What Is the Telegram Logo?
The Telegram logo is a white paper plane inside a light blue circle. The plane points up and to the right, as if it has just been thrown, and it carries no lettering. Telegram is the messaging app that brothers Pavel and Nikolai Durov launched in 2013, first for iOS on 14 August and then for Android on 20 October; the company is based in Dubai.
The plane in its circle doubles as the app icon on phones and computers. The circle and plane are available as the Telegram logo SVG.
Telegram Logo Facts
| Introduced | 2013, the year the app launched |
| Symbol | A paper plane |
| Logo type | Pictorial mark: a paper plane in a circle |
| Owner | Telegram |
What the Telegram Logo Means
A paper plane is a message you fold and send through the air, which suits an app built for sending messages. Pavel Durov, however, has said the idea did not come from a plan. In an October 2013 interview with TechCrunch he said the logo had been settled only a couple of months earlier and that "it came unintentionally". The team, he said, simply loved the idea of paper planes.
The link to Durov's own past came later. A year or so before Telegram launched, Durov and a colleague had folded 5,000-rouble notes into paper planes and thrown them out of the windows of his office in St Petersburg, while he was running the Russian social network VK. Durov told TechCrunch the logo was not at first connected to that stunt, but that the team later realised there was a connection.
Telegram Logo History
Telegram has used a paper plane from its start in 2013. The idea is simple: a white plane flying across a blue disc, with no name attached. That makes the mark easy to read at the size of a phone icon, where a word would be too small to see.
Telegram offers its logos on its own website for people writing about the app or adding "forward to Telegram" buttons, and asks only that users make clear they are not speaking for Telegram.
How the Paper Plane Became a Protest Symbol
In April 2018 a Moscow court ordered Telegram blocked in Russia after the company refused to give Russia's security services access to users' messages. The plane in the logo became a protest sign. On 22 April Telegram users across Russia answered Durov's call to fly paper planes from their windows, and he asked them to do it again a week later.
On 30 April 2018 thousands of people marched in central Moscow against the ban. Many carried paper planes of all sizes alongside placards against censorship.
For other apps that people use to talk to each other, compare the WhatsApp logo or browse our social media logos.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is the Telegram logo a paper plane?
Pavel Durov said the team simply loved the idea of paper planes and chose it in 2013 without a deeper plan; a paper plane is also a folded message sent through the air.
Is the Telegram logo linked to Durov throwing money out of a window?
Not at first. Durov said the logo was not related to the stunt in which he threw paper planes made of rouble notes from his St Petersburg office, though the team later saw the connection.
Who founded Telegram?
The brothers Pavel and Nikolai Durov, who launched the app in 2013.
Why did Russians fly paper planes in 2018?
They were protesting a court order to block Telegram in Russia, using the logo's paper plane as their symbol.