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You currently need a phone number to sign up for Telegram. Add an option to sign up using an email address or another method, like some messengers do (e.g., Wire, Matrix, Threema, Session).
Potential spam issues could be mitigated by:
Avoiding an identifier tied to your identity, hiding identity from governments or people who know your number.
Use a virtual phone number.
Warning: Do NOT use temporary numbers to connect to your account, as you may lose access to your account when you lose access to the number.
If you fear about being found or recognized using your phone numbers, just turn on your privacy settings ("Who can see my phone number?" and "Who can find me by my number?").
Unlike emails, there is a very limited amount of phone numbers all over the world. On the other hand, there are dozens of thousands of free email providers, while phone numbers are hard to get for free.
Additionally, Telegram has never shared a single byte of data to third parties or governments. Unless you are a terrorist, you should not worry about that.
Additionally, Telegram has never shared a single byte of data to third parties or governments. Unless you are a terrorist, you should not worry about that.
Governments can force telegram to hand over the phone number of the owner. You say that Telegram does not share that information, but that's not how it should work. Why should I trust Telegram? How can I really prove that it was never shared? I can't. So the only solution to be really sure is simply not give even Telegram that information
So, it would be awesome if there any second way to get the login verification code like email or backup codes (That Gmail gives when 2FA using authenticator app is enabled)
And why not give the option to login using phone number and a password for already registered users?
Telegram's uses a client-server encryption using a 2048-bit key shared by the client device and the server. The key is created upon user registration directly on the client device by exchanging Diffie-Hellman keys, and never transmitted over a network. (https://core.telegram.org/mtproto/description#authorization-key-auth-key)
This makes impossible for the government or other entities to intercept & access your data, unless you give them access to your device for some mysterious reason.
You can check how Telegram's custom protocol works (https://core.telegram.org/mtproto) and, if you doubt it's secure and think that someone can intercept & successfully decrypt your messages, just let Telegram know.
Also, these data centers are located in countries where freedom of speech is guaranteed (and even there Telegram doesn't take it for granted).