Send private, encrypted messages with Telegram [REVIEW]

It’s no secret that people are tired of having their privacy violated. I mean, just look at the number of apps that have been introduced lately, such as Snapchat, that promise your messages and photos will disappear into cyberdust seconds after you send them.

The latest of these apps, one that I’ve spent the past few weeks putting through the ringer, is called Telegram. Telegram differs than other chat type apps in that you can choose between a normal chat and a “secret chat”.

If you choose a normal chat, your messages are stored in the cloud and be accessed from any of your devices, including your smartphone, tablet or computer. If you choose a secret chat, your messages are not stored anywhere and can self-destruct in a time period you specify.

But here’s the part I really like about Telegram. No matter which type of chat you select, all of your messages are heavily encrypted. I mean, really heavily encrypted. In fact, Pavel Durov, one of the backers of the Telegram app has put his money where his mouth is by offering $200,000 to any hacker who can break the encryption.

Send photos, video, audio and even file attachments

The other part I like about Telegram is that you can send photos, videos and even file attachments to someone, again all encrypted. You can even record a quick audio snippet and send that along to the recipient as well.

About the only thing I found odd about Telegram is the self-destruct timer. When in a secret chat, either person in the secret chat can change the timer. And while it notifies you that the self-destruct timer for your conversation has changed, I can foresee a situation where one person sets the self-destruct timer to 5 seconds and then snaps a photo to send. Meanwhile, the other person changes the self-destruct timer to 1 hour before the first person sends his or her photo. Now the photo is viewable for 1 hour instead of 5 seconds.

This is nit-picky at best and after using Telegram for a few weeks, it really has become my favorite chat app. In fact, it has pretty much replaced Snapchat for me when it comes to chatting (sending text). I have to admit though that there is still a certain appeal to Snapchat when it comes to taking photos and drawing goofy things on them. So perhaps my new method of operation will be Telegram for chatting and Snapchat for sending photos.

Telegram is a free app and is currently available for iOS (Apple devices) and Android.