Over the past days, two popular chat services have accused each other of having undisclosed government ties. According to Signal president Meredith Whittaker, Telegram is not only “notoriously insecure” but also “routinely cooperates with governments behind the scenes.” Telegram founder Pavel Durov, on the other hand, claims that “the US government spent $3M to build Signal’s encryption” and Signal’s current leaders are “activists used by the US state department for regime change abroad.”
I am using it to communicate with 3 people (our common ground as I don’t have an iPhone and don’t use Whatsapp).
A few years ago it felt a bit ruff and awkward to use, but many updates later it is as fluent as any chat app.
The security feels ok. Of course it would be a lot better, if they would open source their code.