I have different opinions about Telegram. I like how Telegram is truly cross-platform with the clients being open source and available on every platform. They

I have different opinions about Telegram. I like how Telegram is truly cross-platform with the clients being open source and available on every platform. They usually look great and are simple to use, which is why Telegram is the only non-whatsapp IM that more than 3 of my contacts use. It also works with multiple devices connected*, which is another pro against many other IMs. What I dislike is that even though Telegram advertises their messages as "private" and "heavily encrypted" on their landing page, secure chats are NOT the default, do not work in group chats and do not work across multiple devices. I am aware that this requires encryption for every recipient, but that shouldn't be an issue. TextSecure actually came up with a great solution [1] for this. What I also do not understand is why they are rolling their own crypto. They say it's for speed and stability [2], but don't provide any facts or measures. The fact that the server is closed source and the founders coming from VK (a russian Facebook alternative) doesn't make this any better. All in all I consider Telegram a great alternative to WhatsApp, but I wouldn't rely on it for secure messaging. 1: https://whispersystems.org/blog/private-groups/ https://whispersystems.org/blog/private-groups/ 2: https://core.telegram.org/techfaq#q-why-are-you-not-using-x-insert-solution https://core.telegram.org/techfaq#q-why-are-you-not-using-x-...