Your first hour on Telegram

• iOS: App Store → search “Telegram Messenger” → install. Look for the Telegram FZ-LLC publisher.
• Android: Play Store → “Telegram” → install. Same publisher.
• The desktop and web apps are for later. Start on the phone — registration uses a phone number and the SMS code lands there anyway.

Open it. Tap Start Messaging. Enter your phone number. You’ll receive a code by SMS or, if Telegram detects you can receive Telegram messages already, an in-app code. Type it.

If you’ve used Telegram before with the same number, your existing chats reappear. If not, you’re new.

Settings → Edit Profile.

• Photo — pick anything reasonable. Telegram defaults to a colored monogram of your initials, which is fine.
• First name + last name — first name is mandatory and visible to everyone you contact. Last name is optional.
• Username — optional but useful. If you set @yourname, anyone can find you by that handle without knowing your phone number. If you don’t, only people with your phone number in their contacts can find you. Decide based on whether you want to be searchable.
• Bio — one line shown on your profile. Visible to non-contacts unless you change privacy.

Settings → Privacy and Security. Walk through these once.

• Phone number — set “Who can see my phone number” to Nobody or My Contacts, and “Who can find me by my number” to My Contacts. This stops random people who might happen to have your number from finding you.
• Last seen & online — set to Nobody or My Contacts. There’s no real reason for the world to know when you were last online.
• Profile photo — My Contacts is fine for most.
• Forwarded messages — set to My Contacts so someone forwarding your message to a stranger doesn’t show your name as a clickable link.
• Calls — My Contacts keeps random call attempts at bay.
• Two-Step Verification — do this. Set a password (not your phone PIN). This is what protects your account if someone steals your SIM. Recovery email optional but useful.
• Active sessions — review and remove anything you don’t recognize. Always.

Don’t worry about the more exotic settings (auto-delete, sensitive content, etc.) on day one. You can revisit.

Three ways to find someone on Telegram:

1. By phone number. Add them to your phone contacts (with the country code, e.g., +33...). Telegram cross-references and surfaces matches in the Contacts tab. The match is instant.
2. By username. Search bar at the top, type @theirname, tap the result. Works even if you don’t have their phone number.
3. By QR code. Settings → My QR Code shows yours; the camera icon next to search scans someone else’s. Useful in person.

Add 5-10 people you actually message. The chat list will look less empty.

Channels are how news, updates, and creators reach you. They’re broadcast — you receive every post, in your normal chat list.

Three safe starters to subscribe to:

• @telegram — official news from Telegram itself
• @durov — the founder’s posts (often the leading indicator for new features)
• One channel from a domain you actually care about (a publication you read, a creator you follow, a sports team)

To join: tap the search bar, type the handle (or paste the t.me/... link), tap the channel, tap Subscribe at the bottom.

You can leave any channel at any time by opening it → tapping the title → Leave Channel. No drama.

Groups are for conversation. They can be small (your family chat) or huge (50,000-member trader community). The rules are the same as group chats anywhere: someone has to invite you, or you find a public group via its @handle.

Start small: ask one friend already on Telegram to add you to a small group, or create your own with a couple of people via Pencil icon → New Group.

Avoid jumping into very large public groups on day one. They’re loud and signal-to-noise is rough. Save them for later.

A few small changes make the experience much better.

Settings → Chats:

• Chat themes — pick one. The default is fine.
• Color theme — Light/Dark/Auto. Most readers prefer Dark on Telegram.
• Quick reaction — pick the emoji that fires when you double-tap a message. Default is ❤.

Settings → Notifications:

• Decide which sounds notify you. The default is “everything,” which gets noisy fast.
• Mute groups that aren’t urgent (open the group → bell icon → 1 hour / 8 hours / forever).
• Channels — mute by default for any channel that posts more than a few times a day. You can still read at your pace; you just don’t get pinged.

Folders (Settings → Chat folders): create folders to organize your chat list. The basic three: Personal, Channels, Work. Drag chats into them. The folder bar appears at the bottom (mobile) or left (desktop).

Once your phone account works, add desktop:

• Mac/Windows/Linux: download from core.telegram.org desktop.telegram.org ↗ . Open. The app shows a QR code.
• On your phone: Settings → Devices → Link Desktop Device → scan the QR.

Done. Your full chat history syncs in seconds. Type with a real keyboard from now on.

Web app at core.telegram.org web.telegram.org ↗ works the same way if you don’t want to install.