Telegram still works as well. It's technically banned, but works thanks to its blocking countermeasures.

> It's technically banned, but works thanks to its blocking countermeasures.

Mobile version only. You have to use proxy or VPN for desktop or web app.

You have to use vpn to access the website which contains the web version but only desktop installer. The app itself works just fine. Futhermore it can be downloaded from W10 or OSX app store with the only limitation being lack of autostart.

Telegram works just fine and is only becoming more popular.

It's way too popular, too many people would get angry.

Telegram was just the right size — not so tiny that only a few nerds use it, but not so big that the majority of normies have adopted it. And there was sort of a personal conflict, government people don't like Pavel Durov..

They lack the necessary computational power to look at the messages and store them in plain text.