Troubleshooting Login, SMS, and Notifications on Telegram

Troubleshooting

Login and SMS

Please make sure you are entering your mobile phone number in the international format.
I.e.: +(country code)(city or carrier code)(your number)

If you are having registration or login problems, please contact us using this form.

Getting a code via a phone call

For security reasons, login codes dictated via a phone call are only available for accounts that have two-step verification enabled (Settings > Privacy & Security > Two-Step Verification).

Please also note that Telegram accounts can only be connected to a mobile number. We currently don't support landline numbers.

Getting a code via Telegram

If you have recently used one of our apps on another device (it could also be a different app on the same device), we may send the login code via Telegram instead of SMS.

To receive such a code, just check Telegram from any of your connected devices. You will find it in the chat with Telegram, a verified profile with a blue check:

Login via Telegram
Login code sent via Telegram

WARNING! Please note that getting codes via Telegram should not be considered an alternative to using an up-to-date phone number. In case of a change in numbers, always make sure Telegram is connected to a phone number you control, otherwise you risk losing access to your account forever.

Notification problems

If the tips below don't help, check out this detailed guide on Troubleshooting Notification Issues.

ANDROID

• Go to Telegram Settings — Notifications and Sounds, make sure that notifications are ON and Importance is set to “High” or greater.
• Check whether contact or group is muted.
• Make sure Google Play Services are installed on your phone.
• Check notification priority for Telegram in Android settings, it can be called Importance or Behaviour depending on your device.
• If your phone uses some battery saving software, make sure that Telegram is whitelisted in that application.

NOTE: Huawei and Xiaomi devices have evil task killer services that interfere with the Telegram notification service. For our notifications to work, you need to add Telegram to allowed apps in those devices' security settings. Huawei: Phone Manager App > Protected Apps > Add Telegram to the list. Xiaomi: Services > Security > Permissions > Autostart, find Telegram and enable autostart.

iOS

• Go to Telegram Settings — Notifications and Sounds, make sure that notifications are ON in Telegram.
• Check that notifications are ON in phone Settings.
• Check, whether contact or group is muted.
• Shut down Telegram (go to home screen, double tap home button, swipe upwards on Telegram), then go to phone settings, set the alert style for Telegram to NONE. Relaunch Telegram, go to phone settings, set alert style back to banners.

Problems with contacts

If you know your friends have Telegram, but you can't see them — or they appear as numbers instead of names.

Android:

• Make sure you are using the latest version of the app.
• Relaunch the app (by terminating it from processes list and launching again).
• Temporarily change the name of the contact in phone contacts (add a few symbols, then change back again).
• If that didn't help, re-login. Remember that logging out kills your Secret Chats.

iOS:

• Force quit the app (double tap home button, then swipe up on Telegram), then relaunch and check if it helped.
• If that doesn't help, temporarily change the name of the contact in phone contacts (add a few symbols, then change back again).
• If that doesn’t work, re-login: Settings > Edit > Log Out. Remember that logging out kills all your Secret Chats. Then log in again.

Deleting contacts on Android

To delete a contact, open a chat with the person, tap the title in the top area of the chat screen to open their profile, then tap on (⋮) in the top right corner > 'Delete contact'.

If you want to delete the contact completely, make sure you also delete them from your phone contacts. Telegram stays in sync and will add the contact back if you don't.