A free, cloud-based messaging app backed by Pavel Durov and his brother Nikolai, Telegram runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS. Its pitch is one chat history on every screen, which is also the reason behind its biggest privacy compromise. Read that part before the Telegram download.
Telegram keeps your history everywhere, but not end-to-end encrypted
Normal cloud chats are encrypted between your device and Telegram’s servers and stored encrypted there, which is why a new laptop shows your full history the moment you sign in. End-to-end encryption only applies to Secret Chats, which you start by hand from a contact’s profile. Secret Chats live only on the device that created them, and logging out deletes them. Telegram Desktop on Windows and Linux cannot open Secret Chats at all; the separate native Telegram for macOS app can. Install Telegram for the sync and the big groups, but keep anything sensitive in a Secret Chat on your phone.
What do you get with Telegram on a computer?
Sign in on any number of devices and every cloud chat appears instantly, with no phone kept online. To download Telegram for Windows, you get either an installer or a portable build, and the desktop client is open source under GPL v3. Groups hold up to 200,000 members, channels reach unlimited audiences, and the free tier already sends very large files. Telegram Premium doubles the file limit and adds faster downloads, but messaging stays free. Bots and Mini Apps run inside chats, and a built-in proxy keeps it usable on restricted networks. For account safety, turn on 2-Step Verification so a stolen SIM alone cannot open your chats, and set a passcode lock if the computer is shared. The desktop client can also export your chats and media to your own drive. Recent builds added a video editor and self-destruct timers for photos and videos.
Telegram versus WhatsApp and Signal
WhatsApp encrypts every chat end-to-end by default and wins if your contacts already use it, but its groups are far smaller. Signal encrypts everything by default with an open protocol and suits people who put privacy above all else, though it has no large channels or bot platform. For communities and long working days at a computer, Telegram is the stronger messaging app; for conversations that must be private by default, pick Signal.
A fast messenger worth installing, with one privacy habit to learn
Telegram fits anyone who lives in group chats or wants the same conversations on a phone and a PC. If every message has to be end-to-end encrypted without extra effort, Signal is the better install. Everyone else can download Telegram and lose nothing by trying it.
