Bettergram Wants to Outdo Telegram
Charlotte Yates
Bettergram, the Mac counterpart of Telegram, a cloud-based instant messaging and voice over IP service for desktop, was rolled out this week.
In essence, Bettergram is akin to Telegram that keeps the functionality of the desktop version but can respond to requests for new features faster that its facsimile. Bettergram can pin up to 50 chats and has four tabs (favorites, DMs, groups, and announcements) which can help a user segregate conversations based on his preference. Telegram can do only 5 chats.
Aside from displaying the uploaded images in-line, Bettergram can view current prices for the top 10 digital currencies worldwide. It can be viewed by pressing the emoji button in the bottom right of a chat. It will then lead the user to four tabs namely prices, emoji, GIFs, and stickers. Live Coin Watch provides the data; specifically, a quick market snapshot.
Its source code, which has been independently audited, can be inspected by anyone since it is an open source project. “Bettergram uses the Telegram API and open source code with a few modifications to provide users with a more organized interface. Just like Telegram, you can use your existing account or create a new account through their servers,” Bettergram said on its website.
“Telegram is an essential part of our lives as tech entrepreneurs. Over 200+ million monthly active users love the app, but we believed it could be better. Thankfully, Telegram is 100% open source which allowed us build an improved UI/UX on top of their API,” it added.
Telegram is a messaging app focusing on speed and security. It enables any person to send files, messages, photos, and videos as well as create groups for up to 100,000 people or channels. Asserting itself as an SMS and email combined, it is also capable of handling personal or business messaging needs.
For more than a year, Telegram has catered to the cryptocurrency community. It serves as the crypto industry’s hangout platform through which a huge chunk of the initial coin offering (ICOs) and trading groups flow. It has remained the best messaging application for group conversations despite the frequent downtime, limited configuration, and inability to temporarily disable noisy groups.
Telegram reported in March that over 200 million are using their app on a monthly basis. “If Telegram were a country, it would have been the sixth largest country in the world,” the company had said in a blog post.
“We owe reaching this milestone to you alone – our users. We have never promoted Telegram with ads, so all these 200 million people are on Telegram because you invited them to join. This is why you – our users – have been and will always be our only priority. Unlike other popular apps, Telegram doesn’t have shareholders or advertisers to report to,” the company said.
Telegram stressed it is not operating as if it is an organization since the platform is an idea in which everyone has a right to be free. “Above all, we at Telegram believe in people. We believe that humans are inherently intelligent and benevolent beings that deserve to be trusted; trusted with freedom to share their thoughts, freedom to communicate privately, freedom to create tools. This philosophy defines everything we do,” it added.
