My Go-To Messenger After YouTube Was Blocked: Why I Switched to Telegram and Some Life-Changing Hacks

My Go-To Messenger After YouTube Was Blocked: Why I Switched to Telegram and Some Life-Changing Hacks

Hello everyone!

I think almost everyone's moved to Telegram now. Personally, I switched from Odnoklassniki to VK and then to Telegram. It was a no-brainer, especially after YouTube was blocked.

A bit about what Telegram is:

A cross-platform messenger. It allows users to exchange text, voice, and video messages, as well as stickers, photos, and files in many formats.

When Telegram first came out, I think many people wondered why it's even necessary. I was one of them, to be honest. Back then, it was pretty rough around the edges and felt a bit like WhatsApp. But, I had all my friends and acquaintances on WhatsApp, whereas Telegram was the opposite for me.

So, let's get to the main screen. It looks pretty nice (I've got the dark theme on, but the light one's not bad either). The UI is clean and intuitive, making it easy to navigate.

Main screenNow, onto my life hacks.

1 life hack: You can create or connect pre-made folder collections to keep, say, conversations and important channels on the main screen, and work stuff in a separate one. And the best part is, they don't overlap at all – super convenient!

To do this, just head to Settings > Chat Folders, and it should be pretty self-explanatory.

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2 life hack: I know messengers (especially Telegram) tend to drain your battery pretty quickly. Well, Telegram's got a built-in 'Power Saving' feature. I thought this would never be useful to me, but one time I was on the go and my phone was about to die, but I still managed to meet up with a friend on time – thanks to this feature!

Just go to Settings > Power Saving.

And you can just turn it up to max – easy peasy!

Life hack 3: I don't use this feature often, but it's really cool – you can change your contacts' avatars. I've changed mine three times in total, and it's hilarious – especially when my friends react to it!

And you can even suggest a change, but I haven't used this feature yet.

4 life hacks: you probably know these, but did you know you can completely blur a sent message?)

To do this, hold down on the photo that's about to be sent, and to the right of the top corner, you'll see three dots -> tap on that and select 'Hide under spoiler'. The photo is sent with blur, but I'm not sure if that's normal, but it worked fine for me)

It looks something like this

5 life hack: 'Secret menu'

I'm being honest, I stumbled upon it by accident, and I probably would've never found it otherwise)

Hold down on the 'Telegram for Android v11.6.1 (5585) store bundled arm64-v8a' text twice

And voila, this menu opens up, with what looks like a ton of useful features, but I haven't had a chance to try any of them yet)

Life hack 6: this one's pretty well-known, but I still see people not using it) It's the ability to customize your Telegram with themes, languages, and even a 'Hello Kitty' background (for example)

To do this, just find any Telegram channel dedicated to wallpapers and languages

Sometimes the links will redirect you to bots where you can choose a theme or language, and other times you can just choose it directly. But, occasionally, it will give you an error message - I'm not sure why, maybe it's just iOS-specific issues)

Life hack 7, and I think this is the last one: have you ever had your hands freeze up so much that you couldn't even send voice messages?) Well, that's where the 'Hold and speak' feature comes in

Go to settings -> chat settings -> scroll down to 'Media and sound' -> tap on 'Hold and speak'

This feature is super convenient - I use it pretty often)

And that's it for the life hacks, and now onto the good stuff - the perks that I can highlight:

1. The messenger is completely free (not counting the premium option)

You get stickers, the ability to download and watch videos, and access to all the features, all for free)

I have a ton of stickers that I use all the time, and to be honest, I've accumulated so many over the years that it's hard to keep track!

What I love even more is that I can create my own stickers in other apps and attach them to Telegram.

2. Secret chat feature

I've only used it once, but it's a game-changer! You can discuss stuff with friends, like what gift to get your husband for his birthday, and then delete the chat like it never existed. Plus, screenshots with message forwarding are blocked, which is a huge plus in my book!

3. Telegram is ridiculously easy to use

And that's no joke! You can have multiple conversations going on at the same time, whether it's work, watching videos, chatting with friends, or just browsing through different channels. It's honestly so convenient.

4. Bots

I know some people might think bots are a weird thing, but in Telegram, they're actually super useful. My favorite bot is Godzilla – it lets me download YouTube videos, although the quality isn't always great for longer videos. Still, it's a lifesaver for shorter vids!

5. Tons of channels

From news to entertainment to everything in between, there are channels for just about anything. Of course, some people might complain about the occasional NSFW content, but I've never had any issues myself.

Now, about the downsides

They're not many, but they're there!

1. No decent channel search

I won't go into too much detail, but let's just say it's a major pain point for a lot of people. I gave it 4 stars specifically because of this issue.

It's more like 0.5 stars for this and the next issue combined. I mean, there are downsides that don't really bother me, but these two do. Just compare the search functionality in different messengers – 1 is Telegram, 2 is VK.

Random search query, but I'm sure Telegram should've found at least a few more channels for me. It's just not great.

2. 'Connecting' and 'Waiting for network', even when my internet and other messengers are working fine

I deliberately turned off the internet this time, but there are cases where the app itself just won't work properly. I'm not sure if it's the app's fault or if it was just being slow, but it's pretty annoying when it happens.

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One thing that's not a deal-breaker for me, but is a bit annoying: you need to vote for a specific channel to be able to post more stories.

It's completely free to vote, but why not just remove that step?)

Voting is convenient for channel subscribers, and it doesn't hurt the channel either. The only catch is that you can only vote from one account once, and the next vote you cast will override the previous one.

So, what's the point of that?)

At the end of the day, I can only say one thing: despite having a few drawbacks, I'll continue to use the app because it's still worth it.

I hope it keeps working smoothly from now on.

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