Telegram Messaging App Gains End-to-End Encrypted Video Calling

[MacRumors]

Secure messaging app Telegram has announced the launch of a video calling feature for its iOS app that the company says is end-to-end encrypted, just like phone calls and text-based messages conducted over the chat platform. Calls can be started from a contact's profile page.

All video calls are protected with end-to-end encryption. To confirm your connection, compare the four emoji shown on-screen for you and your chat partner – if they match, your call is 100% secured by time-tested encryption also used in Telegram's Secret Chats and Voice Calls.

The feature is an alpha version, so there's more work to do on it before it's fully robust, but it already includes support for switching from audio to video and vice versa at any time, as well as picture-in-picture mode, which means users can read and respond to other messages while they're chatting to the person on the other end of the call.

Telegram originally announced in April that it planned to introduce group video calls later this year. In its latest post, the company said group video calls will arrive in the coming months, offering users an alternative to Zoom, Microsoft Teams, FaceTime, WhatsApp, and other rival video-conferencing enabled platforms.

Telegram is a free download for iPhone and iPad from the App Store. [Direct Link]

Article Link: Telegram Messaging App Gains End-to-End Encrypted Video Calling

 

[hank moody]

Signal does this for a long time and in a much more secure way.

 

[Bustycat]

Although I am a long-time Telegram user, I was really upset by their initial statement about iOS App Store. It was later removed after Telegram version 7.0 was approved later within a half of day.

Why not on iOS?
We would like to apologize to all our iOS users for launching this feature on Android only. Apple has failed to review this update in time, even though we submitted it to the App Store several days before sending it to Google Play.

If you're on iOS and would like to try Telegram Video Calls, you'll have to wait until Apple lets you – or switch to a platform that has more respect for its users and developers, like Android.

Video Calls and Seven Years of Telegram

Today marks seven years of Telegram. In 2013, we began as a small app focused on secure messaging and have since grown into a platform with over 400M users. Now this platform also offers video calls.

web.archive.org

 

[miq]

I was really upset

Seriously? Lol.

 

[videosoul]

Signal does this for a long time and in a much more secure way.

In what way(s) exactly is Signal more secure?

 

[iosiseasy]

Signal does this for a long time and in a much more secure way.

Does Signal have a desktop app? No. Not even a contender for my use.

 

[Sasparilla]

In what way(s) exactly is Signal more secure?

Well, you can start with the encryption. Telegram uses its own custom encryption, which security experts have panned from the beginning (since it was originally developed in Russia, I believe, with hands off, magically, by the FSB, this isn't so surprising - they moved development out of Russia, guessing because it didn't look good from a marketing optics perspective) - that's from early on. Reminds me of that crippled encryption situation the NSA had put in place way back when here in the U.S..

Signal's encryption uses open standards that have been reviewed and approved by experts in the field.

Why You Should Stop Using Telegram Right Now

Telegram, the supposedly secure messaging app, has over 100 million users. You might even be one of them. If you are, you should probably stop using it

gizmodo.com

Here's a review of the app from a privacy focused website:

Telegram Review 2024: Pros, Cons, and Test Results

In this Telegram we review, we tested out the secure messaging app on Android and desktop to see how it compares to others.

restoreprivacy.com

Alot of people use it though, and social pressure is powerful even causing people to act against one's own best interests. Look at all the people using Facebooks products.

Does Signal have a desktop app? No. Not even a contender for my use.

Lucky you, Signal does have a desktop app: https://signal.org/en/download/

 

[Okasian]

Although I am a long-time Telegram user, I was really upset by their initial statement about iOS App Store. It was later removed after Telegram version 7.0 was approved later within a half of day.

Video Calls and Seven Years of Telegram

Today marks seven years of Telegram. In 2013, we began as a small app focused on secure messaging and have since grown into a platform with over 400M users. Now this platform also offers video calls.

web.archive.org

I think they mean more respect as in:
Android ultimately hands the choice of what software you can have, malicious or non-malicious, via the use of sideloading without having to phone home to Apple every 7/365 days.

Not that it matters due to the various jailbreaks to sideload ad-infinitum, but it’s more the principle really.

 

[Okasian]

Does Signal have a desktop app? No. Not even a contender for my use.

Yes it does.

 

[samwa3]

that the company says is end-to-end encrypted, just like phone calls and text-based messages conducted over the chat platform

That wording is a bit wrong. They use the same encryption that is used for phone calls and for the secret chats. But not all chats on Telegram are secret chats. All the regular chats that are mostly used by the users are not end-to-end encrypted.

You could argue that there's a good reason for this because it makes synchronization of chats between devices more cumbersome, but it's important to keep in mind. A normal Telegram chat is not end-to-end encrypted. And they make that also very clear in their wording of the press release. Now Macrumors staff just has to read better to also understand this.

(I'm not interested in arguing about which messaging app is better or worse, I just think it's important to stay factual and don't mistake something for something that it isn't.)

 

[hank moody]

Although I am a long-time Telegram user, I was really upset by their initial statement about iOS App Store. It was later removed after Telegram version 7.0 was approved later within a half of day.

