What's app vs signal vs telegram - Here's everything you need to know 

WhatsApp has been suffering a lot of heat since it rolled out the latest Privacy Policy updates. The Facebook-owned company has been backlashed by various users over privacy concerns and people are looking for Whatsapp alternatives

WhatsApp has updated its Privacy policy which enables other Facebook-owned companies to access WhatsApp user data. While Facebook has always been suspected with misusing user data, 

The new Whatsapp privacy policies throw a ton of questions over its security and data privacy. While WhatsApp alternative apps are being favoured for better security, Both Telegram and the all-new Signal (supported by the world’s richest man, Elon Musk) are being recognised the best Whatsapp alternatives given the security features offered.

WhatsApp is currently the largest messaging service in the world with over 2 billion monthly active users. Telegram has approximately 400 million users, while Signal has about 20 million monthly active users.The WhatsApp privacy policy update is helping the other two gain more users over the app’s security and privacy.

WhatsApp

WhatsApp has everything you would require on a social messaging service including the modern in-app payments feature. Group chats work with up to 256 members. You can broadcast messages to various contacts, support voice and video calls, both for individuals and groups.

• Group video calls (8 users at any time)
• WhatsApp Status feature 
• Whatsapp enables you to share all varieties of files and documents (up to 100MB)
• Photos, videos and audio files can be shared (up to 16 MB)
• You can share live location with your contacts 
• WhatsApp uses end to end encryption (E2E) for communication: messages, video calls, voice calls, photos and anything
• WhatsApp uses E2E protocol developed by Open Whisper Systems, same as Signal 
• Backup and restore messages and data via cloud services like Google Drive and iCloud

Telegram

Telegram extends support to groups with up to 200,000 members. Known for its extensive and huge groups, Telegram proposes multiple group-specific features such as bots, polls, quizzes and hashtags, which is great for large group experiences.

• Self-destructing information, where the message will get deleted after a point of time
• The size limitation for sharing files on Telegram is up to 1.5 GB
• Supports voice and video call on Android and iOS devices
• Telegram supports E2E only hidden chats feature
• The company verified it shares 0 bytes of data with third-parties or any governments till date

Signal

Coming to the freshest member, Signal proposes secure and safe messaging, voice, and video calls with end-to-end encryption. You can create groups, but can’t broadcast messages to multiple connections at once. Signal also has added support for group calling.

• Supports self-destructing messages
• Note to Self to yield your own opinions and ideas without creating single-member groups
• Signal supports relay voice calls to its servers, identification is not shared, the same as using a VPN
• Signal uses back-end user-facing encryption service
• It uses the open-source Signal Protocol to execute end-to-end encryption
• Signal also encrypts your metadata suggesting multiple levels of security

WhatsApp vs Signal vs Telegram: Privacy Permissions, Which One More Secure?

1.WhatsApp Data Collection

WhatsApp does not encrypt backups (cloud or local). Whatsapp also seems not to encrypt metadata unlike Signal, which is utilised to carry communication between two endpoints. WhatsApp group chats have been earlier found to be listed on Google search, major data breach point.

• Device ID, User ID
• Advertising Data & Purchase History
• Coarse Location
• Phone Number & Email Address
• Contacts & Payment Info
• Product Interaction & Performance Data
• Other Diagnostic Data
• Customer Support & Product Interaction

2.Telegram Data Collection

Telegram group chats are not encrypted unless you use hidden Chats, which again only supports single-user communication. 

• Contact Info
• Contacts & User ID

3.Signal Data Collection

In terms of user privacy, Signal proposes the most secured form of communication you can get on the internet But again, Signal requires a host of features if compared to Whatsapp and Telegram. Signal by default encrypts all the local files with a 4-digit passphrase. It also carries encrypted group calls.

• None
• It only stores your phone number