Telegram guide: the main aspects of working with a messenger

Telegram is a free messenger for smartphones, tablets and PCs which was developed by the Digital Fortress Company founded by Pavel Durov.  In order to understand how to use this application, we are going to provide you with Telegram guide where the main verification and communication peculiarities are given along with some information on message encryption parameters.

It is important to mention that the given messenger has nothing in common with another Pavel Durovʼs project which is a social networking service VKontakte. It is more likely a competitor of such projects as Viber and WhatsApp, the key peculiarity of which is fast and secure text and multimedia message transmission.

Where to download and how to sign in

The best way to download this application is to find a link at its official website. Despite Telegram is a newish project, today there exist lots of clones having their pros and cons. If you do not want to risk getting a product of poor quality, it is important to carry out the installation according to Telegram guide provided by its developers.

This application does not require signing in. For logging in to it, you need to send a request and get the verification code via SMS. Telegram is synchronized with a phonebook, so, after installing it, a client will be able to see if his friends and relatives are taking this opportunity. If some particular person you would like to text to is not on the contacts list, you can send the SMS invitation.

Telegram user guide

Telegram offers different ways of communication:

• Chat. This mode includes a possibility of holding a dialogue between two users. The rest have no access to the given chat and cannot join it.
• Group. In order to simultaneously communicate with several participants, a user should create a group. The minimum number of the users is equal to 2 and the maximum one is equal to 5000. To invite a new user, it is necessary to click the name of the group and add people you want to communicate to using the “Add member”

• Supergroup. The groups which are divided according to certain interests or regional features are called supergroups. There exist lots of communities inviting the members who are interested in sports, cinematography, photography, technology, etc. If you did not find a community meeting your interests or you want to create a supergroup for your city, so you need to use the “Upgrade to Supergroup” option while creating a standard group, and specify the corresponding parameters.
• Channel. The given mode can be used for keeping a blog, informing your subscribers about important events, creating topic channels, etc. Its main difference from the above-mentioned modes is that subscriber feedback is not available. It means that a visitor may only view the posts, but there is no possibility for him to comment or “like”

Security parameters

Telegram guide will not be complete if we do not tell about security parameters which are the key peculiarity of this application. Currently, Telegram is one of the most secure messengers. Due to its own development, the cryptographic MTProto protocol in particular, decryption of the users’ conversations is dramatically complicated. Telegram encryption is carried out by means of the following algorithms:

• RSA-2048;
• DH-2048;
• AES-256;
• SHA-1;
• MD5.

When using standard modes for communication, the encrypted messages are stored on the company’s servers. On the one hand, this makes it possible for the intruders to hack a key and get access to some particular user’s message history. However, on the other hand, this allows a client to have access to his conversations in case of logging in from any other device.

Secret chat

If you want to completely secure yourself, the Secret Chat user guide will be helpful for you. The end-to-end encryption method operating on a device by device basis is used in the given mode. All data is stored on the interlocutors’ devices, so it is possible to get access to it in a physical way only.

In order to create a secret chat, you need to select the “New Secret Chat” menu option. In contrast to other communication modes represented in the given guide, a secret chat is bound to a particular device and will be available only there. After logging off an account, information on secret conversations disappears as well.

When using this mode, the timer for self-destruction of your conversations is available. In order to set it, it is necessary to tap the clock icon and then set the self-destruct timer to the desired time limit. It will start working at that very moment when a recipient will read your message. As soon as the time runs out, the message will be self-destructed.

The given guide represents only selective parts of application functional, as Telegram developers are adding its functionality practically every day. Nevertheless, newly acquired information will allow you customize the main functions and organize communication with your friends with no trouble.