As of July 2024, Telegram’s headquarters and development team are based in Dubai. In this Telegram guide for beginners, you’ll learn more about the Telegram Messenger app, its origin, history and how it works. Plus, you can create groups or channels to broadcast to an audience.
The protocol was developed by Nikolai Durov and other developers at Telegram and, as of version 2.0, is based on 256-bit symmetric AES encryption, 2048-bit RSA encryption and Diffie–Hellman key exchange. It asks users to upload their own official documents such as passport, identity card, driver license, etc. The gateway sends users’ Telegram name, username, and profile picture to the website owner, while users’ phone number remains hidden. In February 2018, Telegram launched their social login feature to its users, named Telegram Login.

• In October 2024, Telegram launched a verification platform, called Telegram Gateway, allowing third-party services to authenticate their users by sending verification codes via Telegram.
• Telegram clients can turn off media autoplay and automatic downloads for both WiFi and mobile data, adjusting them for media type and size.
• After the shutdown of the TON project, the company needed to repay the investors the money that was not spent on its development during 2018 and the beginning of 2019, while the project was active.
• Twelve days later, Telegram told its users that the Brazilian Congressional Bill No. 2630 against online disinformation, which was about to be approved, would end freedom of speech in the country.
• If you’re using an Android device, the best way to get started is by downloading and installing the app via an APK file.
• The desktop version also syncs seamlessly with mobile, ensuring continuity and consistency across devices.

An August 2024 BBC investigation found that Telegram had not responded to requests to join the US–based National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) or the betzino casino UK–based Internet Watch Foundation, both nonprofit NGOs. In January 2021, North Macedonian media outlets reported that a now-banned Telegram group, “Public Room” (“Јавна соба”), with more than 7,000 members, was used to share nude photos of women and young teenage girls. It also provides an email address dedicated to reports of content related to child abuse. Telegram has been used to distribute illegal pornography, including child pornography.
Telegram allows you to communicate directly without your messages being redirected via servers, which reduces delays and makes your chats quick. Originally envisioned as a blockchain platform, TON aimed to deliver scalable and user-friendly decentralized services with Toncoin (TON) as its native cryptocurrency. The app’s servers are distributed globally, and the company behind the Telegram messaging app, Telegram FZ-LLC, is also registered in Dubai. Its user-friendly interface and robust features have made it a preferred platform for crypto enthusiasts and professionals alike. It supports rich group chats with up to 200,000 members, custom folders, bots, and even self-destructing messages for privacy. Telegram on the desktop is the version of the free popular cloud-based messaging app developed by Pavel Durov.

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Other news services with official channels on the platform include the Financial Times, Business Insider and The New York Times. In December 2019, Bloomberg News moved their messenger-based newsletter service from WhatsApp to Telegram after the former banned bulk and automated messaging. Users with a Telegram Premium subscription have a number of “boosts” that they can give to channels, which allow the channel to “level up” and unlock features, such as the ability to customize messages or post stories as the channel. When forwarded, polls retain the answer data and any votes cast in other chats will count toward the overall total.

• Users with a Telegram Premium subscription have a number of “boosts” that they can give to channels, which allow the channel to “level up” and unlock features, such as the ability to customize messages or post stories as the channel.
• As of July 2024, Telegram’s headquarters and development team are based in Dubai.
• So, it really boils down to what you value most in a messaging app.
• They can respond to messages or mentions directly or can be invited into groups, and are able to perform tasks, integrate with other programs and host mini apps.
• A Student Information System (SIS) is a centralized software platform that manages all student-related data and academic processes throughout a student’s lifecycle at a higher education institution.
• Pavel sold his remaining stake in VK and left Russia after resisting government pressure.

Nikolai created the MTProto protocol that is the basis for the messenger, while Pavel provided financial support and infrastructure through his Digital Fortress fund. Pavel sold his remaining stake in VK and left Russia after resisting government pressure. It was the most downloaded app worldwide in January 2021, with 1 billion downloads globally as of late August 2021.
When an author adds links to YouTube, Vimeo, or Twitter, the service allows you to embed their content directly in the article. In July 2025, Telegram partnered with the rapper and media figure Snoop Dogg to release a set of limited edition collectible gifts alongside his music video “Gifts”. These collectible gifts are registered on the TON blockchain as a form of NFT and can then be traded or sold both on the Telegram platform via the in-app Gift Marketplace or via outside platforms and marketplaces.

