6 ms·

If only more people used Telegram.. I love it, but only a couple of friends use it.

by gyosko 10y ago

mercer 10y ago
Try to convince them anyways. Once they get past the grumbling of installing a new app and the entirely hypothetical inconvenience of having multiple chat apps, they'll realize that in practice it isn't really much cause for inconvenience.
- Joeboy 10y ago
  Having to look in half a dozen apps to track down information is not a hypothetical inconvenience.
  - mercer 10y ago
    Oddly enough I expected to run into that problem, but in practice it's hardly ever been an issue. I think in my particular case it helps that I generally insist on using email or telegram for communication where it's important to find it again later. But you're right. At times I've had to search for information because I didn't remember which communication tool we used.
    - Joeboy 10y ago
      I work on lots of projects with lots of people, and I end up with hundreds of conversations spread over Email, SMS/Signal, Facebook, Skype and WhatsApp. It frustrates the hell out of me. The great thing about Signal for me is that it also handles SMS so there's no extra app to check. But yeah, no group chats, no desktop client, most conversations are unencrypted anyway because normal people don't care about privacy. If anybody were to ask me to use Telegram I'd be pleased they had an interest in encrypting our communications but annoyed about having to install yet another app.
      - mercer 10y ago
        Yeah, in your situation I understand the frustration. By the way, if you're using a Mac you might like 'Franz': http://meetfranz.com/ http://meetfranz.com/
skrowl 10y ago
There was a serious FUD campaign started by one of the developers of now competing app Signal a few years ago. Now if you mention Telegram on Reddit you're immediately bombed with "OMG TELEGRAM CRYPTO IS BROKEN!" even though 0 people on earth have ever provably decrypted a Telegram message. They even offered a $300K bounty where you could act as the server... no takers.
- Phlarp 10y ago
  Somehow, I don't think you are going to find more sympathy for Telegram's broken crypto (or Signal's "FUD" campaign) here on HN. At the end of the day, for many nerds looking at these two pieces of software and their developers-- Moxie comes out looking a lot more serious about privacy and more experienced with crypto than Nikolai and Pavel. To say nothing of Telegrams closed source cloud app model, questionable financing strategy or debatable ties to the Russian intelligence apparatus.
  - skrebbel 10y ago
    > questionable financing strategy or debatable ties to the Russian intelligence apparatus. Soo you counter FUD with FUD. Great strategy!
- dsacco 10y ago
  I don't have skin in this game, but I want to mention that contests are not evidence of security. Furthermore, cryptographers other than those working at Signal have expressed distrust for its security.[1][2] What Telegram should do to earn the trust of the technical community (specifically, the security savvy people who criticize it for unorthodox encryption methodologies), is contract a real audit from a leading security firm that specializes in cryptanalysis, like Riscure. [1]: https://twitter.com/matthew_d_green/status/726428912968982529 https://twitter.com/matthew_d_green/status/72642891296898252... [2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9775080 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9775080
  - hueving 10y ago
    >is contract a real audit from a leading security firm Suggestions like this do nothing to dispell the image that modern security firms are little more than a protection racket. If you don't pay for "an audit" from an "industry leading" firm, you'll be shunned by everyone.
boobsbr 10y ago
does Telegram offer voice messages and calls?
- gyosko 10y ago
  No, and a lot of people don't like it because it's cloud based too.
  - treehau5 10y ago
    Is this really a concern people have? Do people think on-prem is somehow inherently more secure? They expose their services through the internet. Minus a few details it's all the same. There are pros/cons in both sides.
- skrowl 10y ago
  Recorded voice messages yes. Live / phone call style voice messages no.
zaidf 10y ago
For me, Telegram's small user base is actually what got me on it. My whatsapp is full of way too many groups that I can't leave without negative social consequences. So the one group that I cared about the most (a group with my siblings), we all decided to move to Telegram and haven't looked back since! It's awesome to just have the few closest people on an app and not having to fear that you'll accidentally send a message to the wrong person or group.
- skrowl 10y ago
  They hit 100 million monthly active users back in Feb. I'm not sure that's a small user base by most of our terms. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegram_(software)#Usage_numbers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegram_(software)#Usage_numb...
  - thewhitetulip 10y ago
    I think they meant by the small user base in your friends. :)
- iklos89 10y ago
  Regarding negative social consequences ... Today I switched phones and wanted to transfer my Whatsapp contacts to the new phone. What Whatsapp did: Somehow they managed to delete me from each and every group I had been in, deleted every chat and I cannot access this anymore. I already had to explain to three friends why I left our group as they were furious because we had talked about important things in those groups. Just to say this didn't happen with Telegram. Recovered everything smoothly with no errors.
  - saint_fiasco 10y ago
    > deleted every chat Whatsapp never stores the chat history anywhere. All conversations are encrypted end to end.
    - denzil_correa 10y ago

If only more people used Telegram.. I love it, but only a couple of friends use it.

by gyosko 10y ago

If only more people used Telegram.. I love it, but only a couple of friends use it.

