Telegram – The New Standard of Information Exchange!

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Welcome to the article aimed at unleashing the potential of Telegram, a universal communication service for storing, sharing and distribution of information.

In a nutshell, Telegram is a non-commercial product with open philosophy, focus on simplicity, convenience and security that is:

Fast & Reliable
Powerful & Extensible
Cloud-based & Distributed
Open & Free
Private & Secure

Still not sure about the expediency of moving to Telegram? In that case, let’s get started.

At first the question arises, what’s wrong with existing solutions, such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Viber or Skype? In fact, it’s quite simple. They have technical limitations related to stability, reliability, speed, sync, data types and size, economy as well as, in some cases, significant issues with security (Facebook data leaks, vulnerabilities and global surveillance via PRISM in Skype, WhatsApp backdoors). Not to mention moving Viber’s user data to Russia and numerous Facebook privacy issues, which, particularly, acquired WhatsApp and Instagram. This puts at risk millions of users, given the company reputation.

All of this makes us, people, who live in the information era, think of seeking the better alternative that is based on the principles of security, privacy and freedom and doesn’t obey governments or commercial organizations, the one that technically and functionally will surpass the existing options.

In 2013 the resolution of the aforementioned problems became the creation by Pavel and Nikolai Durov of Telegram, simple and convenient messenger with cloud-based and distributed architecture, which combined end-to-end encryption, open-source apps, protocol and API. Over time, it received clients for all relevant platforms (iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Linux, Wear OS, watchOS) and a web-version. On top of that Telegram evolved at a rapid pace and every new release added unique capabilities, leaving competitors behind. Other than transparent privacy policy, documentation and spam control system service was characterized by active cooperation with community, conducting contests, as, for instance, getting access to secret chat between brothers creators with a prize of $300 000 without any winners identified. Indirectly, service’s security was also approved by blocking app in China as well as attempts to block it in Russia (team location doesn’t have anything in common with the country, it’s based in Dubai now).

So, let’s get to the overview of Telegram possibilities, an international service with more than 400 million active users.

Architectural Advantages

One of messenger success reasons is its core – the technology basis. In case of Telegram it’s a powerful architecture built on top of own, open encryption protocol - MTProto. Here are its advantages:

Unprecedented work speed and fluency;
Instantaneous sync across unlimited number of your phones, tablets and PCs;
Dynamic content loading (no manual backups, memory clogging and data loss risks anymore)
Network traffic economy;
Reliable, stable, fault tolerant data transfer and work in general;
Support for communities with enormous number of members;
Availability of cloud and secret chats;
Cloud chats support client-server encryption and strike an excellent balance between convenience and security. In such case the data is synced with Telegram servers;
Cloud chats decryption key is always split between different jurisdictions (which complicates the disclosure of data from legal standpoint)
Secret chats with client-client encryption guarantee maximum security and doesn’t leave traces on servers;
Integrated mechanisms to bypass blocking via proxy servers;
MTProto Proxy support, which provides encrypted data transmission and financial support via sponsor channels;
Encrypted CDN-caching of media in large public communities;
Perfect Forward Secrecy support.

Equally important are Telegram apps themselves, here we have to segregate the following features:

Official apps sources are open for audit;
Telegram Desktop (written in Qt) as well as other clients is famous for high speed, optimization and support for modern OS innovations);
Alternative clients with own benefits are available;
It’s possible to use only a desktop client without reference to mobile ones;
Portable desktop app is supported;
Multiple accounts with quick switching support;
Two-step verification, passcode lock, active sessions and log-ins control;
Flexible data export from Telegram Desktop into JSON/HTML;
Importing chats from WhatsApp, Line, KakaoTalk.

Main Features

Telegram can find other people by phone numbers as well as usernames and thus replace SMS, email and satisfy your personal and business correspondence needs.

Because Telegram is a messenger, its users mostly interact with chats and messages, which, at first sight, don’t have anything special. Nevertheless, thanks to symbiosis of ideas, technologies and their implementation, service capabilities were brought to the whole new level.

