XMPP is no more encrypted than Telegram. It's possible to set up OMEMO or PGP encryption, but that's usually more difficult than enabling secret chat on Telegram.
PGP encryption looks good, though there appears to be a steep learning curve to it. What is your thinking on Signal?
It has a lot of advantages and some drawbacks. Speaking of PGP, OMEMO is the next generation encryption which, unlike PGP, supports multiple clients, chatrooms etc. It's made by Signal. So that's good.
But Signal is centralized, requires a phone number and most importantly - Is a US based company. With the recent scandal surrounding the crypto coin Signal is trying to bring to their service (there's a lot of questions about the Signal bosses ownership and possible pre-harvesting of mobile coins) I don't see Signal as a clear winner. At least Telegram has a business model I can believe in.
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