Did you know Telegram lets you schedule messages? Here's a step-by-step guide

The Russian-made messaging platform Telegram gained major popularity when its rival, WhatsApp was facing security and privacy issues. Once people started using the instant-messaging platform, they realised that Telegram offers more features and communication tools than other similar platforms in the tech market.

This cross-platform, cloud-based instant messaging service is the closest match to WhatsApp.

Telegram, which was initially launched for iOS and Android in late 2013 by two Russian brothers - Pavel Durov and Nikolai Durov, has impressively increased its reach in the last few months.

One of the key features that Telegram has and WhatsApp doesn't, is the option to schedule your messages. Often there are text messages that need to be sent out at a certain time, and for such messages, Telegram lets users schedule their texts.

Here's how to schedule messages on Telegram:

• Open Telegram app
• Now open the chat where you wish to schedule a message
• Type or paste your text and then long-press the 'Send' button.
• This will throw up a pop-up which will give you two options - one allows you to silently send the message without notifying the receiver's phone while the second option lets you Schedule Messages.
• Click on the second option
• Once you click on 'Schedule Messages', WhatsApp will ask you to set the date and time for the message.
• After choosing your preference, the user will receive the text on the set time and date, as scheduled by you.

Telegram is freeware service that offers video calling, VoIP, file sharing among other features. The instant messaging software can be used on both mobile platforms and desktops.