IFA 2019 is in full swing today with tons of big announcements, and we also got three major leaks for Google’s Pixel 4. In some of today’s smaller stories, Google is making it easier to get a vacation home, Facebook Dating hits the United States, and more.
One of the scarier things you need to do to gain access to some apps – mostly financial ones – is to prove your identity by uploading a photo of official ID, like a driving license or passport. Most services say that the document will be deleted following verification, but it’s a process that requires a large degree of trust in the company.
This is an issue Telegram sets out to address in a new update hitting the iOS and Android apps today …
In an attempt to completely block the Telegram service in its country, the Russian government has broadly blocked Google and Amazon’s cloud services.
A few weeks ago, a court ordered messaging app Telegram to hand over encryption keys for messages to Russia’s KGB successor, the Federal Security Service (FSB). Telegram refused, and a court has now ordered that access to the service be blocked.
This was expected, but there’s one ‘you couldn’t make it up’ aspect to it which wasn’t …
Update: Now fixed.
Messaging app Telegram is down for many users in Europe, the Middle East, Russia and elsewhere …
Not long after Telegram was pulled from Apple’s App Store when the company learned it was serving child pornography, the encrypted messaging app has lost a Supreme Court appeal in Russia, and been ordered to share its encryption keys with KGB successor, the Federal Security Service (FSB) …
Telegram is one of the more popular messaging clients available today, and recently the company behind the app have been adding new features. Now, the app is adding support for multiple accounts on the same device.
Popular messaging app Telegram received an update over the weekend that adds a couple of new sticker features, and provides an easy way to ensure you don’t miss any replies or mentions in group chats …
Secure messaging app Telegram has borrowed a feature from SnapChat in the form of photos & videos that disappear after a time-out.
You can now set a self-destruct timer for any photos and videos you share in private chats. If you set a timer, the countdown starts the moment your recipient opens the photo or video you sent. After the time runs out, the photo/video will disappear forever, just like in Secret Chats.
Telegram checks photos & videos to see whether they are publicly-available ones …
Update: In a comment made to TNW, a Telegram spokesperson denied all acquisition rumors with a strongly-worded rebuttal.
“This is complete bullshit. There were no acquisition talks, no plans for any such thing either.”
You may remember quite a few years ago, it was rumored that Google was looking in to buying WhatsApp for $1 billion, and again later on for $10 billion. Both times, those rumors were denied by Google and — of course — we now know that even if they did bid, the deal didn’t go down.
Facebook bought the popular messaging app for a cool $19B, but Google seemingly hasn’t given up on strengthening its messaging portfolio. Reports from Russia are claiming that Google chief, Sundar Pichai once met with Telegram’s founder to discuss a $1 billion acquisition.
Popular messaging app WhatsApp, which has nearly one billion active users, has today started a shady method of discouraging its users from switching to one of its primary competitors, Telegram. Telegram has been gaining in popularity recently and WhatsApp clearly is threatened by that. With a silent update pushed to WhatsApp this morning, the company began blocking links to Telegram.