Apps Like Telegram: Secure Messaging Alternatives Compared

If you want an app like Telegram but with stronger privacy, Signal is the usual answer, with WhatsApp, Threema and Element close behind. The key difference is encryption: Telegram only encrypts device to device in optional Secret Chats, while these apps do it for every conversation by default. For work teams, Slack and Microsoft Teams fill the role of Telegram's groups and channels, with different security trade offs.

Below, we compare the main alternatives, explain what "encrypted" really means in a messaging app, and outline what it takes to build a secure messenger of your own.

How Telegram actually protects your messages

Telegram is often described as a secure app, but its own FAQ is precise about the details. Normal chats, called Cloud Chats, use encryption between your device and Telegram's servers. That protects messages on the network, and it lets you open the same chat history on any device. It also means Telegram's servers can access that history.

Secret Chats add a second layer of encryption between the two devices, so only the sender and recipient can read them. They are not the default, they only work one to one, and they stay on the device where you started them. Groups and channels, which can hold up to 200,000 members according to the same FAQ, do not use this extra layer.

That design is a deliberate trade: convenience, giant communities and cloud sync in exchange for less privacy by default. If that trade does not suit you, the apps below make a different one.

What device to device encryption means

In a messaging app with device to device encryption (often written E2EE), your phone scrambles each message with keys that only exist on your device and your contact's device. The message stays scrambled while it passes through the provider's servers. Only the recipient's device can turn it back into readable text.

The practical result is that a hacker who breaks into the provider, a rogue employee, or anyone who intercepts the traffic sees nothing useful. What E2EE does not hide is metadata: who you talk to, when, and how often. Apps differ a lot in how much of that they keep, which is why two "encrypted" apps can offer very different privacy.

The best apps like Telegram

Signal

Signal is a nonprofit, open source messenger that encrypts every chat, call and group by default. It collects very little metadata and its protocol is the basis for encryption in several other apps. Groups can hold up to 1,000 members, according to Signal's support pages, and it supports disappearing messages and usernames so you do not have to share your phone number with contacts. It is the strongest privacy choice for most people.

WhatsApp

WhatsApp uses the Signal Protocol to encrypt personal chats and calls by default, and most people already have it. It offers disappearing messages, communities, channels and encrypted backups as an option. The trade off is that it belongs to Meta and collects more metadata than Signal.

Threema

Threema is a paid Swiss app that does not require a phone number or email address. Each user gets a random ID, and contacts are verified by scanning a QR code in person. It suits people who want to keep their identity separate from their messaging, and it has a business version for companies.

Element

Element is a client for Matrix, an open, decentralized messaging standard. Private chats are encrypted by default, and organizations can run their own server so their data never sits with a third party. Several public bodies use Matrix for this reason. It is more technical to set up than Signal, but it is the closest open alternative to Telegram's large group features.

Viber

Viber encrypts one to one and group chats by default and adds hidden chats and disappearing messages. It is popular in parts of Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, so it may be the app your contacts already use.

Facebook Messenger

Meta made device to device encryption the default for personal Messenger chats and calls from December 2023, as described on Meta's engineering blog. It is convenient if your social circle is on Facebook, but Meta still collects a lot of account and usage data.

Discord

Discord is built around servers with text and voice channels, which makes it the most natural replacement for Telegram's public groups and communities. Text messages are not encrypted device to device, so it is a community tool rather than a private one.

Slack and Microsoft Teams

For workplaces, Slack and Microsoft Teams replace Telegram groups with channels, threads, file sharing and links into other work tools. Both encrypt data on the network and on their servers, and both give the employer admin control over the workspace. Neither is designed to hide messages from the organization that runs it, which is usually what a company wants.

Skype is no longer an option. Microsoft retired Skype in May 2025 and moved users to Teams Free.

Telegram alternatives compared

How to choose a secure messaging app

1. Decide who you are protecting against. A hacker, the app provider, your employer and a government are different threats, and each app protects against some of them.
2. Check the default. Encryption you have to switch on per chat is easy to forget.
3. Look at metadata. Ask what the provider stores about who you talk to and when.
4. Check backups. Cloud backups can undo the protection if they are not encrypted too.
5. Be practical. The most private app is useless if nobody you know uses it. Many people run Signal for close contacts and another app for everyone else.

How to build a secure messaging app like Telegram

Companies build their own messengers for reasons that off the shelf apps do not cover: keeping staff chats inside the business, adding messaging to an existing product, or serving a community with its own rules. The work breaks into clear stages.

1. Define the product and the threat model

Decide who the users are, what they will share and who must never read it. A consumer chat app, an internal company messenger and a support chat inside a marketplace need very different features and protections. Write this down before choosing any technology.

2. Choose proven encryption, never your own

Use an established, audited protocol such as the Signal Protocol or Matrix's Olm and Megolm libraries. Home made cryptography is the most common and most dangerous mistake in this space. Plan key backup and device linking early, because they are harder than the messaging itself.

3. Pick the stack

• Mobile: native Swift and Kotlin, or Flutter and React Native for shared code across platforms
• Backend: Node.js, Go or Elixir for real time connections, with WebSockets for live delivery
• Data: PostgreSQL for accounts and metadata, object storage for encrypted media
• Push: Apple and Google push services, sending only a wake signal, never the message text

4. Build the core features

• Sign up and login with phone, email or username
• One to one and group chats with read receipts and typing indicators
• Encrypted photo, video, voice note and file sharing
• Voice and video calls
• Disappearing messages, blocking and reporting
• Admin tools for groups and, for a company app, user management

5. Test, then keep testing

Test delivery under poor connections, many devices per user and very large groups. Run a security review and a penetration test before launch, and again after major changes. Monitor crashes and delivery failures in production.

6. Plan for moderation and law

Even an encrypted app needs ways for users to report abuse and for the operator to respond. Check the data protection rules in every market you serve, and decide early what data you store and for how long.

Codeeo has delivered 200+ projects across the UAE and the US, including social and chat apps such as Regive and My Places. If you are planning a messenger or want chat inside an existing product, our mobile app development team can help, and a product scoping session will turn the idea into a feature list and plan. Teams that run on Microsoft tools can also ask about Microsoft 365 setups.