I have never been a Telegram user apart from one occasion when I just tried it out.
Does it actually offer any primary functionality that couldn’t be covered by a pure web app?
That said, is there any technical necessity for it to be a native app (either mobile or desktop) first, and only be a web app as a linked dependant?
I understand such a necessity for apps that need to access the location/GPS/camera etc. for their primary functionality (e.g. Uber, or even WhatsApp because it uses cell phone numbers as the primary user ID).
But Telegram, if I understand what it does correctly, is basically a messenger + blog platform. Whereas being a native mobile app is certainly the most convenient form for a messenger, I can’t see why it is necessarily necessary — given that attaching to a cell phone number isn’t mandatory like it is for WhatsApp (is it?).
This seemingly unnecessary aspiration to be a native app first (vs web app) has always raised in me this suspicion. Web apps technically can’t be intrusive any close to the extent that native apps can. It is being able to intrude, being able to potentially spy on the user that is apparently why Telegram requires to install its native app before it can be used in its web form. I don’t see any other plausible explanation. Am I missing one?