Telegram is a Messaging application gives more priority to security.Telegram had a hacker competition with $200,000 prize pool., but no winner came out of this. This is the security level proven in Telegram. Telegram is built upon MTPROTO mobile protocol, but its technology behind Telegram is still unknown to the public techies.
Some unique features of Telegram , which make me think to give a try for this Messenger are
- Message(s) accidentally sent to your friends can be delete / un send with in first 48 hours , if they didn’t see this , you are safe , no others will be able to see it again | Read this article
- When ever we are joining a channel , Previous messages over there will be visible , Cool !
- Messages once deleted from channels will no longer be there in other participants Telegram chat windows.
Additional Features of Telegram
- Bots,
- Personal Cloud
- API ,
- Secret Chat ,
- Channels
- Cloud Storage
Bots
As per official telegram Website
Bots are third-party applications that run inside Telegram. Users can interact with bots by sending them messages, commands and inline requests. You control your bots using HTTPS requests to our bot API
There are plenty of bots available from official Telegram and from third party developers , See a List of bots from here . For Demonstration I am using @alertbot and @apkdl_bot and @GmailBot the former one is to create alerts and the second one is to get APK downloads, and the final one is to receive and send Emails from your Gmail account (Gmail authentication needed )
To start your bot , go to your Private Cloud , and type the bot name , on message screen click on the message screen , eg: @alertbot
Alert Bot , @alertbot
With this bot it s easy to get alerts
Here First 1 schedule a “hello” message with command /alert 1m hello , see the message triggered after exactly 1 Minute .
Android APK bot , @apkdl_bot
This is a bot to download available APKs from public repositories and display for downloads . Here I am trying to download an ecommerce application from this bot Eg. OneDayCart
Not the app ( Onedaycart ) , it suggested a list of similar apps along with some coupon code site , this is how Telegram work intelligently to get maximum information for single queries
Gmail Bot – @GmailBot
To use this you have to authorise your Gmail account First. , First authorize with all prompting permissions , this will make telegram able to read and send messages from your Gmail account.
This will show you mails from your inbox , to start a new message type /new in bot message it will prompt you to select Address, this again will suggest just as in gmail , type subject , message and go its done. Remember to remove authentication to avoid Push continuous Notifications along with Gmail apps
Personal Cloud
This is a space where all chats are between you and you only , nobody can see the messages . You can upload any files of any format to this chat id. This can be used for various purposes.
- Organise your nots ( as a collaboration tool)
- Bookmark your messages
- Safeguard your docs for quick reference
- Transfer files from Mobile to PC and vice versa ( My frequent choice)
- Start your bots
Just send or forward messages to Your Personal Chat and its done
Telegram API
Unlike WhatsApp Telegram is Developer friendly and is equipped with a Well documented API Portal . There are two . types of APIs available 1.Bot API and 2. Telegram API where former is to create bots and latter to create customized Telegram Clients. By Creating Telegram Clients you can monetize your app and Telegram wont bill you for your efforts.
Secret Chat , Auto Delete your Messages , even after Sent
It got a feature called Secret Chat where users can exchange super confidential data and give a self destructive timer to delete their Message after a set interval of time., this is supercool when its important to ensure the messages must be deleted on the other end. This like features are not there in other messengers like WhatsApp
Telegram Channels
Channels are a tool for broadcasting public messages to large audiences. In fact, channels can have an unlimited number of members. When you post in a channel, the message is signed with the channel’s name and not yours. You can appoint additional administrators to help you manage the channel. Unlike in groups, deleted posts will disappear for everyone, not just you. New members can see the entire message history in a channel once they join.
To create a channel:
- iPhone: Start a new message (tap the icon in the top-right corner in Chats). Then ‘New Channel’.
- Android: Tap the circular pencil icon in the chats list. Then ‘New Channel’.
- Windows Phone: Tap the ‘+’ button on the bottom bar. Then ‘New Channel’.
Here is a List of Telegram Channels : View
Cloud Storage, Compare with WhatsApp
When Comparing t WhatsApp , Telegram is a Cloud Based app works on Mobile and Desktops and syncs data across with No limit for Groups and No File Format limitation when in to sharing
The reason for immense popularity of WhatsApp is its early release , and Telegram came lot after WhatsApp and its not easy to replace WhatsApp , even with this exceptional feature set. WhatsApp is simple and well planned App to fit in any layman palms where telegram is little clumsy , while its more friendly on developer desks.
Download Telegram : All Platform Links available here