Statim vs Telegram

Statim is a Telegram client as well as a messenger of its own. Sign in with your Telegram account and your DMs, groups and channels sit in the same chat list as your XMTP, Nostr, Status and Matrix chats. What changes is where you read Telegram, and what sits beside it.

At a glance

Feature	Statim	Telegram
Sign up with	Nothing	Phone number
Encrypted by default	On XMTP, Nostr and Status	No, Secret Chats only
Open source	Yes, MIT	Apps only
Your own server	Nostr, Status, Matrix	No
Wallet	Yes, off by default	Stars, TON
Calls	No	Yes, group

Telegram inside Statim

Statim runs TDLib, Telegram's own client library, with an API ID you register yourself at my.telegram.org. You sign in with your phone number and the code Telegram sends, and Statim shows up in Telegram's Active Sessions like any other app.

Most of Telegram comes along: replies, reactions, photos, video, files and voice notes, edits and deletions, pins, polls, search across Telegram's own history, mentions, typing and last seen. You can join public groups and channels from a link, and administrators can make invite links, approve join requests, set slow mode and ban members. Drafts and chats marked unread follow you to your other Telegram apps.

What stays in Telegram's own app

Statim does not open Secret Chats and has no calls. Stories, Mini Apps and the TON wallet are not in Statim either. If you use those, keep Telegram installed for them; your chats stay in sync between the two.

Encryption

Telegram's ordinary chats, every group and every channel are encrypted between you and Telegram's servers, which store them and can read them. Telegram's privacy policy says a valid court order about a criminal suspect can release your IP address and phone number. Secret Chats are end to end but 1:1 and tied to one device, and calls are end to end too.

Statim marks every Telegram chat as not end-to-end encrypted. Its own protocols work differently: XMTP, Nostr and Status chats are always end-to-end encrypted, and none of them needs a phone number.

Using both

If you keep Telegram for the groups and channels you follow, Statim lets you read them next to private chats on protocols Telegram cannot see into. If Telegram is all you use, its own app does more of it.

Pick Statim if

You want Telegram next to end-to-end encrypted chats, in one list.
You want encrypted DMs without giving anyone a phone number.
You want a self-custody wallet for Ethereum, Bitcoin and Solana.
You also use Matrix, or WhatsApp and Signal through a bridge.

Pick Telegram if

You need calls, Secret Chats, Stories or Mini Apps.
Telegram is the only network you use.
You would rather not register your own API ID.

The details

Detail	Statim	Telegram
To sign up	Nothing. The app makes twelve words on your device, and they are your account. No phone number, no email.	A phone number, which can be an anonymous number bought on Fragment instead of a SIM.
End-to-end encryption	Always on XMTP, Nostr and Status. On Matrix, in chats with encryption on. Telegram chats are not end-to-end encrypted, same as in Telegram's own app.	Not by default. Ordinary chats, groups and channels are encrypted only between you and Telegram. Secret Chats are end to end, 1:1 and on one device. Calls are end to end.
Who runs the servers	Each protocol's own nodes, relays and homeservers. The developer runs none of them. You can point the app at your own Nostr relays, Status node or Matrix homeserver.	Telegram runs every server, and the server code is not published. Other apps connect with an API ID their developer registers.
Open source	The whole app, MIT licence.	The apps, under GPL. The server is closed.
Other networks	XMTP, Nostr, Status, Telegram and Matrix in one chat list. WhatsApp, Signal, Slack, Discord and others through a Matrix bridge you run.	None.
Wallet	Ethereum and its chains, Bitcoin and Solana, from the same twelve words. A plugin, off until you turn it on. Ledger, Trezor and Keystone work too.	Stars for digital goods, and a built-in TON wallet rolling out to some users.
Voice and video calls	None.	Voice and video, and group calls of up to 200 people.
Platforms	macOS, Windows and Linux. iPhone in beta on TestFlight, Android in open testing on Google Play.	iPhone, Android, Windows, macOS, Linux, the web and watches.

Sources

Telegram’s side was checked against these pages on October 28, 2026. Write to [email protected] if something has changed.