Are you sure about this? Did you register recently?
No and no. (Re Telegram)
I
am sure I didn't use a phone to register (several years ago), but it is entirely possible I used a phone emulator on a laptop (which clearly does amount to the same thing). I concur that (without jumping through lots of hoops) an Android or iOS phone does appear to be required currently, at least for setup. Once it's setup, however, the phone is no longer necessary, which is definitely the case as I'm using it and it's not installed on a phone.
Nope, it just needs to be connected to a mobile number
('It' being Signal.)
Did you do something that Signal would consider non-standard to achieve that? Looking at the current Signal download page (
https://signal.org/download/ ) under 'Download for Windows' it says
'To use the Signal desktop app, Signal must first be installed on your phone.' Jolly good if that's not accurate, but they certainly do /want/ you to install it on a phone first, it would appear.