Telegram Vs Signal: Which encrypted messaging app wins?
Telegram and Signal each have their strong, and their weak, points…
With The recent exodus from WhatsApp, many users have been turning to other free messaging platforms to communicate with friends and strangers. Signal and Telegramare two of the most popular and reliable alternatives, and both are on our list of best encrypted messaging apps.
But Signal and Telegram are not made equal, and each will likely benefit a different type of user. Let’s see how they stack up.
Signal vs. Telegram: Features compared::
Telegram Vs Signal : Which is more secure?
The bottom line: if security is your priority, Signal is the obvious pick.
Signal is the clear winner when it comes to security. For starters, all Signal messages are encrypted end-to-end by default, which means that no one but you and the people you’re chatting with can access your messages.
In contrast, only some of Telegram’s messages and voice calls have end-to-end encryption. The rest are potentially visible to Telegram employees, law enforcement and others. We’ll go into more detail on the message types below.
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Signal’s open-source encryption protocol is available for all to see and anyone to examine, meaning that flaws can found and fixed quickly. Its encryption is also use by WhatsApp.
For its encrypted Secret Chats, Telegram uses its own MTProto 2.0 protocol, which is open-source on the client side. Many information-security experts state that Telegram’s “homegrown encryption technology” has a limited track record compared to Signal’s. Although the consensus seems to be that it is more secure than MTProto 1.0.
An academic research paper published in December 2020 analyzed Telegram’s MTProto 2.0 protocol and deemed it fundamentally sound. It add that “further investigation” was need “in order to deem this protocol suite definitely secure.”
Signal collects far less data on its users than Telegram does. Signal generally stores only the date on which you created your account and when you last connected. Telegram’s metadata may include your IP address (and as a result, your location) as well as who you are talking to and when. That matters when the authorities show up at the service provider’s facilities with a search warrant.
You can start Signal chats by typing in another person’s number, but Telegram needs access to your contacts before you can message anyone.
For those who are concerned about big tech snooping on private conversations, Signal again proves to be the better choice. While Signal is own by a non-profit foundation, Telegram’s founders are Russian billionaires Pavel and Nikolai Durov, who also created VK, the country’s most popular social network. The brothers no longer live in Russia, and while their company is based in London, many central operations are in Dubai.
Signal vs. Telegram: Device support
Telegram has a slight edge in this category, with support for Windows Phone as well as a Chrome browser extension and a fully web-based option. Both Signal and Telegram are available on the following platforms:
Linux (Debian-based distros for Signal, 32-bit and 64-bit versions for Telegram)
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