Instant messaging platforms have now become an inseparable part of our lives. Our acquaintances, friends and family members are just a click away. But are we as users being fooled into believing that they messages are safe and encrypted? As several confidential or personal chats of celebrities are being leaked in the public domain, users are now growing suspicious about the security and privacy policies of messaging platforms such as WhatsApp.

Though Whatsapp was quick to clarify and state its end to end encryption policy, which ensures that only a user and the person they are communicating with can read what's sent. But is this piece of information sufficient to regain people's trust?

With concerns of WhatsApp leaks, users are now switching towards Telegram, which is witnessing a surge in downloads. Telegram has said that it has now reached 400 million monthly users, which is a rise of around 100 million users in the past year. Around 1.5 million users are downloading the daily on daily basis.

So, what exactly is the difference between WhatsApp and Telegram?

In case of Telegram, the end-to-end encryption chat feature allows users to set a timer on messages to self-destruct after a specified time, in simple words, a message or photo will disappear after a specified period of time. Telegram users also receive notifications for screenshots taken and the secret chat cannot be forwarded.

Unlike WhatsApp, Telegram users can have a public “username”, which ensures the identity of the user is protected. It is possible to have conversations on Telegram without a phone number.

Additionally, Telegram users can send any type of file via Telegram up to 1.5 GB. Wherein, WhatsApp restricts video, images and document type files.

Although these features make Telegram a more lucrative chatting app, WhatsApp still has over 1.6 billion active users.

With group video call features, end-to-end encryption and greater user-base, WhatsApp is still more popular.

First Published:Sept 29, 2020 9:58 AM IST