I'm thinking about switching to Telegram because I hear it's more private and has more features, but all my contacts use WhatsApp. Is it worth making that switch or is it just hype?
I use both, and the truth is Telegram is really more private and has way better features (huge groups, channels, bots, better organization), but if everyone you know is on WhatsApp it ends up being impractical to switch on your own! The smartest thing is to have both installed - use Telegram with whoever also has it, and stick with WhatsApp for everyone else. A mass migration only makes sense if your contacts switch too, otherwise you're just talking to yourself!
The truth is simpler than that: it's not worth switching apps if nobody you talk to is there. Telegram really does have some cool features and privacy is better, but a messaging app is only useful if your contacts use it too - otherwise you're just talking to yourself.
What a lot of people do is use both. They send quick messages on WhatsApp with their usual crowd and use Telegram for interest groups, communities, stuff like that. It works well if you're willing to manage two apps, but if it's just for privacy and all that, it comes down to you deciding whether the gain is worth the hassle of nobody actually replying to you there.
The thing is, a messaging app works on a network, so switching by yourself doesn't help at all. If your contacts aren't there, you end up keeping WhatsApp anyway and you're stuck with two apps installed. Telegram is cool and actually more flexible, but it's only worth it when you have a group of friends or a community that's already using it.
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