Meta controls some of the most popular messaging apps in the world, including Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. Even though Instagram isn’t a messaging-first app, it’s also commonly used for that. However, if you constantly see the limitations between Meta’s apps, you should know there’s a smarter messaging app available: Telegram.
Telegram is slightly younger than WhatsApp, but it’s been on the market for 13 years now. The app is available on iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux, and web browsers. However, what makes it far superior than other messaging apps is how seamless the user experience is. It took forever for WhatsApp to add the ability to offer multi-device support, while with Telegram you just have to log in from a new device, whether it’s a laptop, a phone, or a tablet.
Another feature that’s been available for ages on Telegram is the option of contacts being known by usernames. This way, you can find friends not only by their number, but also with a user, making it a more straightforward way to find a contact online. What’s App is slated to roll out the same option sometime in 2026.
Telegram offers more features to power users
What makes Telegram a smarter messaging app than Messenger or WhatsApp is the ability to send larger uncompressed files for data sharing (up to 2GB), which is great when you have a trip with your family, a weekend with friends, and you want to send everything without worrying about the image being compressed or requiring you to send multiple times different files due to the app’s restrictions.
Telegram also offers more advanced message control. For example, you can schedule messages, send them without notification sound, or edit them up to 48 hours after you hit send. There’s also the possibility to delete message on both sides at any time without leaving a trace behind.
For those who use messaging apps not only with friends and family but also for work, Telegram offers custom chat folders and the ability to pin chats/multiple messages which help organize workflows. Besides that, draft, schedule messages, and so on sync in the cloud across devices, so you can start something on your iPhone, and finish on a Windows PC.
Finally, Telegram has a premium tier, which offers the ability to send up to 4GB of data at once, faster download and transfer exceeds, native transcription of voice messages, and other chats management options. That said, if you want flexibility, E2E encryption, and more perks, Telegram might be the smartest choice.
