I use Telegram messenger a lot both to communicate with my family, my friends and my future self.

I am not totally happy with it: between the

• recurring accusations from certain leading cryptographers
• and the fact that they insist on staying free and will do a blockchain thing instead

I do sense there is room for a lot of things to go sideways.

That said:

• for now it works better that most other things
• the program that leading cryptographers have been recommending has had its own share of problems
• and I only do things that require post card security level

That said, here are some advanced tips:

• You could always(?) chat with yourself, but now it is an official feature called “Saved messages”
• You pin up to 5 (for now at least) chats, groups or channels at top of the screen.
  • Ideas: Saved messages, loved ones, frequently used groups
• You can create multiple groups containing the same persons (useful in a family setting to separate everyday chatter and photo sharing from planning etc)
• Related to the last one: A group doesn't have to contain more than two persons. For example I can have a group with just me and my wife were we post car maintenance, mileage, receipts from everyday purchases (in case something breaks) etc etc.
• You can post silently:
  • on the mobile client, long press the send button to see your options
  • on the desktop client, right click the send button to see your options
• You can also schedule a message:
  • this can be useful if you know you are afraid of forgetting to send a message
  • or you can schedule a message in Saved messages as a reminder to yourself.

BTW: If anyone wants a nice business idea, here's one:

• Create something like old WhatsApp with all the features from todays Telegram and the encryption from Signal/Whatsapp
• Make it impossible to sell out
• Charge $2 a year (WhatsApp made healthy profits at $1 a year when they started)
• Charge extra for API access
• Tell me.