14 DAY TRIAL // A large number of people are using Whatsapp on their phones, but a very good alternative for that app is Telegram. The main difference is that the Telegram devs have also released a desktop client for the Linux platform, that is also open source.
It might not seem like much, to have a desktop client for a messaging app, but we would all love to have something from Whatsapp. On the other hand, Telegram is a less known app, but it's just as good (if not better some might say). Now, less known still means it has dozens of millions of downloads for the mobile platform and that is a lot.
One of the things that really sets this service apart is the fact that it provides an open source API that can be used by anyone to make a client compatible with their service.
The same can't be said about Whatsapp and it's one of the main reasons why there is still no Whatsapp version for Ubuntu Touch. In any case, the fact that we can now use Telegram as a native apps is a great step forward.
Telegram for Linux is not complete, but it's already awesome
The ability to receive and send messages from a Linux desktop is underrated. Telegram offers complete synchronization across all platforms, which means that you won't miss any important messages that you received while staying online on the desktop. They will be made available on the mobiles version as soon as you open it.
"Telegram is a messaging app with a focus on speed and security, it’s superfast, simple and free. You can use Telegram on all your devices at the same time — your messages sync seamlessly across any of your phones, tablets or computers."
"With Telegram, you can send messages, photos, videos and files of any type (doc, zip, mp3, etc) to people who are in your phone contacts and have Telegram. You can also create groups for up to 200 people or send broadcasts to up to 100 contacts. As a result, Telegram is like SMS and email combined — and can take care of all your personal or business messaging needs," reads the official website.
Another thing that Telegram says it's doing better than the rest is security. They say they have a protocol called MTProto, which is supposed to be among the best. Also, the application will remain free, forever, with no ads.
You can download the Telegram Desktop 0.6.15 app from Softpedia. There is nothing to install, just unzip and run the binary.
