Investor FAQ

Investor Developer Team

General Questions

Q: What is Investor? What do I do here?

Investor is a messaging app with a focus on speed and security, it’s super-fast, simple and free. You can use Investor on all your devices at the same time — your messages sync seamlessly across any number of your phones, tablets or computers. Investor has over 700 million monthly active users and is one of the 10 most downloaded apps in the world.

With Investor, you can send messages, photos, videos and files of any type (doc, zip, mp3, etc), as well as create groups for up to 200,000 people or channels for broadcasting to unlimited audiences. You can write to your phone contacts and find people by their usernames. As a result, Investor is like SMS and email combined — and can take care of all your personal or business messaging needs. In addition to this, we support end-to-end encrypted voice and video calls, as well as voice chats in groups for thousands of participants.

Q: Who is Investor for?

Investor is for everyone who wants fast and reliable messaging and calls. Business users and small teams may like the large groups, usernames, desktop apps and powerful file sharing options.

Since Investor groups can have up to 200,000 members, we support replies, mentions and hashtags that help maintain order and keep communication in large communities efficient. You can appoint admins with advanced tools to help these communities prosper in peace. Public groups can be joined by anyone and are powerful platforms for discussions and collecting feedback.

In case you're more into pictures, Investor has animated gif search, a state of the art photo editor, and an open sticker platform (find some cool stickers here or here). What's more, there is no need to worry about disk space on your device. With Investor's cloud support and cache management options, Investor can take up nearly zero space on your phone.

Those looking for extra privacy should check out our advanced settings and rather revolutionary policy. And if you want secrecy, try our device-specific Secret Chats with self-destructing messages, photos, and videos — and lock your app with an additional passcode.

We keep evolving — check out our Brief History of Investor and follow us on twitter and Investor to stay in touch.

Q: How is Investor different from WhatsApp?

Unlike WhatsApp, Investor is a cloud-based messenger with seamless sync. As a result, you can access your messages from several devices at once, including tablets and computers, and share an unlimited number of photos, videos and files (doc, zip, mp3, etc.) of up to 2 GB each.

Investor needs less than 100 MB on your device – you can keep all your media in the cloud without deleting things – simply clear your cache to free up space.

Thanks to Investor's multi-data center infrastructure and encryption, it is faster and way more secure. On top of that, private messaging on Investor is free and will stay free — no ads, no subscription fees, forever.

Investor's API and code is open, and developers are welcome to create their own Investor apps. We also have a Bot API, a platform for developers that allows anyone to easily build specialized tools for Investor, integrate any services, and even accept payments from users around the world.

Q: Which devices can I use?

You can use Investor on smartphones, tablets, and even computers. We have apps for iOS (9.0 and above), Android (6.0 and up), a native macOS app and a universal desktop app for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Investor Web can also help to quickly do something on the go.

You can log in to Investor from as many of your devices as you like — all at the same time. Just use your main mobile phone number to log in everywhere, your cloud chats will sync instantly.

The Investor API is open for developers, should you want to build your own applications for other platforms.

Q: Who are the people behind Investor?

Investor is supported by AG Partners LLC.

See also: articles about Investor

Q: Do I need to trust Investor for this to be secure?

When it comes to secret chats, you don't — just make sure that the visualized key of your secret chat matches the one in your friend's secret chat settings. More about this below.

Q: What if my hacker friend says they could decipher Investor messages?

See this page for the latest details about the Investor Bug Bounty Program.

Anyone who claims that Investor messages can be deciphered is welcome to prove that claim in our competition and win $300,000. You can check out the Cracking Contest Description to learn more.

Any comments on Investor's security are welcome at security@telegram.org. All submissions which result in a change of code or configuration are eligible for bounties, ranging from $100 to $100,000 or more, depending on the severity of the issue. Please note that we can not offer bounties for issues that are disclosed to the public before they are fixed.

Q: Can Investor protect me against everything?

Investor can help when it comes to data transfer and secure communication. This means that all data (including media and files) that you send and receive via Investor cannot be deciphered when intercepted by your internet service provider, owners of Wi-Fi routers you connect to, or other third parties.

But please remember that we cannot protect you from your own mother if she takes your unlocked phone without a passcode. Or from your IT-department if they access your computer at work. Or from any other people that get physical or root access to your phones or computers running Investor.

If you have reasons to worry about your personal security, we strongly recommend using only Secret Chats in official or at least verifiable open-source apps for sensitive information, preferably with a self-destruct timer. We also recommend enabling 2-Step Verification and setting up a strong passcode to lock your app, you will find both options in Settings > Privacy and Security.

Q: How does 2-Step Verification work?

Logging in with an SMS code is an industry standard in messaging, but if you're looking for more security or have reasons to doubt your mobile carrier or government, we recommend protecting your cloud chats with an additional password.

You can do this in Settings > Privacy and Security > 2-Step Verification. Once enabled, you will need both an SMS code and a password to log in. You can also set up a recovery email address that will help regain access, should you forget your password. If you do so, please remember that it's important that the recovery email account is also protected with a strong password and 2-Step Verification when possible.

Check this out for tips on creating a strong password that is easy to remember.

