Hi all!
My last experience of using iOS belongs to the iPhone SE (first generation) with iOS 15.xx, now I again decided to return to iOS from Android, however, it seems that almost 5 years have practically not affected the degree of accessibility of Telegram - such stability can only be admired.
So, I would like to ask how you use Telegram on the iPhone? Of course, I installed an official client - you can probably get used to responding to messages, read channels a little, but hardly more. I tried web versions, k -- it seems almost unsuitable, a -- sometimes a little better than the official application, but often there are problems specific for Web applications, for example, the inability to insert the text in the field for sending a message using the Voiceover rotor. I also read information here that the developer of Swiftgram successfully fixed the issue with Share Sheet, but, as I understand it, at the moment, this fork of an official client does not contain other fixes of accessibility. The remaining alternative clients, it seems to me, are in an abandoned state, for example, Bestgram was last updated in 2022.
I understand that we are unlikely to get an accessibility level comparable, say, with Unigram for Windows, but at least basic functionality, such as reading channels and chats (including those containing topics), commenting, replying to messages, searching, scrolling, et cetera. Do VoiceOver users really have no way to interact with one of the most popular messengers at least at the basic level?
Thank you in advance.
By user26335377, 3 May, 2025
Forum
iOS and iPadOS
Comments
Unfortunately, I've got nothing.
I've long since given up on Telegram—anyone I spoke to was someone from my phone's contact list, so I had no trouble transitioning myself and others to WhatsApp. It's Meta, but it's also encrypted (which Telegram is not). Not really indorsing that app in particular, it's just where I decided to take most of my chats.
I have tried to engage Telegram in conversation time and again. Nothing happens. They don't care. They made basic fixes seven years ago, and it's been frozen in time since.
The best I've ever gotten was a response from a developer that basically said "Sorry, we don't have time to fix it, schedule's too tight." I got kicked off the beta randomly, so I stopped being able to report beta bugs, and once the beta gets released you're not allowed to report issues in the beta group anymore.
The system is, so far as I can tell, intentionally set up to exclude us. The app's privacy is also very questionable, as there is no encryption at all for messages.
I understand that moving to a new messaging app is not easy, but I encourage you to tell your friends to switch, even if you have to stay on Telegram for groups and channels. Telegram is a lost cause and until they suffer financially as a consequence of shutting us out, they will continue to not care.
swiftgram.app
I have switched to this app. Telegram app went completely blank for me, and this is the best thing on iOS for me.
accessible is swift gram?
How accessible is swift gram?
Unable to switch
Unfortunately switching to some other messenger is not possible. I am not worried about encryption, but specifically for whatsapp, they even have no ability to conveniently transfer chats between platforms, if I'm already setup the iPhone and don't want to reset it, I should lose all my history -- it's a shame in 2025. Ok, there some alternatives other than WA, and I probably could go with them with my friends, however most issue not about personal chats, but about a lot of university and work groups, which I simply join whatever messenger they use and obviously I want to stay in touch.