The Telegram app is available for Android, iOS (iPad and iPhone), Linux, macOS and Windows. An ‘unsend’ function lets you delete a message within 48 hours after you’ve sent it. Messages and media can be set to ‘self-destruct’ (delete) after they’ve been viewed by the recipient. You can share documents and media files with other Telegram users. Telegram uses your smartphone’s phone number as your messenger ID. Telegram soon gained a following, perceived as a safe tool for activists and journalists for their sensitive communications. The Durovs’ clashes over free speech with their home country’s government, and them living in exile in the US, helped to give their messenger an aura of authenticity.

VK is now purportedly owned by allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

After years of clashing with the Russian government over censorship issues on his social networking site, he and his brother fled Russia in 2013 for Buffalo, New York, where they started Telegram. In 2006, Pavel Durov created a Facebook clone for Russia, VKontakte (also referred to as “VK”). Telegram, the app and non-profit company supporting it, was founded by brothers Nikolai and Pavel Durov. Telegram was designed to be a secure messenger that third parties wouldn’t be able to intercept. The governments of Iran and Russia have banned Telegram for thwarting them from accessing communications conducted on the app by their citizens and others inside their countries.

In addition to technical questions about how safe it truly is for users counting on it to keep their messaging activity private, the app has been in the news for political reasons throughout the first half of 2018. Since its launch in 2013, Telegram has grown in popularity in the secure messaging category (its developers claim the app has more than 200 million users), but with controversy.

Telegram app what is it