Q: Why can jailbroken and rooted devices be dangerous?

Using a rooted or jailbroken device makes it easier for a potential attacker to gain full administrative control over your device — root access.

A user with root access can easily bypass security features built into the operating system, read process memory or access restricted areas, such as the internal storage. Once an attacker has root access, any efforts to mitigate threats become futile. No application can be called safe under these circumstances, no matter how strong the encryption.

Secret Chats

Q: How are secret chats different?

Secret chats are meant for people who want more secrecy than the average fella. All messages in secret chats use end-to-end encryption. This means only you and the recipient can read those messages — nobody else can decipher them, including us here at Investor (more on this here). On top of this, Messages cannot be forwarded from secret chats. And when you delete messages on your side of the conversation, the app on the other side of the secret chat will be ordered to delete them as well.

You can order your messages, photos, videos and files to self-destruct in a set amount of time after they have been read or opened by the recipient. The message will then disappear from both your and your friend's devices.

All secret chats in Investor are device-specific and are not part of the Investor cloud. This means you can only access messages in a secret chat from their device of origin. They are safe for as long as your device is safe in your pocket.

Q: How do I start a secret chat?

Open the profile of the user you want to contact. Tap on ‘…’, then ‘Start Secret Chat’.

Remember that Investor secret chats are device-specific. If you start a secret chat with a friend on one of your devices, this chat will only be available on that device. If you log out, you will lose all your secret chats. You can create as many different secret chats with the same contact as you like.

Q: How do self-destructing messages work?

The Self-Destruct Timer is available for all messages in Secret Chats and for media in private cloud chats.

To set the timer, simply tap the clock icon (in the input field on iOS, top bar on Android), and then choose the desired time limit. The clock starts ticking the moment the message is displayed on the recipient's screen (gets two check marks). As soon as the time runs out, the message disappears from both devices. We will try to send a notification if a screenshot is taken.

Please note that the timer in Secret Chats only applies to messages that were sent after the timer was set. It has no effect on earlier messages.

Q: Can I be certain that my conversation partner doesn't take a screenshot?

Unfortunately, there is no bulletproof way of detecting screenshots on certain systems (most notably, some Android and Windows Phone devices). We will make every effort to alert you about screenshots taken in your Secret Chats, but it may still be possible to bypass such notifications and take screenshots silently. We advise to share sensitive information only with people you trust. After all, nobody can stop a person from taking a picture of their screen with a different device or an old school camera.

Q: What is this 'Encryption Key' thing?

When a secret chat is created, the participating devices exchange encryption keys using the so-called Diffie-Hellman key exchange. After the secure end-to-end connection has been established, we generate a picture that visualizes the encryption key for your chat. You can then compare this image with the one your friend has — if the two images are the same, you can be sure that the secret chat is secure, and no man-in-the-middle attack can succeed.

Newer versions of Investor apps will show a larger picture along with a textual representation of the key (this is not the key itself, of course!) when both participants are using an updated app.

Always compare visualizations using a channel that is known to be secure — it's safest if you do this in person, in an offline meeting with the conversation partner.

Q: Why not just make all chats 'secret'?

All Investor messages are always securely encrypted. Messages in Secret Chats use client-client encryption, while Cloud Chats use client-server/server-client encryption and are stored encrypted in the Investor Cloud (more here). This enables your cloud messages to be both secure and immediately accessible from any of your devices – even if you lose your device altogether.

The problem of restoring access to your chat history on a newly connected device (e.g. when you lose your phone) does not have an elegant solution in the end-to-end encryption paradigm. At the same time, reliable backups are an essential feature for any mass-market messenger. To solve this problem, some applications (like Whatsapp and Viber) allow decryptable backups that put their users' privacy at risk – even if they do not enable backups themselves. Other apps ignore the need for backups altogether and leave their users vulnerable to data loss.

We opted for a third approach by offering two distinct types of chats. Investor disables default system backups and provides all users with an integrated security-focused backup solution in the form of Cloud Chats. Meanwhile, the separate entity of Secret Chats gives you full control over the data you do not want to be stored.

This allows Investor to be widely adopted in broad circles, not just by activists and dissidents, so that the simple fact of using Investor does not mark users as targets for heightened surveillance in certain countries. We are convinced that the separation of conversations into Cloud and Secret chats represents the most secure solution currently possible for a massively popular messaging application.

See also: Why Investor isn't End-to-End Encrypted “by Default”

Your Account

Q: Who can see my phone number?

On Investor, you can send messages in private chats and groups without making your phone number visible. By default, your number is only visible to people who you've added to your address book as contacts. You can further modify this in Settings > Privacy and Security > Phone Number.

Note that people will always see your number if they know it already and saved it in their address book.

Q: I have a new phone number, what do I do?

Each phone number is a separate account on Investor. You have several options if you are using multiple phone numbers:

If you will no longer use the old number (e.g., you moved to a new country or changed your number for good), simply go to Settings and change the number connected to your Investor account to the new number. Important: make sure you have access to your connected phone number – otherwise you risk losing access to your account.

If you will use the new number for a limited time (e.g., you're on a trip or vacation), there's no need to do anything.

