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Telegram is best known for its impressive privacy features and ability to connect you with much larger groups than most platforms. Whether you’re worried about your data privacy or are just looking to optimize how you communicate, Telegram offers a range of appealing new features.
However, as with most apps, Telegram requires you to register with a phone number. While this is fairly standard practice, it can be a turn-off if privacy is your main concern. And since privacy is one of the biggest perks of Telegram, this is a serious deterrent.
If you’re interested in the benefits of Telegram but don’t want to expose your primary phone number, you aren’t out of luck. There are some ways to get around this requirement without sacrificing privacy or functionality.
What Is Telegram?
Telegram is a free, cloud-based messaging app that works across many platforms. Like any other messaging service, it can send text messages, voice notes, images, and files and make voice and video calls.
While it’s more or less the same as any other messaging platform, it offers some advantages over similar options like Whatsapp — and certainly offers some benefits over your in-built mobile phone SMS.
What Are the Benefits of Telegram?
End-to-End Encryption
Telegram is one of the most secure messaging platforms out there. All communications are protected with server-client encryption, and their secret chats option utilizes an extra layer of client-client encryption.
What’s especially impressive about their secret chats is that the privacy is individually verifiable. In addition to the overall encryption, you and your secret chat partner will get an encryption key. Your Telegram app will generate a picture that acts as your key. You then compare your image to your chat partner’s image. If they match, you know you’re secure.
If privacy is your main concern and you want the nitty-gritty details, Telegram offers an extensive FAQ for the technically inclined. It breaks down all of the privacy features so you can really understand the way your Telegram account works.
Large Group Messaging
Every messaging app on the market lets you start a group chat. What’s unique about Telegram is the sheer scale. You can start a group chat with up to 200,000 members. This makes Telegram ideal for keeping in touch with a larger community.
It’s also possible to create Channels or broadcast-style feeds. This means you or a small group of administrators can share content one way to an unlimited number of subscribers. While this might not be practical for personal, everyday use, it can be an invaluable resource for businesses or individuals trying to build an audience.
Access From Multiple Devices
If you’re constantly swapping from screen to screen and from work to home, keeping messages straight can be challenging. Most other messaging programs that have both phone and desktop apps need time to sync.
This can lead to missed and mixed messages — and worse, double-texting. There’s no greater humiliation than agonizing over a text, thinking it got lost between your devices, and then re-sending … only to find you’ve now sent it twice over. The horror.
Telegram’s cloud service means your messages exist across all devices at once. It’ll keep you organized, focused, and possibly spare you some serious embarrassment.
Customization Options
Telegram is equipped with more options for customization than other platforms. You can choose aesthetic things, like the dominant app color or theme.
You can change the color of message bubbles in your chats, moving beyond the default blue, gray, and green of Apple’s iMessage. This lets you personalize how your messages and those from your chat partners appear.
Likewise, you aren’t limited to a single style of emoji — you can select different sets. This gives you a new level of expressiveness. Since it’s so easy to misunderstand tone over text, customization options like this can really improve your ability to communicate.
You have a lot of control over practical functions like notifications, too. For instance, you can upload or choose custom sounds for messages. If you’re old enough to remember when buying a custom ringtone was the height of chic, this feature is kind of an exciting throwback.
Personalized Bots and Automation
One of the most unique features you get with Telegram is its wide range of bots — and the ability to program your own. Telegram bots can take your chat experience to the next level without compromising encryption and security.
You can embed individual bots in your chat or channel. It’s as straightforward as adding a human friend to your conversation.
If you have some facility with coding chatbots, this can be an invaluable innovation. And even if you’re technologically challenged, Telegram has a wide range of bots that you can simply add to your own Channel or chat.
There are bots that play games, bots that let you share music with friends, and bots that let you share GIFs in line with your chats. There are also more practical bots whether you’re looking for automated alerts, message translation, or automation to share posts from other platforms with your Channel.
Should You Switch to Telegram?
With new stories breaking every day about one data breach or another, it’s understandable that keeping your communications private is a top priority. Telegram is safer than most other messaging apps.
Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s infallible. For instance, certain devices — like Android and some Windows phones — are able to take screenshots of messages without detection. In general, Telegram will warn you if someone screencaps one of your secret chats, but it is possible to circumvent this.
But with a combination of Telegram’s advanced privacy settings and the same common sense precautions you’d exercise with any other messaging system, you’ll be well-protected. And if this, combined with all of the benefits above, meets your needs, then it might be the app for you.
Why Shouldn’t You Use Telegram?
If privacy isn’t your main driver, Telegram does have some drawbacks. Namely, popularity.
While Telegram has been around since 2013, there are many other messaging apps with a more significant footprint. Whatsapp is the most popular app worldwide, with approximately two billion users. WeChat and Facebook Messenger come next, with over one billion users globally.
