Is Telegram really anonymous & "focus on privacy" as it advertises? IM software comparison

Introduction

Now, more and more people wants to be anonymous. The anonymity in everyday life enables people to be free to do many worthwhile things without feeling inhibited. Telegram, an IM known as “focus on security and privacy”, is chosen. But, does Telegram really “focus on security and privacy” as it advertises? Today, we’ll compare Telegram with other IM software. I’ll show you different softwares’ advantage and disadvantage, and help you decide which one to choose.

What is IM?

Instant messaging (IM) technology is a type of online chat allowing real-time text transmission over the Internet or another computer network. Some example of IM:

• WhatsApp
• Slack
• Jabber
• Spark
• Telegram
• Signal
• . . .

About Telegram

What is Telegram?

Copied from Wikipedia😝:

Telegram is a free and open source, cross-platform, cloud-based instant messaging (IM) software. This service also provides end-to-end encrypted video calling, VoIP, file sharing and several other features.

Advantages of Telegram

Telegram provides end-to-end encrypted voice and video calls and optional end-to-end encrypted “secret” chats. Cloud chats and groups are encrypted between the app and the server, so that ISPs and other third-parties on the network can’t access data, but the Telegram server can. Users can send text and voice messages, make voice and video calls, and share an unlimited number of images, documents (2 GB per file), user locations, animated stickers, contacts, and audio files.

• Easy to use, user-friendly
• Nice User Interface
• Cross-platform(Windows, Android, iOS, OSX, Linux…)
• Support setting chat records to be destroyed regularly
• Support deleting account, after deleting the account, all related information will be destroyed at the same time
• Free, non-profit, never sell advertisements, never accept external investment

Disadvantages of Telegram

Well, no data will be collected while using Telegram, end-to-end encryption is one hundred percent safe, but it doesn’t mean that Telegram is anoymous. In fact, Telegram has no anonymity

1. Bind phone number

Any network tool that needs to be bound to a mobile phone (whether it is IM or email) will greatly reduce your invisibility. AnyoneGet contacts automatically once owns the phone number has the complete control over the Telegram account. I will talk about the issue of mobile phone number and anonymity below. Anyway, be sure to have control over the bound mobile phone number!

2. Get contacts[can be solved]

Telegram will scan your phone coanonymityntact and import numbers from it. Your can disable this function however.

3. Last seen time[can be solved]

Telegram will show your “Last seen time” defaultly, it may affect anonymity. So, it’s neccessary to set “Do not show last seen time” in Telegram. In some groups, Telegram will show accounts which is typing, there’s also a way to avoid this. Put your full name into line editor “Last Name” and leave a space in “FIrst Name”. Then your typing state won’t be shown.

About phone numbers

Physical SIM cards

In some countries, you’ll need to offer your true identity to get a SIM card. Obviously, it’s quite hard to keep anonymous with a physical SIM card.

VoIP

Free VoIPs are hard to get, and many of them have short avalible time. Moreover, using VoIP will have the risk of being deleted in Telegram(Deleted Account).

Other IMs

WhatsApp:

• [✔️] User-friendly
• [❌] Do not need to bind phone numbers.
• [❓] Safety.
• [❌] Anonymity.
• [✔️] Is it popular?

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Signal:

• [❌] User-friendly
• [❌] Do not need to bind phone numbers.
• [✔️] Safety.
• [❌] Anonymity.
• [✔️] Is it popular?

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Element(Riot):

• [✔️] User-friendly
• [✔️] Do not need to bind phone numbers.
• [✔️] Safety.
• [❌] Anonymity.
• [❌] Is it popular?

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Wire:

• [❌] User-friendly
• [✔️] Do not need to bind phone numbers.
• [✔️] Safety.
• [❌] Anonymity.
• [❌] Is it popular?

---

Discord:

• [✔️] User-friendly
• [❌] Do not need to bind phone numbers.
• [❓] Safety.
• [❌] Anonymity.
• [✔️] Is it popular?

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Wechat:

• [❓] User-friendly
• [❌] Do not need to bind phone numbers.
• [❌] Safety.
• [❌] Anonymity.
• [✔️] Is it popular?

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Messenger:

• [❓] User-friendly
• [❌] Do not need to bind phone numbers.
• [❌] Safety.
• [❌] Anonymity.
• [✔️] Is it popular?

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Tox:

• [❌] User-friendly
• [✔️] Do not need to bind phone numbers.
• [✔️] Do not need to bind email.
• [✔️] Safety.
• [✔️] Anonymity.
• [❌] Is it popular?

BitMessage:

• [❌] User-friendly
• [✔️] Do not need to bind phone numbers.
• [✔️] Do not need to bind email.
• [✔️] Safety.
• [✔️] Anonymity.
• [❌] Is it popular?

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Bridgefy:

• [❌] User-friendly
• [✔️] Do not need to bind phone numbers.
• [✔️] Do not need to bind email.
• [❌] Safety.
• [❌] Anonymity.
• [❌] Is it popular?
• [✔️] Offline messaging.
• [❌ Only iOS & Android]Cross-platform

Ideal IM…

All the mentioned IMs have their own advantages and disadvantages, so what is the best one? My answer is: neither of them. Which one to choose depends on your own ideas. For me, Telegram is safe enough and user-friendly.

PS: Tips while using Telegram

1. Set Passcode & Face ID

To prevent others from peeking at the messages when the phone isn’t around.

2. Two-step verification

3. Privacy Settings

• No one can see my numbers
• No one can see my last seen time
• Only contact can see profile photos
• Only contact can call me
• Only contact can add me in a group
• Avoid using true numbers, use a VoIP instead
• Use proxy
• . . .