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Whatsapp vs Telegram: who's taking over chats?

So which one is better? Check out their different features.

User Base

This a plays a major role in offering the end user complete experience as it determines just how many people you can reach when you use it. Whatsapp with more than a billion active users is way ahead of Telegram’s hundred million.

Read receipts

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Whatsapp gives you detailed information about your conversations such as if it was read, the time it was read and much more. It displays a double tick when received and the ticks turn blue when it is read. Telegram, on the other hand, will only show read receipts without the other descriptions.

Chat backups

Whatsapp has integrated Google Drive to its storage system and allows you to back up your chats from forever. You can also email, archive or star specific messages for later reference.

Status

Feeling some type of way? Put a status on your Whatsapp profile and let your friends know what’s going on. Unfortunately, Telegram doesn’t have this feature.

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Format Text

Ever felt like you wanted to emphasize a point on text but you don’t want to type in capital letters? Well, unlike Telegram, Whatsapp has created new format features that allow you to bold (*text*), italicize(_text_) and strike through a text(~text~).

Calls

Just recently Whatsapp introduced its call feature that allows you to make calls for free if connected to the internet. On the other hand, Telegram does not use the internet for calls but will shorten your search for contacts on your phone if you were online. You can call directly using your airtime.

Security

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Unlike WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption on all its data, Telegram features an end to end encryption among other security options. In fact, Telegram had once offered 20million shillings to anyone who would hack their encrypted protocol. It notifies you when screenshots are taken and you cannot forward a message from a secret chat. Also, you can also set a self-destruct timer which will delete the chat thread after a specified time. Unfortunately, Whatsapp doesn’t have this really cool feature.

Sharing documents

With Telegram, you can share almost any type of file including zip, documents, and pdf of up to 1.5 GB. Whatsapp just recently included PDF in its list of shares and can only support 16MBs.

Multi-device access

Unlike Whatsapp with its limited device connections, Telegram boasts a multi-device feature powered by Cloud that allows you to start chatting on one device and continue in another. The messages are synced real time making it efficient for work experiences that need you to be on the move constantly while still keeping in communication. Comparatively, Telegram has desktop clients for Windows, OSX and even Linux.

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Telegram Bots

These are just telegram accounts created to help with specific things. Every bot has its own set of features and commands. Eg @Storebot comes in handy if you want to search for more cool bots.

Supergroups and public channels

Unlike Whatsapp 256 members per group, Telegram provides a super group app which can hold 1000 members along with cool public as well as private channels. Channels offer broadcastings to an even larger audience as it is unlimited in capacity. A public channel has its own username and can be searched & joined by any Telegram user. A user can even send mute messages in channels along with the ability to edit sent messages.

Edit messages and mention people

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Say bye to texting ‘Sorry, autocorrect again’. With Telegram you can now edit the messages you send and even delete them from the recipient’s phone. Also, you can get notifications if called out in muted groups with its mention feature.

Performance and ease of use

There’s no clear winner here, as WhatsApp and Telegram both perform admirably well although Telegram can be sometimes quicker in sending a message due to its cloud sync feature. When it comes to usage, both WhatsApp and Telegram are very easy to use, with similar working apps. However, Telegram’s gesture based UI makes things quicker and fun.

Lock chats and ability to hide last seen for particular contacts

Both apps allow you to hide the last time you were online but Telegram goes a step further and offers the same for specific contacts.  Also, you can lock your chats on Telegram with the passcode feature, so that no one else reads your personal messages.

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Stickers

Instead of just using emoticons and gifs to spice up your text life on Whatsapp, Telegram’s super cool sticker feature will let you animate or make your favorite memes into really cool texts.

Video calls

Well, you’ve got to give it up to Whatsapp for its latest feature. It offers a platform close to Facetime and Skype, you can now video call on Android and iOS using internet connections.

In summary:

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