# Telegram 229 Hacker News commenters recommended Telegram and 211 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 10 years (4 owners). **Verdict:** Loved for its polished, fast apps, fun features and an easy bot API for automation, but most chats lack end-to-end encryption and many distrust its Russian ties. ## Why people recommend it - Easy bot API for automation (7 comments): "For a lot of stuff it doesn't really matter whether it's E2EE though. I use it for bots that transfer information that isn't secret and for large public channels" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48929294)) "The idea of using Telegram as a way to have a global, quick, and personal interface from my phone or tablet, is perfect and easy to set up." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46521007)) "settled on a building a thin transport layer for Telegram to accept and return media, and persistent channels, vastly improved messaging UX" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47152447)) - Polished UI and fun features (7 comments): "In Telegram, I can open a chat, find a sticker, send a sticker, post a circle story, and shitpost in another group chat." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48926544)) "how much more stuff Telegram clients manage to do/load in the time it takes WhatsApp to load one screen" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48940846)) "Good UI and fun features make something worth using, it's why telegram is still my most used messenger." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46946364)) - Strong desktop and cross-platform clients (2 comments): "In Telegram, for some features, it just says "please open this message on your smartphone", and that's fine." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45914955)) "one of the precious few cross-platform messengers that doesn't treat desktop users as second class" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50037673)) - Flexible message deletion and privacy controls (3 comments): "Telegram lets group admins choose whether members can see history from before they join, which is the perfect solution" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46997509)) "Telegram lets you delete every message in any PM conversation, including incoming ones, for both people." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49815748)) "Telegram gives you a lot more practical security regarding what information to share with other users" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50037864)) ## What people warn about - No end-to-end encryption by default (8 comments): "If you’re ok with abandoning all security and privacy, then Telegram has some nice extra features that can come in handy." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48925045)) "Those chats are pretty obviously not as secure, as basically anybody can join them and decrypt the chat." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48925118)) "it's really unfortunate that telegram doesn't do e2ee, bc it's hands down the best messenger otherwise" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47775995)) - Homemade, unproven encryption protocol (3 comments): "If you trust Telegram to not allow MitM access to their servers and if the non-standard encryption they choose is secure" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46057692)) "Telegram does this, using a homemade encryption protocol that has no clear-text SNI like HTTPS" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46185914)) "their home rolled encryption is problematic in and of itself, but the fact that it lacks E2EE means you shouldn't even trust it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47037168)) - Distrust over Russia ties (4 comments): "there exist enough inconsistencies about Durov's/Telegram's relationship with the government of Russia" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45940815)) "investigations that Telegram has not been able to dispute have revealed that Telegram's infrastructure is managed by a person is also managing infra for FSB" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48928284)) "It seems obvious that if you ARE in a major war, you wouldn't want your main social media and messaging app to be under the control of somebody" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47326893)) - Scammers and illicit content (3 comments): "infested with scammers and all kinds of shady types, but at least the client itself doesn't suck" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46095752)) "In some shady corners of the internet I still see advertisements for child porn through Telegram, so they must be doing a shit job at it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46879175)) "Telegram's strategy to deal with violent extremist groups on its platform is to not ban them but just make it hard to discover." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48901852)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Discord](https://hackerapproved.com/p/discord.md): 400 recommend - [WeChat](https://hackerapproved.com/p/wechat.md): 14 recommend - [Telegram Desktop](https://hackerapproved.com/p/telegram-desktop.md): 13 recommend - [WhatsApp for Windows](https://hackerapproved.com/p/whatsapp-for-windows.md): 10 recommend - [LINE messaging app](https://hackerapproved.com/p/line.md): 8 recommend ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://telegram.org/) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Telegram", https://hackerapproved.com/p/telegram/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).