“Goodbye WhatsApp, hello Telegram” - this is something most of us have already read from some of our WhatsApp contacts' statuses and other social media platforms. Users have been announcing their departure from the messaging app due to their new privacy policy that will see a change in how its parent company, Facebook, collects data from its 2-billion user accounts.
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With most people having concerns about their privacy, Telegram and other communication apps have been a topic of discussion for those who want to leave WhatsApp.
I have already announced on my whatsapp that Moving to Telegram ????
— 2021 AFRICA (@2021AFRICA) January 10, 2021
@WhatsApp at the moment
— Raekid SA (@RaekidSa) January 10, 2021
Nah nah I'm moving to @telegram ??? pic.twitter.com/set8XPoTb4
Whatsapp is end-to-end encrypted, but we’re moving to @telegram which is not.
— Nish @amxindia ?? (@NishantRArora) January 10, 2021
Why? Because whatsapp wants to show us ads we already see on FB/IG etc. ????
Or is there more to this story?
And according to the BBC, many users have already flocked to rival apps such as Signal and Telegram. Much to the pleasure of Telegram Messenger’s social media manager, who has been hilariously endorsing people to make the switch.
There's a cure for that. pic.twitter.com/Qg7FbOCv0L
— Telegram Messenger (@telegram) January 10, 2021
Telegram's admin is on a roll???? pic.twitter.com/3bYixqvXYX
— UG (@UgwunnaEjikem) January 10, 2021
I'd offer to sing them a lullaby but with my singing voice I might just make things worse.
— Telegram Messenger (@telegram) January 12, 2021
But how much safer are the privacy policies of these apps? And is it really worth getting rid of the beloved green app?
We take a look at the differences.
1. Privacy
According to WhatsApp, certain data such as end-to-end encrypted chats and calls cannot be accessed by anyone else other than the user and messages will not be shared with advertisers. However, your WhatsApp account information will be shared with Facebook to improve your Facebook ads and products experiences.
“We will explore ways for you and businesses to communicate with each other using WhatsApp, such as through order, transaction, and appointment information, delivery and shipping notifications, product and service updates, and marketing…” the updated privacy policy reads.
Telegram
According to Telegram, its two main principles on collecting and processing private data are:
- Not using the user’s data to show them ads
- Only storing the data that Telegram needs to function as a secure and feature-rich messaging service.
In summary, WhatsApp collects most of the user data which includes: the device ID, advertising data, purchase history, location, phone number, email, contacts and payment information while Telegram only collects the contact info, phone number and the user ID.
2. Features
WhatsApp's chat features include:
- Sending texts, media, location, GIF, stickers, voice notes and documents,
- voice call and video call options,
- disappearing messages and ability to unsend message (“delete for everyone”),
- group chat where you can add up to 256 members in a group,
- group video call,
- story-like status updates,
- upload limit of 16 MBs for video and 100 MBs for files,
- WhatsApp web where you can access chats on your computer (with your smartphone)
Telegram chat features include:
- Sending texts, media, location and voice messages,
- voice and video calling features,
- secret chat feature,
- group chat feature where you can add up to 200 000 members in a group,
- group voice call feature,
- upload limit of 2 GB for files,
- a web version that doesn’t require a smartphone to log in,
- No status features for now,
Will you be making the switch and why? Let us know on Twitter (@TrueLoveMag)
