> Telegram has functional standalone desktop clients. So does Signal? You need a phone number to initially register an account on either service last I checked

> Telegram has functional standalone desktop clients. So does Signal? You need a phone number to initially register an account on either service last I checked. The Signal desktop app used to be awful, but now it's fine. I use both and have for many years; it used to be the case that Telegram had a much nicer user experience, but nowadays I feel like it's near parity between the two.