WhatsApp is still the most popular messaging application in the world. According to Statista, there are 2 billion monthly active users worldwide as of October 2020. The number of users is almost half of the virtual world population which now reaches 4.39 billion.
However, privacy issues that have surfaced have made people now start leaving WhatsApp. The messaging application pioneered by Jan Koum is said to be “forcing” its users to submit personal data to its parent company, Facebook, for business purposes. If the user doesn’t want to, they will no longer be able to use their WhatsApp account.
This policy generated polemic, although it was eventually withdrawn for review. Other messaging applications have also had a ‘windfall’ over what happened to WhatsApp. One of them is Telegram, which in January 2021 has already gained 500 million active users. So many, right?
Well, because many have used Telegram, but sometimes there are those who might not feel comfortable using Telegram so they decide to delete their account. For that, this is where we want to provide a tutorial on How To Delete a Telegram Account. Previously, let’s take a peek at interesting things from the Telegram application, let’s go!
How To Delete Your Telegram Account Permanently
Interesting things from the Telegram application
Telegram is famous for its speed and security, two things that WhatsApp didn’t focus on at the start. Apart from these two things, what makes Telegram interesting?
Channel and Username
Telegram’s basic functionality as a messaging app can actually be found in other apps. Like sending text, photos, videos, mp3, and zip. PDF, Excel, PowerPoint, and Word document files can also be sent using Telegram. The maximum size per file is 2 GB, and all of them can be shared with other users or to an unlimited group.
It’s just that Telegram has a channel feature which is then followed by many other applications. This feature is simply a one-way communication model from one sender to many recipients. Usually used by public figures, agencies, companies, organizations so that their followers know the latest news.
Apart from channels, the next unique feature is the username. Username can be a substitute for phone numbers when other people need to add our account to their contacts. Rather than jotting down a phone number, remembering a username will be easier.
Even so, a username cannot completely replace a cellphone number. Because one Telegram account is required to require an active cellphone number.
Also Read: How to Change Telegram Chat Background
Can be used on multiple devices at one time
Telegram and several messaging applications already provide features to access messages on a desktop PC, either through websites or additional applications. This feature is important for office workers who rarely open their cellphones because they focus on looking at the computer screen.
With this feature, workers can coordinate in real-time with colleagues, or can immediately find out about important news that is an emergency. However, it turns out that one Telegram account can not only be used on cellphones and computers at the same time.
The reason is, a user can also log in to multiple devices with the same account. For example, one account is used for Android phones, iPhones, tablets, and PCs at a time.
Group Member Capacity
One group on Telegram can accommodate up to 200 thousand members. This capacity is considered extraordinary compared to several other messaging applications. For example, WhatsApp, which has a maximum capacity of 256 people, or LINE, which is stuck at 499 members.
The extraordinary capacity will be useful for various purposes. For example, when you want to create a group based on family or clan. It can also be for groups of anime lovers, communities who like pets, to associations of vehicle modifiers.
The group with a large capacity is also supported by facilities for replies (reply), mentions (mention names), and hashtags (hashtags followed by keywords) to facilitate communication.
Messages Stored in Cloud Storage
You don’t need to worry that using Telegram will take up the internal memory space of your cellphone. The reason is, all messages, media, files, that you send are stored on the cloud storage drive owned by the Telegram team. So, your cellphone storage can be barely used for storing messages, except for the Telegram application itself.
The development team says that users only need less than 100 MB of space on their cellphones to install the Telegram application. The system in Telegram will even automatically delete pictures or videos in your account if the internal memory on the cellphone is almost full.
However, if one day you need it, you can download it again. The problem is that the deleted files are the ones on the cellphone, not the ones in cloud storage.
Security is maintained
The Telegram team has guaranteed that the communication activities carried out by its users are encrypted, both when sending messages and making calls. So, users don’t need to worry if their account is hacked or hacked by irresponsible parties. The encryption system used by Telegram is MTProto, which was designed by the founder of Telegram, Nikolai Durov.
The system is designed with encryption technology based on AES 256 bit, RSA 20148 encryption, and Diffie-Hellman. To be able to break into someone’s account and read the messages in it, a hacker must guess very complicated codes. Evidence that Telegram implements a high-level encryption system can be seen from the passcode feature when opening the application and secret chat.
In the secret chat feature, messages are end-to-end encrypted and will not leave a single trace on the Telegram server. Messages can not be forwarded, even will automatically disappear within a certain time.
Telegram Will Not Advertise
Telegram founder Pavel Durov stressed that his party would not charge, advertise, or sell user data. So, how can this Dubai-based company continue to operate? Durov said that he himself has financed Telegram’s operations since it was founded in 2013. However, he realizes that as users increase, there will be an increase in resources and funds.
If this is the case, the non-profit technology company only has two options: start looking for money to finance operations or sell the company. The second option is not the one Durov and his team will take. The man from Russia said his team had drawn up a profit-seeking plan that would start in 2021.
But again, not by advertising or selling user data. It is likely that they will build exclusive features, outside of existing features, to make a profit.
Another possibility is that your ad will appear on a channel, not in a private group or chat room. Furthermore, Telegram may sell premium stickers for profit.
Also Read: Telegram Tutorial For Beginners
How to Delete Telegram Account or Messages and Group Chats
Even if the thing that was left behind was something he loved the most. In this case, you might want to delete your Telegram account to erase past memories with your ex. Or, you’ve found another messaging app that you think is most convenient. For that, here is How To Delete a Telegram Account as follows:
Remove Telegram from Phone
Deleting a Telegram account can be done via cell phone. Here are the steps:
- Open the Telegram application.
- Go to the “Settings” menu in the lower right corner for iOS, or press the three lines in the top left corner for Android.
- Open the “Privacy and Security” menu.
- Scroll the display until you find the “Automatically Delete My Account” menu.
- Set the time by pressing “If Away For”.
- You can choose a time span of 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, or 12 months.
- Your account will be automatically deleted if you are not online at all within the selected timeframe. To make it offline, you can log out of your account or just uninstall the application.
Remove Telegram from Browser
This method is the most powerful because your account will be deleted immediately. Unlike the first method, which has to wait at least one month. Here are the steps to delete a Telegram account from the browser.
- Open whatever browser you have on any device, be it a computer or cell phone.
- Type the address https://my.telegram.org/delete and press enter.
- Enter the mobile number you registered to create a Telegram account.
- Then, enter the confirmation code sent to your Telegram application and press “Sign in”.
- Immediately three menus will appear, select the middle one, namely “Delete account”.
- Fill in the reason why you want to delete the account in the column below the phone number.
- If so, press “Delete My Account”. Confirm deletion, wait for it to finish and it’s done!
All messaging applications have advantages and disadvantages. Of course, you have your own preferences for why to use certain messaging applications. If you have found a flagship application and it is used by many people, then you don’t need to switch to another application.
Also Read: How to Create a Telegram Bot Without Coding
Installing various messaging applications seems less effective because it takes up more storage space, it also consumes more battery power. Therefore, deleting an account and its application is a wise choice if one messaging application can accommodate various purposes.