When it comes to instant messaging apps, two of the most popular ones are WhatsApp and Telegram. Both apps have quite unique features and functionalities. To choose the best IM (Instant Messaging) app, we must do WhatsApp vs Telegram and see which one is better and offers more to the user.
That is why in this article, we are going to compare WhatsApp vs Telegram on some different parameters and see which one the best IM is available.
WhatsApp vs Telegram
Well, when comparing instant messaging apps, the very first metric of comparison should be the messaging experience and the welcome screen right?
In the case of the welcome screen and UI, both WhatsApp and Telegram are quite simple and clean looking. So, it comes down to which one is better in terms of just pure messaging.
Now, this may be coming from a biased perspective but still, to this day, messaging/chatting on WhatsApp is far more interactive compared to Telegram. And the bias comes from long time usage of WhatsApp by every Indian. WhatsApp has been here for a long time and Telegram is new. Second thing is that the channels are also displayed along with the chat heads on Telegram which doesn’t look very neat.
In terms of just pure messaging experience, WhatsApp still has a large lead as it occupied the market first and a lot of users have WhatsApp on their phone. So, you might not find someone on Telegram, but you will find them on WhatsApp.
Now that we have talked about the messaging experience let’s talk about some additional features that set both messaging apps unique.
Unique Features on WhatsApp
WhatsApp is also very safe in terms of privacy as all the things are end-to-end encrypted. Along with voice calling, WhatsApp also supports video calling which is absent on Telegram. WhatsApp also notifies the users of when their messages are sent and when they are read.
There is also that new feature of self-destructing messages, which will self-destroy messages (within 7 days) if you enable it. Then there is the ‘STATUS’ tab on WhatsApp which is quite unique, and people can post their updates there that will last for 24 hours.
The user base is huge on WhatsApp, chances of you finding a person on WhatsApp is far more compared to finding the same person on Telegram.
Now the final game-changer which has to be the best feature on WhatsApp is the supports of UPI. Now you can send and request money easily on WhatsApp only using the WhatsApp UPI. This single feature is a complete game changer and takes the game to the next level. Not only it saves you from going to another app to do a transaction but also makes it easy to maintain a transaction record with people.
Read: An Ultimate Guide for WhatsApp UPI
Unique Features on Telegram
One of the very first and biggest unique features, which might also be the very reason you downloaded Telegram in the first place is the availability of channels (like groups on WhatsApp) that will give you tons of content. Content like movies, web/TV series, videos, books, and a lot of other stuff can be downloaded using Telegram by just joining channels. A channel can have unlimited users.
This is one of the features that sets it apart from every app in the category and it has changed the downloading game forever. The bots on Telegram are unique and have the capabilities to do a lot of different stuff.
Read: 8+ Unique Telegram Bots that You Can Try in 2020
People can easily send big files, and documents without any limit (up to 1.5GB). It also gives you the freedom to select whether you want to send the image/video in original quality or want to compress it.
The privacy features on Telegram are good too, first, it informs you if a screenshot is taken, Second, secret chats can’t be forwarded. The secret chats are end-to-end encrypted.
Telegram also gives you cloud storage, so all the stuff can be saved on their cloud as well and that gives you the liberty to login and logout easily.
Some other unique features involve, Editing sent messages, scheduling messages for delivery, self-destructing media, using multiple accounts on a single device, and a lot more.
Read: 7+ Cool Tips and Tricks for Telegram
Unlike WhatsApp which requires users to operate from their smartphone only, Telegram can be easily operated from any platform.
Bottom Line: WhatsApp vs Telegram
First of all, it is the competition of user base, WhatsApp has about 5 billion-plus downloads on Play Store and Telegram has only 500 million-plus downloads on Play Store.
Then the complete game-changer is the introduction of WhatsApp UPI on WhatsApp which has taken the game by storm. Now your payment-related stuff can be handled easily over WhatsApp only. Then the availability of video calling on WhatsApp is also an advantage.
Telegram is very good in terms of unique features and cross-platform support, but it all comes down to which one is better for messaging (at the core) and there WhatsApp is still the undisputed king.
So that was all about WhatsApp vs Telegram and which one is the best IM available, and as of now, WhatsApp seems to be the better choice.
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