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Telegram Serverless

core.telegram.org

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Re: Telegram Serverless

#81

Post by ivanmontillam »

domh wrote: post #49
AgharaShyam wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish WhatsApp did... hopefully it goes the way of BBM and a more developer friendly platform becomes the norm among normies.

WhatsApp does appear to have some "business" account/API type stuff which I assume is scriptable. But I don't believe it's got a free tier for personal use (although I haven't personally looked). It is always preferable to use WhatsApp to contact a business than calling up.

Yes, but it's nowhere near the maturity of Telegram's Bot API.

And unlike Telegram, for a WhatsApp bot you need to apply with a bunch of paperwork. If you're an SMB, you got little chances of ever getting access. They'll tell you to go with their Technology Partners and make a chatbot with these other BigTech companies like Freshworks, etc.

Re: Telegram Serverless

#82

Post by dakolli »

simonw wrote: post #42
victorbjorklund wrote: post #13

I don't see anything about pricing.

The lack of a clear business model does make me hesitate in building anything substantial on it. Supposedly Telegram has been profitable since 2024 but there's crypto stuff mixed in there so it's hard to know how stable that is.

The have a massive advertising business, and charge for premium accounts. Not sure what makes you doubt them when other platforms, like Signal, have zero business model and are just providing services "out of the goodness of their heart" (not suspicious at all).

Re: Telegram Serverless

#83

Post by stiltzkin »

qmmmur wrote: post #69
domh wrote: post #10

This is cool. I wish Signal had a bot API like telegram's.

Same. I used to use telegram for everything and then stopped after I realised it wasn’t really and to end encrypted. The bots were super useful. I used to have one I could ask different bus times for. Was so much better than the app the local bus company had made.

[dead]

Re: Telegram Serverless

#84

Post by freakynit »

Dude.. how do I even enable that serverless toggle? It's not even there. I have updated my app just now.

"In @BotFather, open your bot → Serverless and turn it on" .... nop... that setting isn't even there.

Re: Telegram Serverless

#85

Post by simonw »

dakolli wrote: post #82
simonw wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The lack of a clear business model does make me hesitate in building anything substantial on it. Supposedly Telegram has been profitable since 2024 but there's crypto stuff mixed in there so it's hard to know how stable that is.

The have a massive advertising business, and charge for premium accounts. Not sure what makes you doubt them when other platforms, like Signal, have zero business model and are just providing services "out of the goodness of their heart" (not suspicious at all).

I want to understand the business model behind this specific feature.

Re: Telegram Serverless

#86

Post by geek_at »

domh wrote: post #10

This is cool. I wish Signal had a bot API like telegram's.

I use a signal api on a daily basis for all my agentic chatting and notifications about energy prices and server downtime notification.

Setup was quick enough but it needs a real phone number once during setup which is kind of a hassle. still better than using telegram which has no encryption for the bot backend so the devs can read everything you write

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