Comparison of WhatsApp,Signal and Telegram

Security — — -Data Collected — — — -Feature Comparison

It’s no secret that WhatsApp is catching some major flak for the new changes to its privacy policy. You have just a few months to agree to the new terms that would share more of your data with parent company Facebook. As a result, many users are quitting the messaging app for good and searching for greener pastures. Here’s our comparison of WhatsApp vs. Telegram vs. Signal to help you decide where to go next.

Security :

WhatsApp comes with E2E that ensures that only the recipient and the sender can read the message and not even WhatsApp can read it. More interestingly, the encryption tool that WhatsApp uses has been developed by the same team that made Signal.But they can know sender and receiver of the message.

Telegram does not offer E2E rather uses something the company calls Client-Server encryption. This means that in theory, Telegram has access to the contents of the messages being sent via its platform but the company claims that it would involve tons of legal paperwork to read these messages. Telegram’s ‘Secret Chat’ option, however, offers E2E.

The signal is the most secure app out of the three and it not only offers E2E but also doesn’t back up anything on the cloud so there is absolutely no way that the messages can be compromised (unless the device is compromised). Additionally, it also encrypts the metadata of the message so no one can track the location and the time of the message being sent or received.

Vanishing Messages :

All three platforms offer a vanishing messages feature. With this feature, all the messages you send in this mode will disappear after a certain point in time. These messages do not get backed up on the device nor the cloud which means it is the safest way to interact.

Chat Backup :

WhatsApp comes with an auto cloud backup feature that backs up your chats on third-party cloud services like Google and iCloud for free. You have the option of disabling the backup option in WhatsApp in the app’s Settings.

Telegram does not offer backups rather all of its chats are synced with its cloud and channel content between devices.

Signal, on the other hand, does not offer any form of cloud backup and stores all the content locally on the device. The only disadvantage with this is that if your device is lost or you switch the phone you won’t be able to recover your old messages as they are stored locally.

Group chat and Security :

WhatsApp offers group support for up to 256 people with the option of making voice or video calls with 8 people simultaneously. All of the messages on groups are E2E and also get backed up on the cloud.

Telegram offers its users the option to connect with a larger group with the option of accommodating up to 200,000 people in a group.The only downside to this is that Telegram doesn’t offer encryption for its messages in the groups.

Signal allows up to 1,000 participants in a group with voice and video calling for up to 5 people. It offers E2E for its group chats which are not backed up on the cloud.A great security feature that Signal offers is that it gives users the option to block recipients from taking screenshots of a chat, and also gives an option to allow faces on photos to be blurred before they’re sent.

Data collected

Among the three, WhatsApp collects the most amount of data from its users. Here’s a list of what information WhatsApp collects:

-Purchase history, Device information, Ad data, Location, Phone number, Email address, Contacts, Performance and diagnostics, Various other user-related information

Telegram, on the other hand, collects limited information about its users like:

-Phone number, User ID, Contact information,IP address.

Signal does not collect any other information apart from the user’s phone number.

Biometrics :

All three apps come with an option to lock the app with the help of biometrics or a pin.

Browser Version :

While Telegram and WhatsApp offer support for the desktop, Signal does not have a browser version. Also, unlike WhatsApp, Telegram users don’t need to have an active internet connection on their phone for their browser version to work.

Other Features :

Telegram : It also offers multiple group-specific features such as bots, polls, quizzes, hashtags and a lot more which can make group experiences a lot more fun.You also get support for editing sent messages, along with features like message scheduling, sharing uncompressed media, themes, and a lot more.However, if you use the Secret Chats feature, you’ll have full access to end-to-end encryption, which should put more users at ease.

Signal : For me, the best feature of Signal is “Note to Self”. Unlike WhatsApp, you don’t have to create a single-member group to send notes to yourself. On Signal, the feature is available natively and you can jot down your thoughts and ideas while messaging with your friends and family.Generally, when you get a message notification, Signal displays the name of the sender and the message. But if you just want to get a notification with the name of the sender without any message then you can customize that on Signal.

Just recently, Signal announced a new feature that is going to further enhance the privacy of users. Now with just a single tap, you can automatically blur faces on Signal before sharing images.Among the many features of the Signal app, I particularly love this one. Similar to Snapchat, you can restrict users from taking screenshots of chats or anything within the app.

By default, Signal does not create a backup (either local or cloud) for security reasons.This is main drawback in Signal. However, if you want to create a local backup of your Signal messages and media then you have the option to do that. Open Signal’s settings page and tap on “Chats and media”. Here, enable “Chat backups” and you will be given a passphrase.

Incognito Keyboard is among the best Signal tips and you should definitely make use of it. If you are worried that the keyboard is learning and personalizing its service from your typing behavior then you can ask Signal to enforce Incognito Keyboard.

My personal choice would be :

The fact that WhatsApp already has a solid foundation and a userbase in the billions gives it the upper hand advantage. Users are already comfortable with the ecosystem and it offers top-notch security for its chats.

What works against WhatsApp is its parent company’s attitude towards privacy and user data and not giving its users the option to not share its data on other platforms. The only reason you should stick with WhatsApp is if you don’t want the inconvenience of asking your contacts to switch to other messaging apps and enjoy the stability that WhatsApp offers.

Telegram isn’t as secure as its competitors in this lineup but offers a host of other features that WhatsApp and Signal don’t. If you aren’t that concerned about your security and want to target a larger audience then Telegram is the app for you.

Signal is the best option for people who want the absolute best security and privacy. It doesn’t store any data and that is one of the reasons that many people are flocking towards the app. If WhatsApp is obstinate on sharing its users’ data, Signal is the best option for you.