While most conversations on Telegram are trouble-free, people with bad intentions sometimes use the app—as is the case with most instant messaging platforms. Here's what you should know about the safety of Telegram and how to avoid scams on the platform.

Is Telegram Safe?

Telegram is generally a safe platform to use. Reasons include end-to-end encryption for one-to-one calls and the ability to self-destruct messages in secret chats. When you're sending messages to others, Telegram also uses encrypted tunnels to offer additional protection against external threats.

Although the app collects more data than Signal, the company does state that it only keeps data for as long as necessary. Moreover, EEA and UK users have their information stored in data centers in the Netherlands.

Other features that make Telegram safe to use include two-factor authentication and passcode/Face ID verification. This guide about how to enable 2FA on Telegram shows you the steps you need to follow to enable that feature.

While end-to-end encryption works for one-to-one calls, you'll need to enable secret chats on Telegram to use end-to-end encryption in your messaging as the feature isn't switched on by default. This is different from other messaging apps like WhatsApp and Signal, which use end-to-end encryption by default.

Telegram's MTProto encryption has also received criticism, as we'll discuss in the next section.