Facebook-owned WhatsApp’s Privacy Policy got updated allowing other Facebook-owned companies access to WhatsApp data. This has once again put a question on the security and safety of WhatsApp. Many users are concerned over user data privacy and have decided to look for alternative messaging apps for increased security. Users have been looking for alternatives and considering Which app among WhatsApp Telegram and Signal(Endorsed by Elon Musk) is safe and secure to use?
Whatsapp is currently the largest messaging app all around the globe and has over 2 billion active users. Telegram is also quite famous and has almost 400 million active users. While Elon Musk endorsed Signal which has become the talk of the town for the past few days has around 10-20 active users. Whatsapp is definetly quite popular and is hugely known. While telegram and Signal are slowly catching up and gaining popularity.
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WhatsApp vs Signal vs Telegram Features And Security
WhatsApp claims to have end-to-end encryption meaning all your messages, video calls, voice calls, photos, and anything else you share are end-to-end encrypted. WhatsApp is meant for general users, it offers seamless backup and restores. It also supports voice and video calls, both for individuals and groups, and also live location sharing.
Also Read | How To Read Someone’s WhatsApp Message Without Touching Their Phones
Whatsapp does a pretty decent job in terms of ensuring security for its users. But WhatsApp has a very bad reputation in terms of security and especially the recent issue with group chats getting indexed on Google search. The issue has been fixed but unfortunately, this has become too huge to be fixed do easily.
Telegram
Telegram offers tons of features and is almost similar to Whatsapp. The only differentiating feature of Telegram is that it allows a group to be made of over 200,000 members. It also has features like Snapchat of deleting messages automatically. Not only this but you can also share files with 1.5 GB size on Telegram.
Telegram along with its feature also offers some level of security and also has E2R encryption. Telegram claims to manage its message storage and decryption keys in a way that would require court orders from multiple legal systems around the world to be able to access any of your data. Making it also quite a good alternative for WhatsApp. Just make sure to not enable Telegram’s ‘People Nearby’ Feature.
Signal
Signal may not have many users till now but is one of the best choice and the safest and secure messaging app. Signal offers its users secure messaging, voice, and video calls you can further also create groups and can also have the feature of group calling.
Similar to WhatsApp, E2E encryption covers all forms of communication on Signal. Signal also encrypts your metadata which is not done by Telegram and WhatsApp. It also has a new feature that is called Sealed Sender and it basically means that no one will be able to know not even the Signal app itself as to who is texting who. This ensures ultimate privacy. You can definetly opt for Signal as a good alternative for Whatsapp and can follow simple steps to move group chats from WhatsApp to Signal.
What Data Does WhatsApp, Signal, And Telegram Collect?
Here is a list of data that you may find each of the three App collecting form all its users:
- Device ID
- User ID
- Advertising Data
- Purchase History
- Coarse Location
- Phone Number
- Email Address
- Contacts
- Product Interaction
- Crash Data
- Performance Data
- Other Diagnostic Data
- Payment Info
- Customer Support
- Product Interaction
- Other User Content
Telegram
- Contact Info
- Contacts
- User ID
Signal
- Signal does not take any data other than your phone number.
Also Read | Signal Desktop Guide: How To Link Your Phone To Signal Desktop?
If you look at all features and security protocols followed by each app Signal and Telegram seem to be the best choice for anyone who finds WhatsApp unsafe due to its security protocols.