Wait, so Telegram, which is known for being able to read all your texts, is worse than WhatsApp where people are speculating that it might read your texts?
Not that I trust WhatsApp (I use Signal) but that's an odd comparison.
you are also speculating that Telegram read our messages, in transit. For sure, unlike WhatsApp, the Telegram client is FOSS (and you can download it from FDroid).
I'm not speculating at all and I think you're misunderstanding the point I'm trying to make.
First of all, transport security (server-client encryption as you called it) like TLS is irrelevant for this discussion. All major platforms on the internet employ transport security these days, so this is a given.
The point I'm trying to make is that Telegram does not offer E2E encryption by default: (Non-"secret") Messages on Telegram pass through Telegram's servers unencrypted and are also stored there unencrypted, meaning that Telegram has access to all your messages. This is not speculation – Telegram openly admits to this in their FAQ:
Meanwhile, the speculations in the present HN discussions aside, WhatsApp does provide E2E encryption, so – from this POV – is orders of magnitude more secure.
Not that I trust WhatsApp (I use Signal) but that's an odd comparison.