My "qualifications": I use Telegram, Wire, Signal and Matrix, in that order of volume and frequency of use.
Telegram delivers messages quickly. Signal...it's anyone's guess whether messages will be delivered or not and how long it may take. Many a times it can be quite slow.
Since Telegram is multi-device (including a web client), activating it on another device is quick. You either get the verification code by a push message on your current client or get an SMS. This happens within a few seconds (for push messages) and within a minute for SMS. Signal is quite flakey, and its verification code SMS may never arrive.
Telegram syncs chats across devices and anytime you switch to a new device and activate it, all your previous chats and groups and channel subscriptions are available on the new device immediately. Signal (this is specific to iOS) prevents backing up chats on iTunes and iCloud. So if you get a new iPhone, then you have to start afresh with no older chat history and have to rejoin groups again.
Telegram has many other features, of which a few are listed below (none of these are on Signal):
* You can set a username and share a https://t.me/<username> link to someone else to get in touch with you, without revealing your phone number to that person. In groups, if there are people who aren't in your contacts list, you would never see their phone number. In Signal, the phone number is shown everywhere, just like on WhatsApp. You cannot hide it from strangers.
* You can @mention people in chats using the username and they get appropriate notifications about the mention, taking them to that message.
* You can edit sent messages for a while (you don't have to send additional messages to correct typos).
* You can start anonymous polls (currently only from phones) in the chats and get responses.
* You can use bots for many different purposes.
* You can create broadcast "channels" that people subscribe to.
* In group chats, the administrators can decide if new members can see all messages from the time the group was started or only the recent 100 messages.
Telegram delivers messages quickly. Signal...it's anyone's guess whether messages will be delivered or not and how long it may take. Many a times it can be quite slow.
Since Telegram is multi-device (including a web client), activating it on another device is quick. You either get the verification code by a push message on your current client or get an SMS. This happens within a few seconds (for push messages) and within a minute for SMS. Signal is quite flakey, and its verification code SMS may never arrive.
Telegram syncs chats across devices and anytime you switch to a new device and activate it, all your previous chats and groups and channel subscriptions are available on the new device immediately. Signal (this is specific to iOS) prevents backing up chats on iTunes and iCloud. So if you get a new iPhone, then you have to start afresh with no older chat history and have to rejoin groups again.
Telegram has many other features, of which a few are listed below (none of these are on Signal):
* You can set a username and share a https://t.me/<username> link to someone else to get in touch with you, without revealing your phone number to that person. In groups, if there are people who aren't in your contacts list, you would never see their phone number. In Signal, the phone number is shown everywhere, just like on WhatsApp. You cannot hide it from strangers.
* You can @mention people in chats using the username and they get appropriate notifications about the mention, taking them to that message.
* You can edit sent messages for a while (you don't have to send additional messages to correct typos).
* You can start anonymous polls (currently only from phones) in the chats and get responses.
* You can use bots for many different purposes.
* You can create broadcast "channels" that people subscribe to.
* In group chats, the administrators can decide if new members can see all messages from the time the group was started or only the recent 100 messages.