Messages Concept

Messages serve as a container for different content types and their combinations available for sending:

Text with support for formatting (bold, monospace, italic, underlined, strikethrough font, links) and hashtags
Web content (images, animations, video) and instant view support
User mentions, message replies, forwarded messages sources
Emoji (some of them are animated), stickers, animations
Light and smooth animated stickers
Both separate media/files and their sets of up 10 elements per each
Images as full-quality files
Documents
Audio files
Any number of files with size up to 2 GB
Contacts with VCARD field support
Location (including real-time with relative position viewing on the map)
Polls and quizzes
Voice messages
Video messages (round videos with duration up to 1 minute)
Bot content, their buttons and decorations

Telegram provides the following tools to work with messages:

Batch copying, deleting and sending (in particular into a few chats simultaneously);
Deleting messages/chats without limits;
Message editing, media/files replacing;
Correction of already sent images;
Scheduled messages;
Silent sending and cancelling messages in sending process;
Convenient media playback means, web-service content (streaming mode, scaling, background playback, quick jumping from any chat, picture-in-picture mode, thumbnail previews, timestamps... are supported);

Flexible media editor (cropping/rotating, drawing, masks, text, correction...);

An option to auto play animations and small videos (unmuting with volume button);
iOS sending menu supports iCloud, Dropbox and Google Drive;
Handy and stable recording, sending, playback of voice/video messages with support for accelerated playback, trimming (video messages) and «raise to speak»;
Sending muted videos as animations;
Cloud drafts (editing and sending of unfinished messages could be continued on any of your devices);
Sending separate stickers (not from your sets);
Preview of stickers, their sets, GIF;
Jumping to the origin of the message by tapping on source.

Chats Concept

Telegram chats work in cloud and secret modes and provide such advantages as:

Unlimited number of chats and their size;
Grouping with help of flexible cloud folders;
Viewing chats content by media types;
Handy chats archiving;
Message auto delete;
Pinning messages and chats;
Pinning/unpinning, (un)archiving, deleting, clearing history, cache, marking as read/unread, enabling/disabling notifications... for one or more chats at once;
Extended chat search with support for hashtags, filenames, filtering by date and sender;
Global search for chats, contacts, usernames, message contents, hashtags, filenames with support for filtering and categorization;
Search of emoji and stickers by name or keyword;
Searching images, animations, places on map on the web;
Viewing the best sticker packs;
Adding contacts without having their phone number;
Adding people and groups nearby;
Viewing groups and media that are common with contact;
Saving chat position after exit;
Profile videos;
Chats and accounts' preview;
Community stats;
Expiring invite links for communities;
Flexible individual/global notifications control by chat types with support for exceptions, temporary muting, system settings, badge counters, smart notifications (not more often than m times per n minutes).

Media Classification, Extended Search, Notifications Control

Cloud Mode

Saved Messages – your personal chat, which offers access to the data from all of your devices. It supports simple jumping to the source of forwarded message and reminders.

Chats – individual messaging with your contacts.

Groups – communication between numerous people. Unique features:

Up to 200 000 participants;
Changing group name, photo and description;
Changing history visibility for new users;
Two group types: public (access by public link/location, search by group name) and private (access by private link);
An option of adding person to group manually;
Common message history;
Reply chains;
Slow mode;
Changing owner, admins, controlling their privileges, titles and viewing action history within 48 hours;
Moderation, access rights control (with support for temporary/permanent exceptions) and users blocking;
User mentions support;
Official sticker packs in groups starting from 100 members;
Using bots for various tasks, including automated moderation;
Upgrade to broadcast groups.

