Telegram clearly fails to meet this stronger definition for a simple reason: it does not end-to-end encrypt conversations by default. If you want to use end-to-end encryption in Telegram, you must manually activate an optional end-to-end encryption feature called “Secret Chats” for every single private conversation you want to have. The feature is explicitly not turned on for the vast majority of conversations, and is only available for one-on-one conversations, and never for group chats with more than two people in them. Source: blog.cryptographyengineering.com/2024/08/2…
I’m trying very hard to move away from Telegram. I’ve already switched some conversations to iMessage, and I’m trying to get my wife to stick with Signal (though it lacks some crucial features for us). We’ll see how things go in a month. Ideally, I’d like to move everything to Signal or a combination of Signal and iMessage, but right now, I’m torn between Telegram, Signal, iMessage, and WhatsApp.
WhatsApp is something I won’t be able to fully get rid of—our entire family uses it, and since it’s encrypted, that’s sufficient for now (I’m aware of the metadata issues, but that’s okay for the moment). iMessage will stick around since I’ll be using iPhones for the foreseeable future. I don’t want to feel forced to use it, especially since I also use Windows and Linux, but it’s not a dealbreaker.
Life was easier when I didn’t care about Telegram’s encryption and privacy issues. Eh. EH.