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Telegram/App Store

The knock-on effect: WhatsApp rival adds 8m users in 4 days

Telegram Messenger, a messaging app that focuses on privacy, saw almost five million users sign up on Saturday after WhatsApp experienced an outage.

WHEN WHATSAPP MADE its deal with Facebook, it was expected that some would leave the messaging service and look elsewhere. While some rivals have seen an increase in users, one app in particular saw a massive increase.

Telegram Messenger, a Russian app that focuses on privacy and shares a similar layout to WhatsApp, launched in August 2013 and had roughly 100,000 monthly active users during October. When Facebook announced its deal, the app saw a increase in downloads, far more than you would expect.

It started off gradually. The same day the deal was announced on the 19th February, it saw 500,000 people sign up to it the very next day. To add to that, it reached the top spot in Germany, Netherlands and Spain.

image

(Image: Telegram/Twitter)

That alone is good news for any app, but it was going to exceed that figure before the end of the week. The next day, it reached number one in eleven countries and saw 800,000 people download the app.image

(Image: Telegram/Twitter)

The next day, it not only broke the one million mark, it saw 1.8 million people join the service, that’s 3.1 million people joining up in the space of three days.

Naturally, this high level of signups put a strain on its resources so extra servers had to be set up, but the figure would continue to increase.

The next day – probably helped in part by WhatsApp going down that evening – Telegram saw it double yesterday’s record, but it went down as a result.

imageimage

(Image: Telegram/Twitter)

Despite this mishap, Telegram saw more than eight million people sign up over the space of four days, which is pretty impressive.

Read: WhatsApp apologises after ‘server issues’ affect millions worldwide >

Read: WhatsApp’s first move after its deal with Facebook? Adding voice calls >

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14 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute JD
    Favourite JD
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    Feb 24th 2014, 9:59 PM

    A Russian app that focuses on privacy, ha whateva.

    70
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute AA
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    Feb 25th 2014, 10:55 AM

    It’s based in Berlin. The founder is a Russian citizen. It has no links to Russia regarding infrastructure etc.

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Leopold Dedalus
    Favourite Leopold Dedalus
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    Feb 24th 2014, 7:41 PM

    Have Whatsapp seen a parallel drop off or are people just trying out a new choice I wonder?

    69
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jack Bowden
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    Feb 24th 2014, 7:49 PM

    They have both, along with Viber.

    43
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Christopher Kelly
    Favourite Christopher Kelly
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    Feb 24th 2014, 7:37 PM

    Get it whilst it’s still free folks!

    68
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Leopold Dedalus
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    Feb 24th 2014, 7:40 PM

    They won’t be stupid enough to charge for it

    48
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Christopher Kelly
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    Feb 24th 2014, 7:46 PM

    Not yet

    11
    See 3 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Leopold Dedalus
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    Feb 24th 2014, 7:52 PM

    They won’t charge ever, if they do everyone will leave them overnight and someone else will have a clone of it.

    45
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Christopher Kelly
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    Feb 24th 2014, 8:04 PM

    You hear the one where I cared about your opinion and I wanted to carry on this conversation? Damn, I said ‘I’ didn’t i?
    Told the damn thing wrong

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Brendan McGill
    Favourite Brendan McGill
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    Feb 24th 2014, 8:22 PM

    Never heard of it, just checked Google Play Store and it says it’s at 10,000,000+ downloads. I’m downloading it now!

    19
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute ben
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    Feb 24th 2014, 7:57 PM

    It’s very similar to Whatsapp in terms of looks but I find it delivers messages much faster. Has some cool features like self-destruct chats and private chats as well.

    44
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Peter McGlynn
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    Feb 24th 2014, 11:17 PM

    Telegram for Mongo!

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute bigmac
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    Feb 24th 2014, 8:15 PM

    You can also send documents as well which is a cool feature

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mary Hinge
    Favourite Mary Hinge
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    Feb 24th 2014, 9:05 PM

    Echoes of the dot com bubble of 2000. Dot com bubble 2.0..

    5
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