Face Off: WhatsApp vs. Telegram by Rob Blaich

Since 2010, WhatsApp has progressively become the world's most-used, non-SMS text messaging application. It was for good reason too.

WhatsApp was one of the first apps to work cross-platform, and bring many features along that were seen in BBM, such as sent and read receipts. Since the app uses data instead of SMS/MMS, it has also become a favorite for millions outside of the USA and Canada. Unlike these two, other countries are often nickeled and Dimed per SMS, and unlimited texting plans are not nearly as common. Data is the way to go.

This wasn't the only messaging service to show up to the table with a solution though. Other messengers, such as Kik, attempted to offer the same options with their own twists. For whatever reason, though, WhatsApp just stuck - and grew.

Then Facebook bought them.

Suddenly many felt the app would go downhill. People feared they would lose security and privacy. The list goes on.

Telegram was born.

At first sight, Telegram does look and feel a lot like WhatsApp. It isn't until you use it for a short while before you notice the differences and begin to appreciate what Telegram has to offer that WhatsApp cannot - and vise versa.

To keep it simple, and avoid creating a long article as I tend to do, I'll create a table;

Feature	WhatsApp	Telegram
Price	Free for the first year. $0.99 / year	Free!
Platform	Android, iPhone, BlackBerry, Nokia, Symbian, Windows Phone, web app	Android, iOS (iPhone and iPad), BlackBerry 10 (using Android), Windows Phone, Windows, OS X, Linux, web app
Multiple Platform Sync	No. One device per phone number / SIM	Yes, syncs across all devices.
In-app advertising	No	No
Marked as Sent/Read	Yes	Yes
Photo sharing	Yes - jpg, png	Yes - jpg, png, gif, webP
Video sharing	Yes	Yes
File Sharing	Yes - photos, video, audio, location, contacts	Yes - up to 1.5GB of any file type
Voice recording	Yes	Yes
Phone calling	Yes (New!)	No
Video calling	No	No
Stickers	No	Yes - Both in-app, also allows to share your own via web app / desktop applications
Group Chat	Yes	Yes
Group Chat features	Title for group chat, avatar for group chat	Reply to specific post, mention user(s), title chat, avatar for chat
Contact Sharing Method	Contacts must have your phone number in their contact list.	Contacts may have your phone number or email in your contact list - OR - users may create and share a username
Secret Chat	No	Yes
Status Update	Yes	No
Muting Chat / Group chat	Yes - Group chats only; 1 hour, 1 week, 1 year	Yes - 1 hour, 8 hours, 2 days, disable
Customize chat background	Yes	Yes
Location sharing	Yes	Yes
In-app photo editor	No	Yes
In-app GIF and JPG finder	No	Yes
Material Design (Android)	No	Yes
Search for content in chats, including hashtags	Yes - Only within each chat	Yes - Universal in all chats
Drag-and-drop files, photos, etc to desktop or web app	No	Yes - Desktop
Pop-up Messages	Yes - Reply	Yes - Reply
Custom notification sounds/LED per contact	No	Yes - Android only
Broadcast messaging	Yes	Yes
Open API	No	Yes
Forward Messages	Yes	Yes
Shortcut to conversation	Yes - Android	No

In case it wasn’t obvious, the blue text showed the winner in each category. If I tallied up which app won, it comes to 16-Telegram, 3-WhatsApp, with the remaining 11 features being equal to each other.

It should be noted that I did not include the speed or security of each app. These aren’t really features in my eyes, and more just how each app is.

If I happened to have missed any features, or was incorrect with any of them, by all means, let me know in the comment section!

WhatsApp: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.whatsapp
Telegram: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.telegram.messenger

+Rob Blaich