Try to convince them anyways. Once they get past the grumbling of installing a new app and the entirely hypothetical inconvenience of having multiple chat apps, they'll realize that in practice it isn't really much cause for inconvenience.

Joeboy 10y ago
Having to look in half a dozen apps to track down information is not a hypothetical inconvenience.
- mercer 10y ago
  Oddly enough I expected to run into that problem, but in practice it's hardly ever been an issue. I think in my particular case it helps that I generally insist on using email or telegram for communication where it's important to find it again later. But you're right. At times I've had to search for information because I didn't remember which communication tool we used.
  - Joeboy 10y ago
    I work on lots of projects with lots of people, and I end up with hundreds of conversations spread over Email, SMS/Signal, Facebook, Skype and WhatsApp. It frustrates the hell out of me. The great thing about Signal for me is that it also handles SMS so there's no extra app to check. But yeah, no group chats, no desktop client, most conversations are unencrypted anyway because normal people don't care about privacy. If anybody were to ask me to use Telegram I'd be pleased they had an interest in encrypting our communications but annoyed about having to install yet another app.
    - mercer 10y ago
      Yeah, in your situation I understand the frustration. By the way, if you're using a Mac you might like 'Franz': http://meetfranz.com/ http://meetfranz.com/

skrowl 10y ago

There was a serious FUD campaign started by one of the developers of now competing app Signal a few years ago. Now if you mention Telegram on Reddit you're immediately bombed with "OMG TELEGRAM CRYPTO IS BROKEN!" even though 0 people on earth have ever provably decrypted a Telegram message. They even offered a $300K bounty where you could act as the server... no takers.

Phlarp 10y ago
Somehow, I don't think you are going to find more sympathy for Telegram's broken crypto (or Signal's "FUD" campaign) here on HN. At the end of the day, for many nerds looking at these two pieces of software and their developers-- Moxie comes out looking a lot more serious about privacy and more experienced with crypto than Nikolai and Pavel. To say nothing of Telegrams closed source cloud app model, questionable financing strategy or debatable ties to the Russian intelligence apparatus.
- skrebbel 10y ago
  > questionable financing strategy or debatable ties to the Russian intelligence apparatus. Soo you counter FUD with FUD. Great strategy!
dsacco 10y ago
I don't have skin in this game, but I want to mention that contests are not evidence of security. Furthermore, cryptographers other than those working at Signal have expressed distrust for its security.[1][2] What Telegram should do to earn the trust of the technical community (specifically, the security savvy people who criticize it for unorthodox encryption methodologies), is contract a real audit from a leading security firm that specializes in cryptanalysis, like Riscure. [1]: https://twitter.com/matthew_d_green/status/726428912968982529 https://twitter.com/matthew_d_green/status/72642891296898252... [2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9775080 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9775080
- hueving 10y ago
  >is contract a real audit from a leading security firm Suggestions like this do nothing to dispell the image that modern security firms are little more than a protection racket. If you don't pay for "an audit" from an "industry leading" firm, you'll be shunned by everyone.

boobsbr 10y ago

does Telegram offer voice messages and calls?

gyosko 10y ago
No, and a lot of people don't like it because it's cloud based too.
- treehau5 10y ago
  Is this really a concern people have? Do people think on-prem is somehow inherently more secure? They expose their services through the internet. Minus a few details it's all the same. There are pros/cons in both sides.
skrowl 10y ago
Recorded voice messages yes. Live / phone call style voice messages no.

zaidf 10y ago

For me, Telegram's small user base is actually what got me on it. My whatsapp is full of way too many groups that I can't leave without negative social consequences. So the one group that I cared about the most (a group with my siblings), we all decided to move to Telegram and haven't looked back since! It's awesome to just have the few closest people on an app and not having to fear that you'll accidentally send a message to the wrong person or group.

skrowl 10y ago
They hit 100 million monthly active users back in Feb. I'm not sure that's a small user base by most of our terms. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegram_(software)#Usage_numbers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegram_(software)#Usage_numb...
- thewhitetulip 10y ago
  I think they meant by the small user base in your friends. :)
iklos89 10y ago
Regarding negative social consequences ... Today I switched phones and wanted to transfer my Whatsapp contacts to the new phone. What Whatsapp did: Somehow they managed to delete me from each and every group I had been in, deleted every chat and I cannot access this anymore. I already had to explain to three friends why I left our group as they were furious because we had talked about important things in those groups. Just to say this didn't happen with Telegram. Recovered everything smoothly with no errors.
- saint_fiasco 10y ago
  > deleted every chat Whatsapp never stores the chat history anywhere. All conversations are encrypted end to end.
  - denzil_correa 10y ago