Telegram starts to look like a super app, echoing WeChat
Telegram, the popular messenger with 800 million monthly active users worldwide, is inching closer to adopting an ecosystem strategy that is reminiscent
The worst part is, they're partnering with Tencent.
Telegram is dead.
Also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blocking_of_Telegram_in_Russia
"On 18 June 2020 Roskomnadzor lifted its ban on Telegram after it 'agrees to help with extremism investigations'."
That should be enough information. I'm on Signal, waiting for Matrix to perhaps stop sucking before I die of old age.
This week, TON Foundation announced that it’s forged a partnership with Tencent Cloud, which has “already successfully supported TON validators and plans to expand its services further to help meet TON’s high compute intensity and network bandwidth needs.” Validators, in web3 lingo, are participants that help authenticate transactions in a blockchain network.
It looks like the partnership with Tencent only extends to their Web3 blockchain thing, and there doesn't seem to be any partnership in the main app so it's not the end of the world - at least, for now.
Also, what even is this TON blockchain? I never knew Telegram had anything to do with crypto :/
The entire point of E2EE is that it doesn't matter who the host is.
@photonicsorcerer What do you suggest as an alternative?
Telegram is a suprisingly good app.
I wish other apps were half as good as Telegram.
It bothers me that the major complaint is not the privacy issues or the people who own it behind the scenes...
but the technology used to build the desktop application. Electron is just a tool.
Fucking hell 🤦♂️
yeah it is too good for just to be called a messaging app, hope it will be more privacy focused
Well, thats also easy since telegram clients dont do much more than displaying messages stored on a server. Its more a viewer than a full client.
And that compromises hard on privacy and security, which Signal and Whatsapp dont do, they have proper Clients that have to really handle and store incoming messages. And the E2EE makes it harder, developing an independent desktop client, like Signal always had and Whatsapp recently got. But both are mediocre at best, sure.
I prefer Telegram to something owned by an American corporation.
lol what are you smoking?!
The shitty forced "stories" did me question seriously this once wonderful app. If I'd want to look at crappy TikTok-like shorts from other people, I'd be on TikTok.
Looks nice but https://github.com/nikitasius/Telegraher/issues/27
I fear that Telegram may ban user accounts...
Telegram has open source their client code. Not their server code. It's even on f Droid.
But it's starting to get worse. Now they won't send you an SMS code for registration unless you are using official build of the app. Even chat app under libre licence must connect with something...
One of the most egregious thing they've done imo is this:
If their app allows its users to access content from Telegram channels, third-party developers using the Telegram API are required to support and properly display official sponsored messages in their apps by January 1, 2022
As well as not allowing registration from desktop.
it costs them too much to send code as sms, also some client abuse that in some way, it also may help them to increase the download count of their official app which is not bad imo.
Everyone complaining about both telegram and signal here should, idk, just start dead dropping handwritten notes to people inside of dead rats, like the true privacy experts.
Privacy is important, yes. But if all of my friends use telegram, I'm going to use it too. Not only that, I'm going to be happy about it, because the telegram app is 1000x better than pretty much any other messaging app.
braces for angry downvotes
You don't understand, when it's only you in that platform, it's the ultimate privacy.
Receive my angry upvote.
I was under impression that Google Play and Apple App Store don't allow apps that can do practically everything (super apps). Is it really allowed? If a completely new company submit a chat app that somehow includes taxy hailing, food delivery, nfc/qr wallet and micro-loan features all at once instead of adding those features gradually in future updates, would Apple and Google accept the app?
WeChat and other composite apps are already on the stores, so I don’t see why others also wouldn’t be allowed.
And Grab.
But outside China, WeChat is only a messaging app, right? The super app aspect is only available for China domestic users with a WeChat version distributed outside Play Store? Other notable super apps (Tata Neu, Grab, Gojek, etc) are also seemingly only operates in Asia. Or is there any US/EU-based super apps out there? Is the lack of western super apps caused by regulation, app store rules, or something else entirely?
It does have a ton of functions tbh. I use it to access bots and keep notes. Even repositories for apps - Revanced Extended uses it for e.g. !
Uninstalled and moved to signal. But no one I know is on signal 🤡
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Telegram, the popular messenger with 800 million monthly active users worldwide, is inching closer to adopting an ecosystem strategy that is reminiscent of WeChat’s super app approach.
To build out this super app platform, Telegram relies on a network of infrastructure partners both from the established tech world and the crypto space.
WeChat has pioneered the mini app model in China and now powers millions of them serving functions from payments, food delivery, e-commerce, ride-hailing, to driver’s license renewal, just to name a few.
The developers would also need to learn the programming languages of blockchain apps, which might actually be an easier barrier to overcome than the process of understanding the economic incentives that facilitate decentralized applications.
Importantly, payment functionality played a critical role in WeChat’s early rise as it instilled a habit among users to make daily transactions through the chat app.
It will be fascinating to witness what lessons Telegram and TON take from WeChat and how a mini app platform with a decentralized twist unfolds.
The original article contains 678 words, the summary contains 169 words. Saved 75%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Telegram is rarely used in my country anyway.
Please use decentralized chat apps and not Telegram
Why there is always the guy that tell others what to do? People should use what's best for them, be it IM apps, browser, OS, whatever.
Guessing Signal doesn't count?
Depends on how dogmatic you want to get. Signal gets a passing grade from nearly all privacy focused groups, including the EFF.
Of course it has centralized control, and if they really wanted to, they could push out a change that creates huge privacy and security problems, but as a not for profit, they really have no incentive to do anything nefarious.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/09/eff-award-winner-signal-foundation
If you truly want to have 100% security, you need to go to school for a decade, learn how the latest encryption and security works, create your own ecosystem, and have zero bugs or problems.
It's centralized. And like all US based companies they have to conply to Patriot Act and Cloud Act, meaning US government agencies have everything not encrypted (dynamic map of all messages and social links).
Plus Signal has been founded by the CIA organisms (indirectly), it's really shady
Session is the only one that comes to mind but they did such an overkill when it comes to privacy and security application is downright unusable.
