Although most people use WhatsApp, Telegram is also very popular – but which of these two chat apps is best to use?
WhatsApp vs Telegram
The chat apps WhatsApp and Telegram have quite a lot of similarities, but there are certainly also differences. We put them side by side so that you can determine which of the two is best to use in your case.
Agreements
It should be clear that both WhatsApp and Telegram are intended for text, voice and video calls, and sharing photos, videos and documents. This works in almost the same way for both apps. You can also use both apps for free.
Privacy
WhatsApp uses end-to-end encryption by default for all conversations (both one-on-one and group conversations), Telegram only offers this for so-called ‘Secret chats’. Regular chats are encrypted during transmission but are not stored end-to-end by default. Telegram does have other privacy options. This way you can use a username instead of a telephone number and you can adjust more privacy settings than with WhatsApp.
Groups
Telegram has much larger groups than WhatsApp, up to hundreds of thousands of members, and also offers extensive channel and bot features. The maximum group size in a standard WhatsApp group is 1024 members. However, a maximum of 100 groups with 10,124 members each can be combined in a WhatsApp community, but then you ‘only’ have 51,200 members within one community.
Share files
Telegram also supports larger file sharing, up to 2 GB or sometimes even more, while WhatsApp has more limited file sizes and compression restrictions. For example, for videos shared as a file, the limit on WhatsApp is 100 MB and 720p resolution.
Devices
Telegram works primarily via the cloud, which makes it possible to use chats, files and settings seamlessly across multiple devices. The ‘main device’ does not have to be online for this. You can also use WhatsApp on a laptop or desktop, but the service remains tied to your iPhone as the primary device.
Users
WhatsApp has the great advantage that almost everyone uses it. This makes it easy for basic communication with family and friends. Telegram is somewhat more powerful than WhatsApp in terms of features and is therefore particularly popular with users who want more control or manage larger groups. However, the chance that everyone you know uses Telegram is a lot less likely.
Conclusion: WhatsApp vs Telegram
Telegram clearly has more extensive features than WhatsApp. This is especially useful if you often use large groups, regularly want to share large files, or work on many different devices. You also have more control over privacy settings, which you must enable yourself. The disadvantage is that probably not all your friends and family members use Telegram.
And that is the big advantage of WhatsApp: everyone uses it. And as long as you only want to send messages and share the occasional photo or video, WhatsApp is also perfectly suitable. You have less control over your privacy, but the default setting is sufficient for most people. Because of this, we recommend using WhatsApp, despite the fact that Telegram scores better on many points.
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