Telegram

https://telegram.org/

Terms of Service & Privacy Policy

• API interface Terms of Service https://core.telegram.org/api/terms
• The actual Terms of Service are very limited (chekcked undated version): https://telegram.org/tos.
• Privacy (Aug 14th 2018 updated as May 25th 2019 checked): https://telegram.org/privacy

Evaluation (13 Oct 2020)

• End to End ecryption is possible (Secret Chat)
• The Self-Destruct Timer is available for all messages in Secret Chats or any messages you sent or received can be deleted in any one-on-one conversation, messages are deleted from both participants (but not in Group Chat)
• Versatile; Group discussions,Bots, Channels, Multimedia, File Transfer up to 2 GB
• Open (mainly) Source (at least APIs)
• Auditing possilbe for Third Party
• Good documentation (esp. for Security Features)
• Compatible with other messaging apps, for example Slack and Irc
• Account can be removed by user (all data will be removed)
• Unused account will be deleted after 6 months after last login, all data will be removed
• Two-step authentication possible
• No advertisements
• Data is stored to Cloud (for EU/ETA users the service is in the Netherlands
• Phone app is mandatory to install (Utilises mobile phone contacts although desktop or browser used)
• Encryption is not on by default
• Uses own encryption protocol MTProto Mobile Protocol https://core.telegram.org/mtproto/description (which is well descripted ) but only some of Telegam´s clients uses it
• Terms of Service inadequate

Login

• Logging is done by full (international) phone number and password while installing Telegam Client. Account is verified by SMS.
• Two-step authentication can be switched on in settings (password + SMS)

Support

• https://telegram.org/faq
• https://telegram.org/support
• Inadequate TOS, thus no full support and guarantee for availability

Provider

• Telegram Org (Pavel and Nikolai Durov).

Revenue

• Pavel Durov is financing Telegram for ideological reasons.

Similar services

• Signal, WhatsApp