Channels – broadcasting information to subscribers. Unique features:

Unlimited number of subscribers;
Changing channel name, photo and description;
Public and private channels (similar to groups);
Common publication history;
Viewing action history (similarly);
Admin signatures;
Changing owner and admin rights control;
User blacklist;
Silent messages support;
Message views counter;
Convenient channel message sharing (choosing/searching recipients, commenting);
Discussions via groups/bots integration;
Automation and extending capabilities via bots;
A wide range of use cases: blogging, entertainment, educational channels management, replacing certain websites, news channels, structuring of your own info, monetization…

Channels examples:

@bbcworldnews – official BBC world news channel;
@science – channel that provides science-related content;
@durov – Pavel Durov’s channel with recent news about Telegram

Bots – are Telegram accounts operated by programs instead of people. Some bots are powered with AI capabilities. Unique features:

Have photo, URL and name to address and share the bot;
Support all types of content;
Privacy mode for groups;
Permission to speak (sending notifications);
An option to stop the bot;
Monetization possibility;
Three ways of communication;
Via chat with bot (using commands, messages and keyboards);
Via inline mode by sending on-the-fly queries from any chat and getting immediate data response;
Via interaction with dynamic bot messages in different chats, which includes: inline keyboards, bot payments and answering their messages;

Bot help to solve a variety of tasks, in particular:

Learning, searching and reminding;
Moderation, feedback and support;
Payments;
Quick access and processing of data both inside Telegram and integration with other services (YouTube, Gmail, Wikipedia, Flibusta, NovaPostha etc.).

Secret Mode

Secret Chats – one-on-one chats with maximum protection. Their features:

End-to-end encryption;
No traces are left on servers and no sync across devices is available;
Hiding notifications’ details from a lock screen;
Taking screenshots and copying/forwarding information outside is blocked;
Message self-destruction timer;
Security check via encryption key comparison;
Uninstalling application results in secret chats loss;
Telegram Desktop is not supported (due to cross-platform security limitations).

Calls – one-on-one voice and video calls with maximum protection. Their features:

End-to-end encryption;
Incredibly fast, high-quality and economical;
Security check by encryption key comparison represented as 4 emoji;
Connection optimization with artificial intelligence;
Background mode and picture-in-picture;
Different ringing tones depending on the recipient online status;
Screen Sharing
Quick text replies;
Peer-to-peer and incoming calls control with support for exceptions.

Without Encryption

Video chats - calls with unlimited number of participants based on groups and channels. Their features:

UX

One of the greatest Telegram strengths consists in the fact that despite the whole diversity of capabilities and flexibility, developers manage to keep apps simple and neat and an eye for detail is tracked in all service aspects. Here are some of strong points:

Handy keyboard shortcuts, mouse actions and touchscreen gestures;
Support for UI themes (Desktop, Android, iOS) and extended chat backgrounds (patterns, their intensity, blur...), with option to choose accent colors and cloud, cross-platform sync;
Support for a night mode with themes switching and automatic transition (on schedule, with sunrise and sunset or according to light sensor measurements);

Adaptive UI in Telegram Desktop;
Support for compact window mode on desktop version;
Convenient photo/video sending (full-screen preview, batch sending, grouping, choosing sequence, individual editing, preview and comments);
Access to the last used inline bots from attachments menu;
Quick jump to last message, mention (via badge), another recepient (forwards redirect) and date in the chat;
Undo clearing history and deleting chats within 5 seconds;
Changing the number of visible text lines for chats in list;
Changing message bubbles' radius;
Fullscreen playback of video with sound enabled by screen rotation;
Notifications about joining of the new contacts from phonebook;
Changing sticker packs sequence as well as support for archiving them;
Smart media auto-download;
Home screen shortcuts and widgets;
Extended statistics and data control;
QR-codes;
VoiceOver, TalkBack.

Ecosystem

It’s high time to briefly speak about main open platforms and extensions that perfectly complement Telegram and bring user experience to the qualitatively new level.

Telegram API & TDLib – powerful tools to quickly develop Telegram clients. Furthermore, TDLib can take care of numerous low-level details (internet-connections handling, updates sequence, local data encryption).

Bot API – is the basis of bot platform that allows developers from all over the world to create own bots, combine Telegram with new services (e.g. YouTube, IMDb, Spotify) and endlessly extend the messenger possibilities. Creation, configuration, transference of bots is done through @BotFather bot and search for the existing ones is possible by using both websites and separate bots.

