A Telegram alternative where every chat is encrypted by default.
On Telegram, end-to-end encryption is a Secret Chat you start on purpose, one to one, on one device. Here it is every direct message and every group up to 256 people, with nothing to start.
On Telegram, normal chats and every group are not end-to-end encrypted; only Secret Chats are. On Surf Messenger, every chat and every group up to 256 people is, by default.
Side by side.
- Chats encrypted end to end by default
- No, only Secret ChatsYes, every direct message
- Group chats encrypted end to end
- NoYes, up to 256 people
- Encrypted chats across your devices
- A Secret Chat stays on one deviceOn each linked device
- Phone number to sign up
- Required, or a purchased anonymous numberNot asked for
- Ads
- Sponsored messages in large public channelsNone
- How it is paid for
- Premium subscriptions and adsDonations
| Telegram | Surf Messenger | |
|---|---|---|
| Chats encrypted end to end by default | No, only Secret Chats | Yes, every direct message |
| Group chats encrypted end to end | No | Yes, up to 256 people |
| Encrypted chats across your devices | A Secret Chat stays on one device | On each linked device |
| Phone number to sign up | Required, or a purchased anonymous number | Not asked for |
| Ads | Sponsored messages in large public channels | None |
| How it is paid for | Premium subscriptions and ads | Donations |
Rows describing Telegram reflect what Telegram publicly documents, checked in September 2026. They can change, and this page is the version we can defend today.
What changes.
Nothing to start, nothing to remember.
Every direct message is encrypted on your device before it is sent. If it cannot be encrypted it is not sent; there is no unencrypted fallback. Groups are encrypted with sender keys up to 256 people, so a group chat is as private as a one-to-one.
Encrypted, and still on every device.
Link a new device by scanning a code from one you already use, or restore the encrypted backup, and your history comes with you, still sealed. Each device keeps its own keys, up to five at once.
Search that never uploads a sealed message.
An encrypted chat is searched in the copy your own device already decrypted, so nothing sealed is sent anywhere to be searched.
Questions people ask.
- Aren't Telegram chats already encrypted?
- Between your device and Telegram's servers, yes: Telegram calls this server-client encryption, and it is what its cloud chats, including every group, use. End to end, where only the people in the conversation hold the keys, applies to Secret Chats, which are one to one and started deliberately. On Surf Messenger every direct message and every group up to 256 people is end-to-end encrypted by default.
- Is there anything like Telegram channels?
- Communities: an announcement room that only its owner posts in, with subgroups around it. Anyone can find and join one; creating one is part of Sapphire.
- Can I use it without a phone number?
- Yes. An email address and a password, a passkey, or a Google account, through a Surf account. We do not ask for a phone number and do not store one.
- What does the server hold, if it cannot read anything?
- The encrypted message and the routing needed to deliver it. What travels with a message is sealed by allowlist: a voice note keeps only its length, a shared post keeps only that it is a post, and locations, contact cards and stickers are sealed in full. A push notification carries who a message is from and never the text.