allow activate without mobilephone number

[edmundlaugasson]

Steps to reproduce

1. install Telegram Desktop
2. try to activate without mobilephone
3. it is not possible

Expected behaviour

There would be possible activate Telegram Desktop also without mobilephone - e.g. using regular (fixed) phone, IP phone etc. There could be also voice activation used.
I understand that initially Telegram Desktop were for mobilephones but there exist people who have computer and perhaps also fixed phone but no mobilephone. But it would be useful to have in such case regular username and passphrase. There could be even two-step verification enabled by default in such cases in order to ensure in security.
Also there could be great to add e.g. mobile-ID, ID-card, OpenID, HarID, etc secure identity support.
There is special corner for developers of ID-card software. Yes it's all (mobile-ID, ID-card) related with Estonia but actually it is free and open-source and anyone can deploy it at own.

Actual behaviour

Not possible activate without having mobilephone number

Configuration

Linux. I am using 64-bit Linux Mint 17.3 MATE and also Lubuntu 14.04 LTS but it applies to all Linux versions

Version of Telegram Desktop:
0.9.40

Logs

Logs are not necessary for current case.

[auchri]

Duplicate #1430 and #435 (no api for these features)

[edmundlaugasson]

At least I offered some good (secure) authentication ideas.

[auchri]

You should send them to the Telegram Team via Twitter or with the "Ask a question" feature in one of the official apps.

[edmundlaugasson]

Thanks for suggestion - done via Telegram Desktop app as Twitter did not allow longer text.

[dandv]

Why is Telegram so obsessed with phone numbers? Wire and other messaging apps that actually care about privacy allow registering with an email address. I understand the convenience of phone numbers for non-technical users, but Telegram is just a non-starter for those who don't want to expose their phone number.

[github-actions]

This issue has been automatically locked since there has not been any recent activity after it was closed. Please open a new issue for related bugs.