Telegram Guide for Beginner’s: How to Use, Features, Download and FAQ’s.
Telegram, a privacy focused secure messaging app is one of the best alternatives to WhatsApp. With over 600 Million monthly active users, Telegram is the 11th most popular social media platform worldwide.
Originally launched on August 14, 2013, Telegram quickly rose to the charts of 10 most popular apps in the world and is one of the best secure messaging apps
When compared to its competitors like WhatsApp and Signal, Telegram offers innovative and user friendly features. Telegram is the only instant messaging app that lets you completely customize your messenger.
If you are looking to switch from WhatsApp due to its controversial privacy policy update then Telegram is the best alternative to WhatsApp. Due to its immense popularity you can dodge the network effect as you will find people in your contact list using Telegram. In fact Telegram was able to put a dent in WhatsApp’s network effect.
With more people switching to Telegram it’s now easy to stay connected with your friends and family securely.
If you are new to Telegram, then our in-depth telegram guide features a series of articles will help you gain expertise in using Telegram and take advantage of the innovative features provided by Telegram to make better and funny conversations with your near and dear.
What is Telegram?
Telegram, a privacy focused and ad free instant messaging app was launched by Pavel Durov, a Russian-born entrepreneur and founder of popular social networking site VK.
Telegram is the fastest messaging app and is one of top 3 messaging apps in the world right now. Thanks to frequent WhatsApp outages and confusing privacy policy updates from the ‘family of companies’ that share user data for providing better services.
Telegram is a free, cloud based instant messaging app. It is an open source project. Anyone can go through the source code of Telegram which helps in improving the security of the platform.
Beginner’s Guide to Telegram.
In this Beginner’s Guide to Telegram you will find how to download Telegram and Install it on your devices. Also learn how to set up Telegram and configure the basic privacy settings to start secure conversations.
You will find a series of articles that will improve your expertise in using Telegram efficiently.
Without further ado let’s start downloading Telegram.
Switching to Telegram is easy as you just need a phone number and a device to use Telegram.
As said earlier Telegram is a multi platform cloud based instant messaging app. It is available across all major platforms including iOS, Android, macOS, Windows and Linux.
How to Install Telegram on Android?
Installing Telegram on Android is as simple as installing any other Android app from Google Play Store. Follow the step by step guide to install Telegram on Android.
- Open Google Play Store on your Android device and search for Telegram.
- Install the official Telegram app that you see in the search results.
- If not you can directly Click here to Install official Telegram app for Android from Google Play Store.
- Once the download is done the app will be installed on your phone automatically.
- Post the successful installation launch Telegram app by clicking on the Telegram app icon from your Android menu.
Now that you have installed Telegram on your Android device you may skip to the setting up Telegram section directly.
If you are not using Android and own an iOS device follow the below step by step guide to install Telegram on Apple iOS devices.
How to Install Telegram on iPhone or iPad?
As Telegram is one of the popular instant messaging apps it is available on Apple’s App store and installing it from the App store is as smooth as installing any other iOS app from the app store.
Follow the below instructions to install Telegram on iPhone:
- Launch the App Store on your iPhone and type Telegram in the search bar.
- Install the official Telegram app from the search results or click here to install Telegram for iOS
- If prompted enter your Apple ID password for secure authentication.
- Wait till the download is complete. Telegram will be installed automatically post completion of download.
- Once the installation is finished you can launch the messaging app by clicking on the Telegram icon on your home screen app gallery.
This is how you can install Telegram on iPhone and iPad. Now it’s time to create a Telegram account and set it up for enhanced private conversations.
How to create a Telegram account?
Now that you have Telegram messenger on your device, we will guide you through the process of creating a Telegram account which will take just a couple of minutes.
Follow the quick guide to create your Telegram account:
Step by Step Guide to create Telegram account:
- Launch the Telegram app on your smartphone by clicking on the Telegram icon in your app drawer.
- You will be prompted with a welcome guide. You can either go through it or skip to the account sign up process by clicking on the start messaging button.
- The messaging app needs few permissions to create a Telegram account for you which include access to your contacts, call log and media storage.
- Once the required permissions are granted you can enter your phone number in the contact field as shown below and click on next.
- To authenticate your sign up you will receive a OTP from Telegram. Enter the received OTP on the next screen.
- After the successful verification of OTP your Telegram account will be activated and you can connect with your friends on Telegram.
Getting started with Telegram:
Now that you are on Telegram and you can start sending messages to your friends on Telegram.
If you are a newbie to Telegram, we have listed a handy guide that will assist you while using Telegram.
How to use Telegram?
1.How to Send messages in Telegram?
Start your first Telegram chat by clicking on the small pencil icon. Tapping on it will show you the list of contacts that are on Telegram and you can start your first conversation by selecting the contact from the list.
If you can’t find the contact in your list, you can either add the contact to your contacts list or invite them to Telegram if they are not on Telegram.
2. How to Make Voice Calls on Telegram?
Just like in WhatsApp, you can make voice calls to anyone on Telegram absolutely for free. All Telegram voice calls are end-to-end encrypted making your conversation safe and secure.