Some bots that support inline-mode:

@quizbot - interaction with global quizzes;
@imdb – searching info about movies/TV series in IMDb;
@vid – searching videos
@like – creation of polls with reactions represented as emoji;
@wiki – Wikipedia search;
Others: @gif, @pic, @music, @youtube, @gmailbot.

Some bots that don’t support inline-mode:

@discussbot – adding comments to channels and websites;
@airtrack_bot – searching airline tickets;
@livegrambot – setting up feedback for channels;
Others: @controllerbot, @flibustafreebookbot.

Bot Payments API – an extension that allowed the creation of merchant bots to pay for services and goods. Features: processing payments by external service providers, support for Apple Pay, Google Pay and saving bank cards data (if two-step authentication is enabled).

Stickers Platform – with help of @stickers bot allows users to create, manage and share sticker sets (no paid stickers) and masks as well as viewing their stats. It's possible to monetize the best artwork.

Gaming Platform – with bots like @gamee allows to play on your own as well as share HTML5-games and compete with others.

Comments Platform - via web service and @discussbot allows to add comments support to channels and websites. Main capabilities, in particular, include sending photos, getting notifications and authorization via Telegram.

Instant View Platform – allows to create optimized versions of web pages with instant view mobile Telegram apps feature by applying sets of special rules (templates). Advantages: high speed, data-traffic and resources economy, caching, look & feel configuration (font, font size, page style, night mode), no ads, different content types, easy adoption by developers and support by thousands of websites.

Telegraph & Telegraph API for Logins and Stats – a platform for writing articles (like this one) with support for media, formatted text and embedded web service (YouTube, Twitter) content through telegra.ph website developed by Telegram team. @telegraph bot helps with linking publications to your account, managing them, account settings and viewing statistics.

Telescope – a service that allows to share public video messages and to watch them without Telegram account via telesco.pe website (http://telesco.pe/<Channel_Name>).

IFTTT API (if this, then that) – with help of @IFTTT bot and compatible applets provides two-way Telegram integration with more than 360 IFTTT-compatible services (Instagram, Dropbox, Philips Hue…) and allows to build automated action chains (forwarding tweets to Telegram chat/group, sharing new Spotify playlist tracks, interaction with IoT devices and a lot more). New applets could be created single-handedly.

Telegram Login for Websites – a web-widget/link for external websites authorization via Telegram (similar to how this is often available through Google).

Telegram Passport – a unified authorization way for services that require personal identification. The service stores personal info (passport, identity code, driving license, translated documents…) end-to-end encrypted, that’s why Telegram doesn’t have access to it.

Localization Platform – a collective creation and improvement of UI translations by committing your own proposals and voting (approved changes are applied in real time). The UI language could be set via links or locale files.

Themes and Backgrounds Platforms – creation, configuration, editing, searching for images and themes, sharing your artwork with others.

T.me Links – private/public links to access groups, channels, messages, users, sticker packs, backgrounds, UI languages and bots with automatic client handling.

Embedding Messages – a possibility to integrate messages from public channels and groups into web-pages source code.

Bugs and Suggestions Platform - a development of the messenger taking into account community's opinion;

Contests Platform - the developement of the messenger via crowdsourcing.

Telegram Support Initiative – support and answers to user questions with help of volunteers.

Configuration

The last, but not least is adjusting the app to suit the needs of concrete user. Telegram achieves this with help of flexible, cloud-based settings system that supports exceptions, settings and FAQ search and full control of such aspects as: account info, notifications and sounds, privacy and security, data and storage, chat settings.

Conclusion

Is it possible to treat Telegram as the new standard of information exchange? Taking into consideration its philosophy, unprecedented array of features and both quantitative and qualitative characteristics – that’s definitely the case.

Telegram is an idea, idea that everyone on this planet has a right to be free, this is a freedom to share your thoughts, a freedom for private communication and a freedom to create valuable tools.

Telegram is a service, service created for those, who aren’t going to settle for less, for those who strive to get the cream of the crop solution.

Join yourself and embrace others to the technology revolution today!