So I’m in a somewhat unfortunate situation. My circle of friends doesn’t want to switch to another messenger and we are currently stuck on the worst possible platform for security: Telegram.
The problem is that it is very hard to convince anyone to switch, if they are all perfectly fine and like Telegram. I mean I can get why they like it: The UX and UI of Telegram are amazing and there are well functioning clients available for any platform. It has more features and gimmicks than any other messenger I know BUT it lacks one mayor thing: E2EE. And that’s mostly what I care about. The second problem is that I was the person who recommended the switch to Telegram right after WhatsApp was bought by Facebook. I know, that was a bad recommendation, but back then I didn’t know shit about privacy or why E2EE mattered. I was just like “Hey, it’s not by Facebook, so it must be better”. And now everyone I know is there and won’t leave.
If - in the hypothetical situation of me setting an ultimatum and deleting my Telegram after that - I wanted to make them switch somewhere else: What messenger would that be? Currently I’m mostly thinking Signal. I know it’s not perfect either, it is centralized, and the servers are in the US, but it has a bigger user base already than most of its competitors like Threema or Matrix/Element and it is very easy to set up and use. I’m already a user of Signal, Threema, Matrix, WhatsApp and Telegram (every platform for some contacts, but most of them on Telegram sadly), so having yet another option is not a problem for me, as well as getting rid of one is also no problem. I’d love to delete both Telegram and WhatsApp in this move.
So, in conclusion, what I need is a messenger that has all or most of the following:
- best possible security (E2EE is minimum)
- easy to use (no complicated setup, simple UI)
- already has some users (not too niche)
- cross-platform and multi-device (should run on Android, iOS and Windows/Web)
- some flashy dumb features like stickers and so on to keep them entertained
My choice would be Signal. But I am unsure if that is the best choice or if I should just wait a bit and see what all of the new EU laws about messengers and gatekeepers bring to the game and if anything chances with that.
I never understood these arguments for Telegram. Sure, it does have more features. It’s not better in terms of usability and cross platform support though. I use Signal desktop everyday. It’s a great experience. Cross platform… The only platform Signal doesn’t support is Web. Which… if there are mobile apps and desktop apps. Web is an insecure redundant need IMO. For the argument that web is good for scenarios where you can’t install desktop apps: I would flip the question to… why would you give a platform you have 0 control, permission to access your secure & private messaging? It just comes down to threat modelling. Telegram is neither secure, nor private. It shouldn’t even be in the same conversation unless talking about FB Messenger, messaging on Instagram or DMing on Twitter/X.
Not it isn’t. It fails do sync messages, its an electron app that is slower than anything else native.
That’s not my experience. I use it on macOS. My messages are always synced. Super fast and runs smooth.
So you’re the 1% of people for for which Signal does work. Nice to know it does to someone.
So smooth it lag whenever you send a message comparing to others. Oh wait you must be comparing to iMessage and the plethora of visual animations Apple has on their messaging App. Telegram works very fast with animations disabled handles group chats with hundreds of people no problem and syncs instantaneously. The state of software development is just amazing, people don’t even notice how slow web apps are because they add aminations on top of it.
Anyways Signal might be CIA funded so… Let’s just say if you’re willing to put up with electron apps you may as well use Matrix.
Speaking about threat modelling, Telegram has one very good thing going on for them: they aren’t dicks with you want to delete messages. You have options that are very clear on what they do and allow you to delete messages in both sides. Other platforms are just shit when it comes to this and frankly that’s a privacy nightmare. What does it serve you do delete a message in your side if the platform doesn’t remove it from everywhere?
Most people I chat with on Signal uses desktop too, I’ve never heard complaints. Most of my contacts use it now. There were hiccups in the earlier months but now it’s smooth and works great.
I use Telegram every now and then. It’s has some nice features. But it’s not secure. The reason the messages “sync” fast there… is because it’s all plain text and on the server. For everyone to read. This is an undisputable fact about Telegram. The nature of the large channels you mentioned requires this insecure mode of storing chat histories, so that everyone can access. Where as with Signal, everything is E2EE. Except a tiny bit of metadata. Telegram everything is unencrypted until you use secret chats. Again. Different threat models. You can’t really compare it to Signal. It’s more akin to FB messenger. Which is not secure. Or private.
Messages being deleted for everyone is a pretty common feature across all the platforms now. I’m not sure what you’re getting at. Arguably, chat history being stored plain text is much more a privacy nightmare (it’s literally the reason people want E2EE) than anything else.
Yes, I’m aware but it comes down to having something that really sync well 100% of the time, very quickly and without having to constantly dealing with errors such as this https://twitter.com/signalapp/status/1350631024351346689 or “signal can’t display this message”.
I’m getting at the fact that most platforms do stupid shit like “this message might not be deleted if the receiver already saw it” like WhatsApp does and/or replacing messages with placeholders saying “this message was deleted”. Telegram can be plain-text and can have a lot of issues but it guarantees that stuff is actually removed without trying to bullshit you like other do.
Eventually Signal might be funded by the US/CIA so who says it is as secure as they advertise it? If we assume that your privacy / security is broken (because it is) I might as well use the platform that provides the best desktop and mobile experience with fast syncs, ability to disable animations, have real desktop apps and not electron shit.
There’s absolutely 0 guarantee that what you’ve “deleted” is deleted. On any platform really. But what you can rely on is the fact that the E2EE is there to make sure things are only readable by whoever the messages were intended for (barring being hacked and compromised keys etc). The message can say whatever it wants, doesn’t mean a lot if you can’t trust the source. Again, we’re just talking about different threat models. With Telegram, it’s not meant for secure and private communication. It has a different audience. And to push Telegram as a private or secure communication, you’re actively doing the public a disservice.
If you can’t trust even open source technology that you can review and build yourself. And trust renowned cryptographers reviews of this technology… then why are you in a privacy community telling people their experiences aren’t true to what they’re telling you?
You’re avoiding the hard reality of “this message might not be deleted if the receiver already saw it” that WhatsApp created for all of us. It works in Telegram, doesn’t complain / gets the job done.
And btw, we only have those somewhat deleted messages in WhatsApp and other places because Telegram was doing it and people were moving to it. Market pressure and all, still they’ve implemented in convoluted half baked and useless ways.
I’m not doing that, I clearly stated that Signal might be funded by the US/CIA (…) If we assume that your privacy / security is broken (because it is) I might as well use the platform that provides the best desktop and mobile experience.
All my messages aren’t about saying Telegram is private or secure, are about saying it delivers a vastly superior experience and that if your threat comes down to making sure when you delete a message it is actually deleted on the other side without BS then Telegram is most likely the best option for you.
All things considered Matrix might be the way. Frankly I’m not pushing people to use Signal anymore as their Apps still suck, there’s zero investment to make them more usable and to fix the things that are half broken. To make it even better their open-source is very questionably, their server code went for an year without updates.
Why would I use something that lags, underperforms, has questionable open-source practices and might be funded by the CIA / influenced in some way then?
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I really don’t know what you are talking about. I’m using it on Linux and it runs great. Comparing Signal to Discord, as both are electron apps, Discord is pure shit, Signal works really well. It takes a couple seconds to load but it’s still faster than Discord for me.
I would prefer if it would use other cross-platform framework like Flutter or Qt, but you can’t have everything. It’s better to have electron app, than don’t havy any.