I'm a huge fan of this app, the way it handles all the animations and stuff is really impressive, whether you're using it on android, desktop or iOS, it's super smooth with no lag or anything, it loads fast, files download fast, messages get delivered quickly, and it's got better privacy than whatsapp too
I've wondered the same thing
Apparently they have a core tech team of around 40 people who are really focused on what they do, and their hiring process is pretty unique, it's like a hackathon or something, and they don't have all that nonsense corporate culture
Even their stickers are really high quality with smooth animations
It does lag a bit when you first open it, sometimes it gets stuck on the connecting and updating screen, even though I can open whatsapp and share a video on the same network in that time, but overall I love it
Recently I switched to iOS and I noticed that only two apps are really smooth and fluid on both android and ios, telegram and reddit, great job devs
Top 10 things that even science can't answer
they've got a custom protocol for client server which is mtproto, and for stickers they're using a modified version of lottie animations which is tgs, they must have some really talented developers who aren't afraid to try new things for optimization
And whatsapp just keeps copying their features
Telegram just shows what can be achieved when people are really passionate about something and there's no unnecessary middle management, I've always been a fan of their team, though I don't think I could ever join them
They hire people through contests where the prize is like 50,000 dollars, it's crazy how much they spend on these things, like the TON bug hunter contest they're running on Telegram Contests with a prize of 100,000 dollars, and in december they had a contest for designing the liquid glass thing and artist gifts, designers challenge for ui/ux