Turns out that there are a lot of different chat and personal communication tools on the modern Internet, in addition to the messaging in popular apps like Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Reddit, X, LinkedIn, Twitch, and on and on. Focused on individual communications and known as “dedicated messaging apps” are iMessage, WhatsApp, Signal, Facebook Messenger, Discord, WeChat, LINE, KakaoTalk, Viber, and Threema. Telegram is a bit unusual because it covers both categories, with plenty of private one-to-one communication, but it also serves as a broadcast platform, social network, and even a lightweight operating system!
You probably already know this, however, since you’re jumping into the world of Telegram. It’s quite popular in Russia, Indonesia, Brazil, and the USA, along with Vietnam, the Ukraine, Mexico, and that hotbed of spammers, Nigeria. Telegram is also notable for its many privacy and security settings, so let’s jump in and check out what should be enabled and what should be disabled immediately.
All The Telegram Settings Stop
The logical place to start is the Settings tab along the bottom of the app. Here’s what I see, complete with an oooolllddd pic as my profile photo:
Yours will also show your phone number – I’ve masked mine for privacy reasons – but otherwise it should look identical. Notice that as Telegram expands, some of these features appear in Settings too, like “Wallet”.
Swipe upward to get to the lower entries in the Settings screen:
The entry we seek is the second one down:Â Privacy and Security…
Fix Up Your Privacy and Security Stop
This is where we’re going to spend just about all of our time battening down the proverbial hatches. Here’s what Privacy and Security looks like in Telegram:
This is the default setup, and as you can see, it’s pretty open, with no two-step verification, no passkeys, no FaceID, no blocked users, etc. Too open, honestly. To start, tap on Two-Step Verification…
This allows you to set a password for the settings area, which offers more privacy. If you’ve already done so, it’ll prompt for that password here. Once you do, and more importantly, it prompts for a recovery email address for the account:
If you ever forget your password, this is critical to be able to recover access to your account. I’d suggest it’s a must set and worth of our first step in this tutorial!
Minimize Phone Number Visibility Stop
With that set, there are a number of data entries that you should mask or hide from random Internet folks, starting with your own phone number. By default, it’s wide open, accessible to everyone. Tap on Phone Number to change that.
As you can see, I recommend changing it to “Nobody” who can see your phone number. It’s one way to reduce spam calls and texts. While you’re on this screen, also make sure to change “Who can find me by my number” to “My Contacts” so that random phone number guessing programs don’t match.
Back up to Privacy and Security and scroll down to find Calls.
Stop Unknown Calls Query Yes Stop
This is where I remind you that Telegram is an international service and that there are users of all types in the system, some of whom are eager to scam you. To help minimize that problem, Calls lets you reduce your visibility…
You can choose between allowing calls from your contacts or disallowing calls through Telegram entirely. While you’re at it, change Peer to Peer too.
Last Seen and Online Query That’s Private Too Stop
Another privacy setting that can be useful even with your friends and family is masking information about when you were last on Telegram and whether you’re currently online or not. Still in Settings > Privacy and Security, choose “Last Seen & Online”.
Almost done with the key changes…
Lock Up Those Chats Stop
Next step is to go back to the top of Privacy and Security and tap on Passcode Lock. It’ll prompt you to enter a numeric passcode lock:
This isn’t as critical as the previous, but is helpful if your kids occasionally grab your phone and poke around: They’d need to know your passcode to be able to view the chat list.
Once set, don’t forget to also decide if you want to allow Face ID (if on an iPhone) and how long before Telegram auto-locks and requires the passcode lock again:
That’s it. Those are what I would call the most important privacy and security settings for Telegram. Not too bad.
Complete Your Profile, Then, Finally, Stop.
While you’re in Settings, go back to the very top and tap on My Profile, then the Edit button on the top right…
Not sure anyone needs to have their birthday in these sorts of apps, but the rest of it’s certainly fun to update so that your friends and family know they’ve found the right account if they bump into your profile!
And that’s it. I hope this helps you get going with Telegram.
Note: Wondering about the “Stop” in my section headings? It’s a nod to the original staccato writing style of real telegrams from those pre-Internet days of yore, where they used “Stop” and “Query” instead of actual punctuation.
Pro Tip: I’ve been writing about Facebook for years and have an extensive WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal help library. Please check out all my tutorials while you’re visiting!
