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A signal is the best choice for choosing between encrypted messaging applications between Signal, Telegram, and WhatsApp. Anyone can nothing beat the Signal if they want better features, more bells, and privacy instead of easy use.
WhatsApp has announced a new privacy policy, adding millions of new Signal and Telegram users. All three mobile apps are available in the Google Play Store, Apple's App Store, which provide cross-platform messaging and group chat features. Files and photos can be shared on them, while text messages, voice, and video calls can be made.
Signal, Telegram, and WhatsApp can all use end-to-end encryption to some extent.
The three do not differ much in privacy and security, but their comparison is as follows.
Signal.
This app only collects phone numbers and does not collect any data.
Free, no ads
Full open source
Signal protocol encryption
The signal can be found on the Google Play Store, Apple's App Store and can be used as a regular messaging app. This is an open-source app developed by the Nonprofit Signals Foundation and used by privacy advocates J. Edward Snowden for years.
The signal's main function is to send individual or group text, video, audio, and photo messages. It allows other signals users to verify independently after verifying the phone number.
In the area of privacy, any app can barely beat the signal, as it does not collect user data while providing additional on-screen privacy options with encryption, such as app-specific locks, blanks, notification popups, Face blur tools, and automatically disappearing messages.
Bugs are presented in every technology, but the signal's reputation is stable, and the use of the signal is recommended by various organizations.
Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX and the chief executive of Twitter, has also advised people to use the signal, increasing the number of users of the app.
Telegram.
This app collects names, phone numbers, contacts, and user IDs.
Free but soon ad platform and premium features will be added.
Partial open source.
MT Proto Encryption.
Telegram is at the forefront of privacy and is different from other messaging apps in that it seeks to create a social network-like environment.
Although it does not collect as much data like WhatsApp, it does not support encrypted group calls like WhatsApp, while user data privacy and transparency like Signal are not part of this app. The data that Telegram collects has been mentioned, but it also collects the user's IP address, which is not done by the signal.
Unlike Signal and WhatsApp, one-on-one messages in Telegram are not encrypted by default but have to be turned on in the app's settings.
Group messages are not encrypted in Telegram either. Researchers have discovered that although the MT Proto Encryption Scheme is open source, some parts are not open source, it is not entirely clear what happens to user messages when they go to Telegram's servers.
Telegram's user data has also been hacked several times, with user IDs and phone numbers of more than 40 million users coming to light in March 2020, followed by data of 1.5 million users in 2016.
WhatsApp.
It collects a lot of data.
It's free, but ads may be added soon.
Not open source other than encryption.
Signal protocol encryption.
Understand there is a difference between security and privacy. Security protects against unauthorized access to data, and privacy protects identity.
Regarding security, the encryption in Signal & WhatsApp are the same, and the encryption is secure. But the encryption protocol is one of the open-source components, not WhatsApp.
WhatsApp is a real app with different parts facing hacking, just like Telegram.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' phone was also hacked via WhatsApp video message. Spyware has also been used to target vulnerabilities in WhatsApp software.
WhatsApp's cloud backup feature has also been a source of controversy for some time because it was not encrypted. WhatsApp and Facebook can't see the user's messages, but there is a huge list of other data that this app collects.
These include Unique Device ID, Usage, Advertising Data, Physical Location, Phone Number, Contact Information and Contact List, Which Device Uses, How Much Uses the App, and How to Do It. Here are some ones I found interesting: However, WhatsApp says that contact details are not shared with Facebook, and we cannot see the user's shared location.
So, it is up to you to decide which of these three apps to choose, whether to prioritize feature or complete protection. This is also your choice.