What makes telegram a winner for me is that the desktop is a first class citizen, I'm in front of a computer like 18 hours a day - I don't want to have to stop what I'm going and respond on my phone. Yes, perhaps Signal is more secure, and I may try it someday.. but for now.. Telegram has largely solved my 'communications' problem.
Other than that it is a great app. Some of us just think the bar is e2e by default.
1) no video calls
2) voice calls just now being rolled out
3) encryption is opt-in and limited to one-on-one conversations
4) requires a phone number for authentication
The "academic" criticism is about its crypto being poor. The rest is regular stuff which is a deal breaker even for many non-academics.
That doesn't appear to be true:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/11...
If they're a nonprofit, where is their 990 (or equivalent)?
It's very quick, feature-rich, and developer-friendly.
Perhaps best of all, it's a nonprofit. So I can expect, with a high degree of confidence, that the organization won't abruptly switch course one day to appease investors.