If you are using Telegram and have decided to get rid of the application because of the contentious privacy policy and the controversy around it, then, this article will provide a step-by-step process of deleting your Telegram account both from the smartphones and the desktops. 

But before that, let us try to understand the central problem with the application and why people are trying to delete their Telegram accounts?

Why Would You Consider Deleting Your Telegram Account?

The following points will highlight the reasons with regard to why netizens are trying to delete the account:

Telegram doesn’t provide an end-to-end encrypted feature for messages and the feature is only available to some parts of the application like the Secret chats, etc.

This means that the messages exchanged in the normal messaging platform are interceptable by a third party which threatens the privacy of users.

The cloud storage used by the users for storing their data is not encrypted and can be accessed by a third party.

The secret chats feature is not available for group chats and this is how the user’s data is surveilled as other parties can access their groups and accordingly extract the information required from the user.

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Telegram uses homebrewed encryption called MT Proto which the cryptographers don’t consider to be wise as there are vulnerabilities in their encryption but Telegram has been paying no heed to their criticisms and is rather finding ways to defend their MT Proto encryption model.

These are some of the major reasons for users being compelled to delete Telegram. There are many other external factors that make the privacy policy of Telegram dubious in many ways.

However, the internal problems and the inability to acknowledge the pitfalls is a reason enough to delete the Telegram account. 

How to Delete Your Telegram Account Permanently?

Follow these steps to delete your Telegram account permanently from your smartphone. The steps are as follows:

Step-1: Open your Telegram application.

Step-2: Click on the Hamburger Menu(Icon with three dashes)

Step-3: Click on “Settings”

Step-4: Click on “Privacy and Security”

Step-5: Click on “Delete my account if away for”

Step-6: Select from the available options: 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year. 

The last step is an automatic way for the users to delete their account in a self-destruct mode. It is a feature that Telegram provides to its users in case any user stops using Telegram after installing it.

How to Log-Out from Telegram Temporarily?

There is another way to get rid of Telegram if you are not sure about deleting the account as of yet. You can log out from your account but that is for a temporary term and can be retrieved on purpose.

Do note that this will delete your “Secret Chats”. The steps to log out from your account temporarily are as follows:

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Step-1: Open the Telegram application.

Step-2: Click on the Hamburger Menu(Icon with three dashes)

Step-3: Click on “Settings”.

Step-4: Click on the “Ellipsis”(Three dots icon on the right corner)

Step-5: Click on “Log-out”

Features to Make Your Telegram Account Secure

In addition to the deletion of the accounts, they are other settings too which the users can make and have a better privacy condition for them. The following settings from the privacy and security section must be kept in mind for better privacy:

Delete all cloud drafts: This will help the users to clear all the data that they have stored in the storage permanently and will only store the data that the user feels comfortable storing. This setting is available in the security section.

Profile photos: This will help the users to restrict access to their profile picture which can be used for reasons other than just seeing the picture.

This ensures a strong mechanism to restrict the theft of user data. This setting is available in the privacy section.

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There are many such settings that can be availed by the users to maintain strong privacy on Telegram.

What is the Alternative to Telegram?

The clear answer is Signal. It addresses the privacy issues as their top priorities and provides encryption to each and every message and call that the users engage in. This is standard practice for the services that they provide to their users.

The fact that it is a not-for-profit institution further proves its credibility as a company devoted to user privacy and its protection.

The following reasons justify why Signal is a better option than Telegram or Whatsapp:

It uses standard cellular telephone numbers as identifiers to ensure that the conversations are end-to-end encrypted.

It uses open whisper systems to secure text messages and the calls that are exchanged from one user to another.

The whistleblower and data advocate had stated that he uses Signal every single day and that gives confidence to the users that it is a secure and safe application for internet communication.

The digital revolution might have opened the door for many opportunities but it also started a space for surveillance and that is a matter of concern to every citizen of the world and therefore it is important to use the right application which addresses the privacy issues and is dedicated to preserving the data at any cost and Signal is one.