Comparatively, Telegram only has around seven hundred million users active monthly. Because these apps are obviously used to message other users, if no one you’re communicating with regularly uses Telegram, it takes away, like … basically all of its appeal.
Still, Telegram is free to use. So if its features appeal to you, there’s a relatively low barrier to entry, and it’s a very user-friendly app. All you have to do is convince your friends, family, or colleagues to join you.
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Why Does Telegram Require a Phone Number?
As part of the sign-up process, Telegram requires both the user’s phone number and your country. It simply isn’t possible to create a Telegram account without a phone number, whether you sign up on your iPhone or on the desktop app.
While in theory, you could use somebody else’s phone number to get through the sign-up process, Telegram will immediately send a verification code to your number. If you can’t pass this authentication step, your Telegram account won’t work.
While this can be a frustrating limitation, there are practical reasons for this restriction.
- Limiting spam and phishing: One of the biggest issues with messaging apps is the prevalence of spam and phishing texts and calls. There’s no real way to entirely prevent this. However, requiring a real phone number and verifying this at sign-up can limit these annoying notifications.
- Account security and recovery: With password requirements becoming increasingly complex, you inevitably lose your information from time to time. Verifying your account with a phone number offers a safe way to verify your account and recover login information.
- Reduces fake accounts: If you’ve been on Facebook post-2010, you’ve probably noticed the proliferation of fake accounts online. Whether it’s bot accounts or people posing as your great Aunt Barb, fake accounts can be both an annoyance and a security risk. Verifying accounts with a unique phone number is a simple way to discourage this.
So, there are benefits to this type of verification. But likewise, there are legitimate reasons why you may not want to use your regular phone number to verify your account … Not the least of which is the fact that Telegram notifies your contacts when you join with your phone number. If privacy is your aim, this can be a serious issue.
Luckily, there are ways to get around this requirement with a virtual phone number.
So, How Can You Use Telegram Without a Number?
The short answer is that you can’t, for the above reasons. That said, there are some useful workarounds — by far, the best one is using a phone number app like Burner.
Burner is a simple way to get additional phone numbers without needing a second cell phone or a new SIM card. You can choose your phone number, so you can select the area code that makes sense for you.
This is key, especially compared to options like Google Voice and other VoIP providers that provide more temporary numbers, which often look like spam since they’re so disconnected from your life.
Within the Burner app, you can have multiple numbers and designate them for specific purposes. You can have a number for family, a number for friends, and a number to verify your account on apps like Telegram. You can mute or otherwise limit specific lines, so you’ll always have access to what you need. At the same time, you can drown out extra noise.
If you’re worried about signing up for a new app or account because it may expose you to various scams and endless newsletters, setting up a designated number for this purpose is ideal.
Think of it like your spam email address — there to access when you need it without clogging up your inbox with endless marketing messages. Delineating your lines in this way protects your primary number and gives you total control.
Can You Have Multiple Telegram Accounts?
Yes, you can have multiple Telegram accounts — up to three. However, each account needs to be tied to a unique phone number. So, unless you have multiple permanent phone numbers, you’ll need a custom phone number or two.
You can use Burner to create an additional virtual number to set up another account. In the same way that Burner can help you organize your phone with different lines, different Telegram accounts can likewise help you keep everything in its place.
That said, Burner offers a lot of privacy features and spam-blocking capabilities. So, rather than logging in and out of Telegram 20 times a day, you can simply create additional lines with Burner and use them directly.
What If You Change Your Number?
Luckily, switching numbers doesn’t mean you’ll lose your data on Telegram. You can update your mobile number on your Telegram account if you get a new one without losing your data or contacts.
This is especially helpful if you travel abroad often. Sometimes, the best way to get high-quality phone service at a reasonable price is to get a local SIM card. But this can temporarily change your actual phone number, which can cause problems for messaging apps.
Telegram lets you use a new number temporarily without updating your actual phone number in the app. This only works for a limited time, so it won’t be useful if you’re moving abroad, for instance. But if you’re taking a month-long work trip, it can save you a lot of headaches.
Making the Most of Your Phone
While Telegram’s phone number requirement might seem limiting, it’s there for a good reason. This type of verification is designed to improve security and create a more trustworthy and authentic user experience. If using your real number feels like an invasion of privacy, there are solutions — like using a virtual phone number.
With Burner, you can create additional numbers without the hassle of SIM cards or additional devices. It’s flexibility and privacy, all with the tap of a button. You get different numbers for different purposes, keeping your private line, well — private. And you can still register easily for apps such as Telegram.
Whether you need an extra number to stay anonymous, keep the different spheres of your life separate, or simply limit unnecessary notifications, Burner provides a seamless solution. Protect your data and make the most of your messaging experience — try Burner today.
Sources:
FAQ for the Technically Inclined | Telegram
How To Recognize and Avoid Phishing Scams | Federal Trade Commission
