Despite everything, Telegram is actually great. It’s only bloated if you’re using the features on the device, the client is opensource and native apps for any platforms, it’s very lightweight compared to other messangers and even to some dedicated solutions, it sends stuff p2p on the same network so you don’t need to care about the traffic, but also it allows for on-demand downloads so if you want the stuff will be available outside of your network.
Alternatively, kdeconnect, but I find myself using Telegram instead 9 times out of 10, even though I have both installed.

Or alternatively it’s a win of messaging, it’s so easy and convenient it can be easily used for the purposes not intended

I think it died because of technical problems more than anything. We didn’t have batteries good enough back then, and the screen wasn’t all that good. It was heavy, it had problems with overheating and it worked for couple of hours tops

Or so Apple says