To make a voice call in Telegram, open the chat window of the contact to whom you want to make a call and click on the three dots present on the top right corner of the chay window. You will find an option to make an audio call right away to the contact from Telegram.
You can only make calls to people using Telegram on their mobile. Additionally if the person has enabled advanced privacy settings for Telegram calls, then you will not be able to make a call. In such cases you should see a warning informing you about the privacy settings enabled by the user.
3. How to Make video calls on Telegram?
Besides Telegram voice calls, for a little face-to-face communication you can make video calls to your friends on Telegram for free.
To make a video call click on the three dots located on the top right corner of the chat window and you will find the option to make a video call.
You can switch your video on or off at any time, and are free to multitask in other chats – video calls support Picture-in-Picture mode.
All voice and video calls are protected with end-to-end encryption. To confirm your connection, compare the four emoji shown on screen. If they match with your partner’s, your call is 100% secure.
Telegram Features:
If you would ask us how is Telegram different from WhatsApp?
Our answer would be Telegram is by far the best messenger app with innovative features that are non existent in other similar messenger apps like WhatsApp and Signal.
Similar to other chatting applications it has all the features that are essential to start conversations. In addition to these, Telegram app is abundant with many innovative features that can add a pinch of uniqueness to the regular day to day conversations.
Be it animated emojis that give life to conversation or be it sending files of sizes upto 2GB that enhance productivity.
It can turnout to be a never ending list of features as Telegram adds more features every now and then.
Here are several features of Telegram that distinguish it from other instant messaging apps:
1. Cloud Based instant Messaging app:
Yes, unlike WhatsApp, Telegram is a cloud based messaging service.
How does this help me? If that’s in your mind then the key benefit is that it saves a lot of storage on your smartphone. On the other hand you can use it anywhere anytime without losing your conversations and files.
Telegram messages, photos, videos, and attachments are stored in a secured cloud based system. Whereas WhatsApp consumes a huge chunk of your phone memory to store messages and files.
All your conversations in WhatsApp are lost if you delete the app accidentally without having a backup.
2. Secret Chats:
This telegram feature will surely excite you. You can start a secret conversation with anyone on Telegram. Secret Chats on Telegram are end-to-end encrypted, messages are not stored anywhere in the cloud, They leave no trace of messages, don’t allow forwarding of messages and restrict the other users from taking a screenshot of messages.
Additionally you can even set up a self destruct timer which auto deletes read messages after a certain amount of time.
3. Unlimited customizations:
Telegram gives you a full control on customising the app to the way you want. You can customise the look and feel. Apply themes, change colors, increase font sizes, enable and customise gestures inside the app and many more.
4. People Nearby:
People Nearby is a location based networking service inside Telegram. You can quickly connect to other Telegram users in and around your location.
Users can explore local group chats and have meaningful conversation with people around them.
If you worried about exposing your contact details with others you can hide your details with Telegram’s advanced privacy settings.
Frequently Asked Questions about Telegram:
Is Telegram secure?
Yes, Telegram is absolutely secure and safe. Telegram is built on open-source principles. Anyone can see the source code, check security protocols and everything that goes into the codebase of the app. Every message sent by users is encrypted by a two layer encryption mechanism that guards messages between your device and Telegram servers.
Is Telegram Indian?
It’s a myth. Telegram is not a message service built in India. It was currently headquartered in Dubai and was founded by Pavel Durov, a Russian born entrepreneur who currently resides in Dubai.
Does Telegram show ads?
No, the founders of Telegram consistently highlights that Telegram will never show targeted advertisements inside the app. Making profits has never been the goal of Telegram.
In order to meet its growing infrastructure costs and pay for developer salaries, Telegram announced that it is planning to monetize the app starting from 2021, in a non intrusive way that doesn’t make use of user data.
Does Telegram sell my personal Data?
No, Telegram doesn’t sell personal data of its users to advertisers or any other agencies.
Does Telegram process Data requests from security agencies?
To this day, Telegram has disclosed 0 bytes of user data to third parties, including governments.
Telegram only processes requests only if the issue affects several nations in the world.
With a distributed approach of securing user privacy Telegram is able protect user privacy from third party agencies.
Conclusion:
Overall Telegram is one of the best alternatives to WhatsApp and will be more interesting for tech savvy users. Since the last couple of years Telegram is witnessing a massive growth as more users are becoming privacy conscious.
The recent change in WhatsApp’s privacy policy has boosted the growth of Telegram to new heights. So it’s easy to find your friends on Telegram and you won’t be caught in the network effect that’s hurting the growth of Signal, which is the most secure instant messaging app.
The decision of switching to Telegram will be a wise decision as you will find it even more better than WhatsApp over time. You can switch to Telegram without any regrets.
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[…] Telegram is one of the most privacy-focused messenger apps for more advanced users. This app is for users who thrive to protect and secure their digital conversations. It is an encrypted chat service that offers everything offered by WhatsApp with an additional layer of security and privacy. […]