Telegram (software)
Telegram is a freeware, cross-platform, cloud-based instant messaging (IM) service. The service also provides end-to-end encrypted video calling, VoIP, file sharing and several other features. It was launched for iOS on 14 August 2013 and Android in October 2013. The servers of Telegram are distributed worldwide with five data centers in different regions, while the operational center is based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Various client apps are available for desktop and mobile platforms including official apps for Android, iOS, Windows, macOS and Linux (although registration requires an iOS or Android device  and a working phone number). There are also two official Telegram web twin apps, WebK and WebZ, and numerous unofficial clients that make use of Telegram's protocol. All of Telegram's official components are open source, with the exception of the server which is closed-sourced and proprietary. Telegram provides optional end-to-end encrypted chats. Cloud chats and groups are encrypted between the app and the server, so that ISPs and other third-parties on the network can't access data, but the Telegram server can. Users can send text and voice messages, make voice and video calls , and share an unlimited number of images, documents (2 GB per file), user locations, animated stickers, contacts, and audio files. Users can also follow channels, which have been used by celebrities such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and politicians, most notably the president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In January 2021, Telegram surpassed 500 million monthly active users. It was the most downloaded app worldwide in January 2021 with 1 billion downloads globally as of late August 2021. History. Development. Telegram was launched in 2013 by the brothers Nikolai and Pavel Durov. Previously, the pair founded the Russian social network VK, which they  left in 2014 after claiming it had been taken over by President Putin's allies. Pavel Durov sold his remaining stake in VK and left Russia after resisting government pressure. Nikolai Durov created the MTProto protocol that is the basis for the messenger, while Pavel Durov provided financial support and infrastructure through his Digital Fortress fund. Telegram Messenger states that its end goal is not to bring profit, but it is not structured as a non-profit organization. Telegram is registered as a company in the British Virgin Islands and as an LLC in Dubai. It does not disclose where  it rents offices or which legal entities it uses to rent them, citing the need to "shelter the team from unnecessary influence" and protect users from governmental data requests. After Pavel Durov left Russia in 2014, he was said to be moving from country to country with a small group of computer programmers consisting of 15 core members. While a former employee of VK claimed that Telegram had employees in Saint Petersburg, Pavel Durov said that the Telegram team made Berlin, Germany its headquarters in 2014, but failed to obtain German residence permits for everyone on the team and moved  to other jurisdictions in early 2015. Since 2017, the company has been based in Dubai. Telegram apps receive monthly updates. Users can report apps' issues and recommend development ideas on the dedicated "Bugs and Suggestions" platform. Usage numbers. In October 2013, Telegram announced that it had 100,000 daily active users. On 24 March 2014, Telegram announced that it had reached 35 million monthly users and 15 million daily active users. In October 2014, South Korean governmental surveillance plans drove many of its citizens to switch to Telegram. In December 2014, Telegram announced that it had 50 million active users, generating  1 billion daily messages, and that it had 1 million new users signing up on its service every week, traffic doubled in five months with 2 billion daily messages. In September 2015, Telegram announced that the app had 60 million active users and delivered 12 billion daily messages. In February 2016, Telegram announced that it had 100 million monthly active users, with 350,000 new users signing up every day, delivering 15 billion messages daily. In December 2017, Telegram reached 180 million monthly active users. In March 2018, Telegram reached 200 million monthly active users. On 14 March 2019, Pavel Durov  claimed that "3 million new users signed up for Telegram within the last 24 hours." Durov did not specify what prompted this flood of new sign-ups, but the period matched a prolonged technical outage experienced by Facebook and its family of apps, including Instagram. According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the number of monthly Telegram users as of October 2019 is 300 million people worldwide. On 24 April 2020, Telegram announced that it had reached 400 million monthly active users. On 8 January 2021, Durov announced in a blog post that Telegram had reached "about 500 million  monthly active users. In August 2021, TechCrunch reported that India was Telegram's largest market with a 22% share of total installs coming from the region. On 5 October 2021, Telegram gained over 70 million new users as a result of an outage which affected Facebook and its affiliates. On March 21, 2022, Telegram usage share jumped to 63%, overtaking WhatsApp's usage share of 32% to become Russia's most popular messaging tool. Features. Account. Telegram accounts are tied to telephone numbers and are verified by SMS. Account creation requires an iOS or Android device regardless of the platform 	Telegram (software)
11298027	intended to be used. Users can add multiple devices to their account and receive messages on all of them. Connected devices can be removed individually or all at once. The associated number can be changed at any time and when doing so, the user's contacts will receive the new number automatically. In addition, a user can set up a username as an alias that allows them to send and receive messages without exposing their phone number. Telegram accounts can be deleted at any time and they are deleted automatically after six months of inactivity by default, which can optionally 	Telegram (software)
11298062	potential to become a decentralized alternative to Visa and MasterCard due to its ability to scale and support millions of transactions per second. In January and February 2018 the company ran a private sale of futures contracts for Grams, raising around $1.7 billion. No public offering took place. The development of TON took place in a completely isolated manner, and the release was postponed several times. The test network was launched in January 2019. The launch of the TON main network was scheduled for October 31. Yet on October 30, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission obtained a temporary 	Telegram (software)