On 12 June 2019, Telegram confirmed that it suffered a denial-of-service attack which disrupted normal app functionality for approximately one hour. The Telegram team tweeted that it was either because the user had malware or they were not using two-step verification. The hypothesis is that either mobile devices were hacked by SIM swap or the targets’ computers were compromised.
Bots
Following the launch of Stars, Telegram released several updates to their functionality, such as allowing Stars to be used to unlock media in channels or to buy gifts for other users. In late 2020, Durov announced that the company was working on its own ad platform, and would integrate non-targeted ads in public one-to-many channels, that already were selling and displaying ads in the form of regular messages. Such bots are used, among other things, to emulate and play old games in the app and inform users about vaccine availability for COVID-19. For users who signed in from the European Economic Area (EEA) or United Kingdom, the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) are supported by storing data only on servers in the Netherlands, and designating a London-based company as their responsible data controller. Premium users have access to extra stickers, emoji, reactions, and customization features like a special badge and the ability to change the look of their messages in chats.
What Are the Best Alternatives to Telegram?
Users with a Telegram Premium subscription have a number of “boosts” that they can give to channels, which allow the channel to “level up” and unlock features, such as the ability to customize messages or post stories as the channel. When forwarded, polls retain the answer data and any votes cast in other chats will count toward the overall total. Users can freely join public chats and find them using the in-app search function, while private chats require an invitation. Groups are large multi-user chats that support up to 200,000 members and can be public or private. Secret Chats restrict screenshotting by Android devices and warn when one is taken on an iOS device, while also hiding the chat contents from the final image. Telegram messages in private chats can be edited for up to 48 hours; an “edited” icon indicates changes.
- A quick refresh of the Telegram Web tab or restarting the mobile app always fixed it and brought my conversations back in sync.
- Telegram introduced affiliate programs in December 2024 that allow developers to create an affiliate program for their bot or mini app.
- Nevertheless, they said they saw “no reason why Telegram should use a less secure encryption scheme when more secure (and at least as efficient) solutions exist”.
- This means Telegram (the company) could theoretically access your messages.
- This is seen as an issue for non-profit organizations and similar entities who want to operate a Telegram channel.
- According to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, as of October 2019, Telegram had 300 million monthly active users worldwide.
Apps related to Telegram
Less known is Olvid, which replaces the phone number with its identity scheme. Signal is ad-free, does not collect or track data, and is practically non-communal in its functionality, as it is used primarily as a means of one-on-one conversations. Its open-source code welcomes the level of transparency, and the application is a strong tool to engage in encrypted messaging, calling, and file sharing with a more limited group. Telegram open APIs have allowed developers to create their own applications, meaning that the ecosystem is not tied to a particular official client. Telegram also allows you to have several accounts on a single client, which may be helpful when you do not want your personal and business communication to be mixed.
Security
On 9 June 2019, The Intercept released leaked Telegram messages exchanged between current Brazilian Minister of Justice and former judge Sérgio Moro and federal prosecutors. MTProto 2.0 is seen by qualified cryptographers as a vast improvement to Telegram’s security. The Telegram team responded that the flaw does not affect message security and that “a future patch would address the concern”. Nevertheless, they said they saw “no reason why Telegram should use a less secure encryption scheme when more secure (and at least as efficient) solutions exist”. In December 2015, two researchers from Aarhus University published a report in which they demonstrated that MTProto 1.0 did not achieve indistinguishability under chosen-ciphertext attack (IND-CCA) or authenticated encryption. The EFF said that the results “should not be read as endorsements of individual tools or guarantees of their security”, and that they were merely indications that the projects were “on the right track”.
- Its open-source code welcomes the level of transparency, and the application is a strong tool to engage in encrypted messaging, calling, and file sharing with a more limited group.
- At times, the QR code failed to scan, no matter how I positioned my phone.
- It is estimated that the bot contains data from 26 million Ukrainians registered in the Diia application.
- Telegram (also known as Telegram Messenger) is a cloud-based, cross-platform social media and instant messaging (IM) service.
- Telegram stated that it does not have access to the data, while the platform will share the information only with the authorized recipient.
Telegram
In March 2014, Telegram promised that “all code will be released eventually”, including all the various client applications (Android, iOS, desktop, etc.) and the server-side code. In 2018, Telegram sent a message to all Iranian users stating that the Telegram Talai and Hotgram unofficial clients are not secure. In June 2017, Pavel Durov in an interview said that U.S. intelligence agencies tried to bribe the company’s developers to weaken Telegram’s encryption or install a backdoor during their visit to the U.S. in 2016.
A Step-by-Step Guide to Your Telegram Web Login
On 30 March 2020, an Elasticsearch database holding 42 million records containing user IDs and phone numbers of Iranian users was exposed online without a password. They criticized how, unless modified first, the default general security model stores all contacts, messages and media together with their decryption keys on its servers continuously; and that it does not enable end-to-end encryption for messages by default. Along with the shared photographs, anonymous accounts shared the women’s private information, including phone numbers and social media profiles, encouraging members of the group to contact the women and ask for sexual favors.
Specific users can be tagged in the group Kiekka Casino by adding @username to a message, where “username” is that particular user’s username. Ownership of channels and groups can be transferred to one of the admins if the owner wishes to give up their rights. They support flexible admin rights and can use bots for moderation to prevent spam and unwanted activity. Any user can also send a message to a special “Saved Messages” chat as a form of bookmarking them.
Similar to other social platforms, Telegram users can post stories, a type of short-form content. In June 2021, an update introduced a new bot menu where users can browse and send commands while in a chat with a bot. Bots are also commonly used for businesses to communicate with customers as the bot APIs integrate with communication platforms so that Telegram messages can be sent and received in an omnichannelinbox. Certain approved bots are also able to integrate into the attachment menu, making them accessible in any chat. Auto download settings can also be applied based on chat type such as group, channel or private. Similarly, users can hide their phone number and profile photo from people based on categories such as Non-Contacts or by adding exceptions.
Telegram has public APIs with which developers can access the same functionality as Telegram’s official apps to build their own instant messaging applications. It is automatically updated and will most likely get new versions faster than the apps in the Play Store and App Store. The built-in media viewer supports common media formats – JPEG, PNG, WebP for images and H.264 and HEVC in videos in MP4 container and MP3, FLAC, Vorbis, Opus and AAC for audio. Telegram has various client apps, some developed by Telegram Messenger LLP and some by the community.