Video Calls and Seven Years of Telegram

Today marks seven years of Telegram. In 2013, we began as a small app focused on secure messaging and have since grown into a platform with over 400M users. Now this platform also offers video calls.

web.archive.org

I unistalled telegram because of that.
That was so fake. They made that on purpose and to blame Apple.
He doesnt understant that Apple users LOVE Apple control over App Store, that is why we spend billions there.
Lame move by Durov. It will backlash.

 

[Bustycat]

they moved development out of Russia, guessing because it didn't look good from a marketing optics perspective

They moved out because they quit VK and went into exile. Russia did ban Telegram before but failed.

 

[unfunfionn]

Yes it does.

I use Signal but their desktop app is rubbish. It’s somehow even worse than WhatsApp on desktop.

 

[macintoshmac]

Does Signal have a desktop app? No. Not even a contender for my use.

 

[ambientdaw]

I use Signal but their desktop app is rubbish. It’s somehow even worse than WhatsApp on desktop.

does it work for video calls? I want to use with connection to my brother's Android phone

 

[feldpos]

Well, you can start with the encryption. Telegram uses its own custom encryption, which security experts have panned from the beginning (since it was originally developed in Russia, I believe, with hands off, magically, by the FSB, this isn't so surprising - they moved development out of Russia, guessing because it didn't look good from a marketing optics perspective) - that's from early on. Reminds me of that crippled encryption situation the NSA had put in place way back when here in the U.S..

Please stop spreading this rubbish. There's no concern about their crypto, only the fact that not /everything/ is E2E. Telegram's founded by the Durov brothers who hate Putin. They're not backdooring their system.

Regular chats == not E2E, but good enough. All of Telegram's cloud is fully encrypted and each datacenter holds the keys to decrypt the data in a different datacenter in another country. You can't raid Telegram's servers and get anything useful. These chats also offer a lot of features that other platforms like Signal do not.

Secret chats == Fully E2E, just like Signal

Telegram gives you both security and convenience depending on what you need.

You can delete the messages off the other person's device too, which isn't possible in Signal unless you set messages to expire beforehand.

Signal is slow and terrible. I've never had a video or audio call work correctly. Telegram's work great.

Everything you need to know is in their FAQ https://telegram.org/faq#security

 

[xpxp2002]

There's no concern about their crypto

Why You Don't Roll Your Own Crypto

The Dangers of "Rolling Your Own" Encryption

Why You Should Stop Using Telegram Right Now

Is Telegram's encryption interception-proof? Is it secure ...

 

[happyprozak]

Well, you can start with the encryption. Telegram uses its own custom encryption, which security experts have panned from the beginning (since it was originally developed in Russia, I believe, with hands off, magically, by the FSB, this isn't so surprising - they moved development out of Russia, guessing because it didn't look good from a marketing optics perspective) - that's from early on. Reminds me of that crippled encryption situation the NSA had put in place way back when here in the U.S..

Telegram moved out of Russia because they wouldn't give up the encryption keys to their government. I agree that any software coming out of Russia is suspect because of the way the Russian government operates but not all Russian software has been compromised.

Telegram is trusted so much in Russia that even government officials use it.

Think about it, if you were a government official and you knew your government was capable of decrypting your Telegram messages, would you continue to trust Telegram?

Think about it, if you were a Russian citizen fighting the dictatorship of your country, in a stance that would send you to jail or be assassinated, would you be allowed to continue to defy the government using a chat messenger that was compromised?

 

[happyprozak]

I think they mean more respect as in:
Android ultimately hands the choice of what software you can have, malicious or non-malicious, via the use of sideloading without having to phone home to Apple every 7/365 days.

Not that it matters due to the various jailbreaks to sideload ad-infinitum, but it’s more the principle really.

It does matter because the average user barely knows how to use their phone, let alone manage to jailbreak it. This is true for both Android and Apple users. While Android users can sideload, it's a poisoned chalice and the vast majority of users have no clue it's even possible.

I would guess that 99.99% of the population is better off because of the app store protectionism on both Google and Apple app stores.

 

[CarpalMac]

As a fan of Telegram, it is good that people keep challenging their use of their own encryption protocols. I don't know much but it seems contrary to best-practice.

All discussions about security are largely pointless though. WhatsApp has 1billion+ daily users to Telegrams 400m+. Signal is hard to know, but it's likely <5m.

WhatsApp not only being Facebook owned (yeeurck) so uploads your entire phonebook to their data slurping servers, also shares your phone number with any members of a group you are added to. This is appalling however apparently, judging by the numbers above, people simply do not care about privacy and security.

Telegram has so much cool functionality, it's like seeing how WhatsApp will look in 10 years time. Whilst their security choices have been questioned, I have yet to hear of them being compromised and for me, they have the right balance of privacy and adoption.

 

[Mr. Heckles]

Will they support group video calling?

 

[Yptcn]

Does Signal have a desktop app? No. Not even a contender for my use.

It does but it take a few tries to import contacts from the phone .