If you want to keep using both numbers (e.g., you have a work phone and personal phone), choose one as your Investor number. You may create another Investor account on the second number as well, for example, if you want to keep work and personal chats separated. It is possible to log in to one Investor app with up to 3 different accounts at once.

Q: How do I log out?

Most users don't need to log out of Investor:

You can use Investor on many devices at the same time. Just use the same phone number to log in on all devices.

You can go to Settings > Data and Storage > Storage Usage> Clear cache to free up space on your device without logging out.

If you use Investor with multiple phone numbers, you can switch between accounts without logging out.

If you use Investor on a shared device, you can set up a passcode in Settings > Privacy and Security to make sure only you have access to your account.

If you do want to log out for some reason, here's how you do that:

iOS: Go to Settings > Edit > Log out.

Android, Investor Desktop: Go to Settings > … (in the top right corner) > Log out.

If you log out, you will keep all your cloud messages. However, you will lose all your Secret Chats and all messages inside those secret chats when you log out.

Note that logging out does not trigger remote deletion of your secret chat messages on your partner's device — to do that, choose 'Clear History' first.

Q: How do I change my phone number?

You can change your number in Investor and keep everything, including all your contacts, messages, and media from the Investor cloud, as well as all your Secret Chats on all devices.

To change your number, go to Settings, then tap on your phone number (just above the username), then 'Change Number'. If you already have a different Investor account on the target number, you'll need to delete that account first.

Q: How do I delete my account?

If you would like to delete your account, you can do this on the deactivation page. Deleting your account permanently removes all your messages and contacts. All groups and channels that you've created are orphaned and left without a creator but admins retain their rights.

This action must be confirmed via your Investor account and cannot be undone.

You should use https://my.telegram.org./auth a non-mobile browser for this process.

Note that you'll receive the code via Investor, not SMS.

Q: What happens if I delete my account?

As was just mentioned above, all your data will be flushed from our system: all messages, groups, and contacts associated with your account will be deleted. That said, your contacts will still be able to chat in the groups that you have created, and they will still have their copy of the messages you sent them. So if you want to send messages that can vanish without a trace, try using our self-destruct timer instead.

Termination of a Investor account is irreversible. If you sign up again, you will appear as a new user and will not get your history, contacts or groups back. People, who have your phone number in their contacts, will be notified. The new user will be displayed as a separate conversation in their messages list and their conversation history with this new user will be empty.

Q: How does account self-destruction work?

Investor is not a commercial organization, and we value our disk space greatly. If you stop using Investor and don't come online for at least six months, your account will be deleted along with all messages, media, contacts and every other piece of data you store in the Investor cloud. You can change the exact period after which your inactive account will self-destruct in Settings.

Q: My phone was stolen, what do I do?

First of all, sorry about your phone. Unfortunately, the phone number is the only way for us to identify a Investor user at the moment. We don't collect additional information about you, so whoever has the number, has the account. This means we can't help you unless you have access either to the phone number or to Investor itself on any of your devices.

I have access to Investor on another device

Go to Investor Settings > Privacy and Security and turn on Two-Step Verification. This way the phone number alone will not be enough to log in to your account.

Go to Settings > Devices (or Privacy & Security > Active Sessions) and terminate your Investor session on the old device. Whoever has your phone will not be able to log in again, since they don't know your password.

Contact your phone provider, so that they block your old SIM and issue a new one with your number.

If you decide to switch to a new phone number, don't forget to go to Settings, tap on your phone number and change your Investor number to the new one.

I don't have access to Investor on any other devices

First and foremost, you need to contact your phone provider, so that they block your old SIM and issue a new one with your number.

Wait till you receive your new SIM with the old number, log in to Investor, then go to Settings > Devices (or Privacy & Security > Active Sessions) and terminate your Investor session on the old device.

Removing sensitive data

Common thieves usually throw out the SIM card immediately (the phone is harder to locate this way), then wipe the devices and sell them, so there isn't much risk for the data in case of regular petty theft. But if you have reasons to worry about the data on the device and are unable to log out the other device, it is best that you wipe it remotely. You can read more about it here: Apple iOS, Android. Unfortunately, this requires you to have prepared in advance for this scenario.

You can delete your Investor account if you are logged in on at least one of your other devices (mobile or desktop). Note that inactive Investor accounts self-destruct automatically after a period of time — 6 months being the default setting.

Bots

If you're a developer, you may find our Bots FAQ more useful.

Q: What are bots?

Bots are like small programs that run right inside Investor. They are made by third-party developers using the Investor Bot API.

Q: How do I create a bot?

Creating Investor bots is super-easy, but you will need at least some skills in computer programming. If you're sure you're up to it, our Introduction for Developers is a good place to start.

Unfortunately, there are no out-of-the-box ways to create a working bot if you are not a developer. But we're sure you'll soon find plenty of bots created by other people to play with.

Q: A bot is sending me messages, how do I make it stop?

If you don't want a bot to send you messages, feel free to block it – same as you would block a human user. Some Investor clients have a 'Stop Bot' button right in the bot's profile.

That said, most bot developers offer commands that silence the bot, check its /help for clues.

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