Telegram reviews
What users love and hate, from real reviews
A fast cloud messenger with powerful channels, bots and unlimited storage — but the recent paid SMS login verification and a divisive new design have turned even longtime fans against it.
What users love
Lightning speed and unlimited cloud storage — what users love most
What earns the love: instant messaging, cross-device chat sync, and unlimited cloud where nothing is lost. Huge files send without compression, and 200k-member groups still run smoothly.
Lightning fast + unlimited cloud storage = amazing. Groups with 200k members run smooth. Channels, stickers, bots are all powerful. Top-notch privacy too.
Speed is insane and cloud sync means I never lose chats. Channels for news and deals are gold. Huge file transfers, no compression on photos. Privacy features are top tier.
easy to communicate with other and easy to sent big file
Channels, bots and folders make Telegram a powerhouse for work and communities
What pros value: channels and bots for organizing communities, folders to tidy chats, and solid admin tools for massive groups. It works for work, school and business alike.
A great app with endless features. I love the group chats, channels, and customizable bots. It is useful for work and school and i love when we can even create folders to organize our chat.
Host 200k members in a group, or broadcast to unlimited subscribers. Admin tools are solid without being confusing.
The best messaging platform for speed, customization, and file management.
What users hate
Login is now paywalled: the SMS code is hidden behind a Premium subscription
The single biggest complaint: just to log in or sign up, people are forced into a paid subscription or an "SMS fee". It used to be free, and users read it as extortion and a cynical bait-and-switch.
ridiculous that a person has to pay a subscription fee for this messaging platform
so i need to pay an sms fee to sign in now? amazing
Reset my phone and reinstalled my apps. Now I have to subscribe to premium just to log in?? Lol!
The verification code never arrives — and the user is locked out of their account
Even without paying, login often breaks: the SMS or email code simply never arrives, or it's sent to an old, already-dead device. People type in their number for hours and still can't get into their own account.
I am not receiving OTP codes on my phone. Please solve this problem.
I did not receive any SMS verification code.
phone was stolen, got a new phone and now the app wont send a verification code to my new phone. It keeps saying its sent to my old device
The new design with its transparent "glass" header — even fans recoil
After the update many find the interface physically unpleasant: a distracting transparent top bar, an iPhone-like look, and no way to revert. People literally say it's become hard to use and makes them want to cry.
It looks so ugly after the latest update... It was so good before.
New design is just awful and its getting even worse
What is this awful new user interface change, it's both ugly and hard to navigate. is there a way to change it to the old one?
Support goes silent when your account is hacked or frozen
When disaster strikes — a hack, a hijack, a freeze — support is effectively absent: days of silence, zero reaction to reports. People lose accounts, money and private data with no one to turn to.
Got my account hijacked. No response from the support
Support nearly does not exist - no reaction for 2 workdays already.
support isn't answering. not sure it exist at all. if your account was stolen is no any fast and proper way to block or fix it. most unsecured and unsupported app ever!
Downloaded files vanish — videos and photos must be re-downloaded
An infuriating mechanic: already-downloaded media silently drops after days or weeks, so every time you open a chat the file must be fetched again. It burns mobile data, and saving videos to the gallery often fails.
media files don't stay downloaded, you have to download a media file everytime you want to use it. no matter how many times you download it, you will be required to download it again when you enter that chat.
Keeps deleting everything I've already downloaded after a few days-weeks. One star rating is generous.
recently I have been facing some obstructle to save the downloaded vedio to my gallery.it happens only for vedioes and not for pdf or images
The video player crops the picture and lags after the update
The built-in player has degraded: video plays with lag, part of the frame is hidden at the bottom, and the picture is blown up beyond the screen. Whole channels report their videos are nearly unwatchable on Android.
The problem is the video player . It's very discussing when you watch video on its video player . The video player hide some of the bottom side of the videos.
after the update, the video play is so bad
My video play size is too big for this update.please fix the issus
Spam, scammers and NSFW ads creep right into chats
The platform is drowning in scams: fraudsters everywhere, indecent ads injected into chats, and anti-spam tools locked behind Premium. Many warn that if you're not careful, it's easy to get scammed.
It used to be good, but now there is constant spam, and they lock the setting to block spam behind premium.
good app until I started getting NSFW ads in chats. very inappropriate and scummy
apps that easily been hacked by others scammer. telegram support so poor, not even respond to the report.
Arbitrary bans and a broken report system hit the innocent
Moderation swings blindly: bans for stickers or a mere "accusation" of spam, with appeals ignored. Meanwhile the report system is trivially gamed — a crowd mass-reports an innocent user and they get restricted, while real abuse stays.
I literally hate this app because what do u mean I got banned because I spam sticker to my friend
My friends sometimes post other people's usernames in their channels and ask members to report them for no reason, just for fun. As a result, Telegram restricts innocent users who have done nothing wrong.
You ban my channel for no reason!! its your responsibility to check the account first. You useless!!!
Endless "connecting" and freezes on the phone-number screen
Basic stability wobbles: the app hangs on "connecting", spins forever after you enter your number, drops its connection on its own, or freezes on the contacts-permission prompt. For some it simply won't start.
it says "connecting" infinitely and it doesn't connect, fix it
it's not working application just showing connecting...
when I place phone number it is stuck in loading
Regional discrimination: harsh limits for Iran and country-based charges
Rules differ by country and it lands as unfair: Iranians get their stories capped and can't log in without a VPN, while Africa and the developing world face a sudden paywall to sign in. Users flatly call it discrimination.
I want to give zero stars. paying a sign up fee just because I am from an African country? could you be more racist?
perfect but story is not free for Iranian User yet
the sms fee it's absolutely ridiculous . its absolutely no way for third world country to gir easy access to the app now