Telegram Plus, new from the creators of WhatsApp Plus

It’s been a bit over a month since WhatsApp Plus was shut down and its creator Rafalense has already released his latest project. Telegram Plus is an alternative client for the popular IM app that aims to maintain the same philosophy as its pedecessor: offer features that the original version doesn’t include, inspired by the requests of the user community as a reference.

Just a few days ago we listed 12 ways that Telegram is better than WhatsApp with its exclusive features (and further ones will continue to be added in the future). These are the main strong points of the first version of Telegram Plus for Android:

• The option to edit the look of the interface with custom color combinations you can create yourself or download as themes based on the work of other users.
• A new mode for sending files to contacts focused exclusively on transferring music files. When you click on it, you can view a list of the songs stored locally on your device and multi-select files to send to your recipient.
• The option to hide the message that appears in your private chats when one of the users takes a screen shot.
• The option to hide your phone number in any conversation.

The installation process is nothing mysterious. When you first install the app and run it, it’ll ask for your phone number so you can confirm your account with a free code. If you already have an account, all your chats will be automatically synced. In fact, while it might pointless, it’s possible for both the original app and the mod to run on the same device. Although that means you’ll receive all your notifications twice!

The case of Telegram Plus is very different from that of WhatsApp Plus, as in this case Telegram Messenger is an open-source, non-commercial tool, which makes it completely legal to create mods. Now it just remains to be seen if it will really be worth the effort, though new ideas are continually being added on the official Google Plus community page.