Telegram is gone!

2026-05-13 15:59:30 +0000 UTC  about 255 words   1 minTwo weeks ago, I broke my phone, a Pixel 7 running GrapheneOS. And, I was wondering if I should get a new phone at all.The Jolla Phone looks great, but it won’t be out before September, and there is a waiting list.Mrs Hyde told me that I needed to get a phone to be reachable. So… I bought a secondhand Rose Pixel 8, which was cheaper than the other colours.As soon as I got it, I installed GrapheneOS on it, and a few apps:Obtainium to install appsSignal to communicateFennec for web surfingAurora store to get some appsAntennaPod for podcastsAegis for 2FAComaps for mapsMullvad, my favourite vpnOSS card wallet, to scan invoicesQlango, an app from GrapheneOS’ store to learn a new languageEven though I rarely use Telegram, I still have a few contacts who use it.I installed it, but as usual, you need to validate your account via email and SMS.Email validation was fine, but to complete the process, they need to send you an SMS. To do this, they wanted to charge me €1 for a one-week premium account!?At first, I thought I had the wrong app, but after doing some online research, I this post about Telegram trying to charge people in countries like Kenya, and probably others too.Telegram was already bad, and to be honest, was the little push I needed to remove it from my phone too.And just like that, Telegram was gone…