Telegram announces its arrival as a universal Windows app... what other messaging apps are yet to come?

The instant messaging system of Telegram will arrive soon as a universal application, although it is already available for mobile phones with Windows 10 mobile. With more than 50 million downloads on Android alone, this service already has the benefits of desktop software for Windows 8X and Windows 10 PCs.

What does Telegram have to offer to those who place their trust in the service? Apart from direct messages between two interlocutors, Telegram also promises to be able to create discussion groups of up to 200 members, share videos with a weight of up to 1.5GB and send also all kinds of multimedia files.

The service, which stores messages in the cloud, also has two characteristics to take into account:

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• Option to start a Secret Chat, which includes a mobile-to-mobile encryption system, without online storage and also with the possibility to remove generated content to ensure full privacy of a specific conversation."
• Thanks to a program available for Windows machines, Telegram users can stay in good communication while on the go and then continue the conversation comfortably stationed in front of a PC screen: thus, all communication activities are focused on a single device.

On the road to universal applications

Although at first there were few messaging services available on Windows Phone, most of them are now in the Store: Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, QQ, WeChat, Viber, Skype, Line, Kik, Hike messenger, BBM or the good old ICQ.So are all the key options already there? In fact, two big players still resist landing: SnapChat, Yahoo! Messenger and Hangouts.

On the other hand, if we consider the section on universal applications, on which Microsoft is emphasizing, currently they are only The following are available: QQ, Viber, Line, Skype and ICQ. However, Shape GmbH's IM+ application connects to the services of Hangouts, Yahoo!, Sina Weibo, among others.

One of the questions I ask myself is: Why hasn't the Hangouts and Yahoo! Messenger? It is strange that the basic service linked to users of Gmail and Yahoo! do not yet have your port to the Microsoft operating system. Needless to say, since there is already an application on Windows Phone, it is strange that services like WhatsApp, BBM and WeChat have not universalized their access.

Telegram has a program for Windows 8.X and Windows 10, which allows users to connect once they are in front of a PC; and BlackBerry has a desktop software specifically for Windows machines that integrates the BBM messaging service.

It's a matter of time, and a push from Microsoft, so that users don't have to worry about the tool used when wanting to communicate with their network of contacts, friends and family. Universal applications will make things much easier, especially for the developer who wants to make his project come true.