar features.

How’d you like getting to know more about Telegram?

So this was our list with what we believe to be everything you need to know about Telegram? How’d you like it? Are you going to download the app and give it a fair shot? Have you already used Telegram? What’s your experience with it? Comment down below, let us know!