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In February 2015, creators of the unofficial WhatsApp+ client released the Telegram Plus app, later renamed to Plus Messenger, after their original project got a cease-and-desist order from WhatsApp. Android version based on TDLib.The iOS version was discontinued, with its code merged with the main Telegram app. A distinctive feature of this version is the ability to view channels/groups on a specific topic without censorship, which cannot be viewed from an app distributed from Google Play or the Apple Store due to their policies.citation needed

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In response, Telegram said that it “proactively moderates harmful content on its platform including child abuse material” and that its moderation is “within industry standards and constantly improving”. North Macedonia President Stevo Pendarovski and Prime Minister Zoran Zaev demanded an immediate response from Telegram and threatened to completely restrict access to the app in the country if no action was taken. Twelve days later, Telegram told its users that the Brazilian Congressional Bill No. 2630 against online disinformation, which was about to be approved, would end freedom of speech in the country. Following efforts by Telegram to remove ISIS-related content from the platform, the terrorist organization reportedly moved its recruitment groups to the dark web, with US officials citing the app’s purging of terrorist content as particularly effective at deplatforming ISIS. According to him, these features will require more bandwidth and the added cost will be covered by the feature prices, in addition to covering some of the costs incurred by regular users. Ads from Telegram’s “Sponsored Messages” platform began to appear in channels with more than 1000 followers in October 2021.

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People Nearby and Groups Near Me were features that helped users contact people in their physical vicinity, using their phone’s GPS location. In August 2022, Telegram launched an emoji platform where users could upload their own custom emoji, either in animated or static versions. In June 2021, an update introduced a new bot menu where users can browse and send commands while in a chat with a bot. It features a website widget that can be embedded into websites, allowing users to sign into a third party website with their Telegram account. Certain approved bots are also able to integrate into the attachment menu, making them accessible in any chat. The interface shows users a visual representation of their storage usage and also lets them sort their cached media by size to clear specific items.

Criticisms were also aimed at Telegram’s use of a custom-designed encryption protocol. The editorial staff was made aware of the advertisement by a Telegram user and the online magazine Übermedien. The criminal activity of 25 people was confirmed and copies of 30 databases were seized.

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Telegram has stated that the company will never serve advertisements in private chats. Such bots are used, among other things, to emulate and play old games in the app and inform users about vaccine availability for COVID-19. Telegram has public APIs with which developers can access the same functionality as Telegram’s official apps to build their own instant messaging applications.
In December 2014, Telegram announced that it had 50 million active users, generating 1 billion daily messages, and that it had 1 million new users signing up on its service every week, traffic doubled in five months with 2 billion daily messages. Telegram also has social networking features, allowing users to post stories, create public groups with up to 200,000 members, and share one-way updates to unlimited audiences in so-called channels. It allows users to exchange messages, share media and files, and hold private and group voice or video calls as well as public livestreams. As messaging apps continue to evolve, how they implement encryption will remain a critical topic of discussion. Read the privacy policy to find out if you are comfortable with how your data is handled, and consider both convenience and privacy when choosing your messaging platform.
Telegram (also known as Telegram Messenger) is a cloud-based, cross-platform social media and instant messaging (IM) service. Everything on Telegram, including chats, groups, media, etc. is encrypted using a combination of 256-bit symmetric AES encryption, 2048-bit RSA encryption, and Diffie–Hellman secure key exchange. Conversely, if you value seamless access to messages across devices, you won’t bother with default encryption, and Telegram’s approach may be acceptable to you.
Its servers are distributed worldwide with several data centers, and its headquarters are in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Secret Chat messages can be programmed to self-destruct automatically from both participating devices. Telegram will never use your data to show you ads.For those interested in maximum privacy, Telegram offers Secret Chats.
People can use Internet Of Things (IoT) services with two-way interaction via IFTTT implemented within Telegram. Bots power Telegram’s gaming platform, which utilizes HTML5, so games are loaded on-demand as needed, like ordinary webpages. To activate an inline bot, a user must type the bot’s username and a query in the message field. In June 2015, Telegram launched a platform for third-party developers to create bots. The Devices submenu shows all of the active devices on a user’s account and allows them to remotely log out from those devices. When a user chooses to hide their profile photo, they can set an alternative “Public Profile Picture” that will be shown instead.
Both in Secret and regular chats, messages can self-destruct after they are read, disappearing for all parties after a period set by the user, ranging from one day to one year. Users can import chat history, including both messages and media, from WhatsApp, Line, and KakaoTalk due to data portability, making a new chat to hold the messages or adding them to an existing one. Telegram content is synced between users’ logged-in devices automatically through cloud storage, except for device-specific secret chats.