What Is a Telegram Bot? Bots vs Mini Apps, and How to Add One

How do Telegram bots work?

A bot is a special Telegram account that doesn't need a phone number. What you send it goes to the owner's server, which works out a reply and sends it back into the chat. Bots have no "last seen" or online status; a bot shows a "bot" label in the chat instead.

The Bot API, which lets anyone build one, opened in June 2015. Telegram keeps a few bots of its own for specific jobs, such as @gif for finding animations and @Stickers for making sticker packs, but almost every bot you'll come across was made by a third-party developer.

Most bot usernames end in "bot", like TetrisBot or tetris_bot, because Telegram requires it when the bot is registered. Some bots don't have the suffix, such as @stickers, @gif, @wiki and @bing, and collectible usernames can be assigned to bots without it.

A developer registers a bot with @BotFather, gets a token and connects it to code running on their own server. Telegram doesn't offer a ready-made way to build a working bot without programming.

How is a bot different from a Mini App?

A chat bot works through messages and buttons. A Mini App is a web page that a bot opens inside Telegram, so it can have its own screens and menus. The feature arrived in April 2022 under the name "Web Apps", and the developer docs still use both names for it.

Every Mini App belongs to a bot. You can launch it with a button inside the bot's chat, from the menu button beside the message field, from a link, or from the "Launch app" button on the bot's profile. That profile button came in the summer of 2024, together with the Apps tab in Telegram search, and later that year Mini Apps gained a full-screen mode and shortcuts for your phone's home screen. Telegram's developer docs put Mini App users at more than 500 million a month.

Of the 730 listings outside our 18+ section, 290 open as Mini Apps and 440 work in the chat. Games mostly go the Mini App route (160 of 215), while most useful bots (385 of 515) never leave the conversation. SlyshuPishu turns a forwarded voice note into text and has no use for a screen; PlayDeck needs one to show its shelf of games.

We mark a listing as a Mini App when the bot has a main Mini App set in its profile. A chat bot can still open a web page from a button, so treat these counts as approximate.

Side by side, the three kinds of bots you'll meet look like this:

• Chat bot: you see messages, buttons and commands. You open the chat and press Start, and the bot receives your messages to it plus your public profile. From our catalog: SlyshuPishu, which turns voice notes into text.
• Mini App: a full web interface inside Telegram, opened from a button in the chat, the menu, the profile or a link. It receives your basic profile (ID, name, username, language) and what you do in the app. From our catalog: iLoveDrama, short vertical series.
• Inline bot: results pop up above the message field after you type the bot's @username in any chat. It receives the text you type after its name, plus your public profile. Example: @gif, the animation search.

What is an inline bot?

An inline bot works from the typing field in any chat, including chats with people. Type its username, add a word after a space, and a list of results shows up over the keyboard. Tapping one sends it. Inline bots have been around since early 2016.

An inline bot sees only the text you type after its name, not the rest of the chat, and Telegram warns you about this the first time you use one. Like any bot, it also learns your public profile. Post Bot uses inline mode for finished posts. In any chat you enter its name, pick one of your templates, and the post is sent. Inline mode has to be switched on by the developer, which is why typing some bots' names does nothing.

How do you start a chat with a bot?

Bots can't message you first. You write to the bot, or someone adds it to a group. To start one:

• Search for its username in Telegram, or tap a link to it from a website or a channel post.
• Press the Start button below the messages. This sends the /start command, and the bot replies with its first message.
• Send /help if you're not sure what to do next. Most bots answer with a short description of what they do.

What do commands and start links do?

Typing a slash in the message field lists the commands the developer has registered, and the menu button beside the field holds either those commands or a Mini App.

A link ending in ?start= plus a code hands that code to the bot when you press Start. Developers use this for campaigns and referrals, and on our partner listings the Open button carries our referral code the same way. A link ending in ?startapp opens the bot's main Mini App straight away.

How do you add a bot to a Telegram group?

Add it the way you add a person, from the group's member list, by searching for its username. Some bots also give you a link ending in ?startgroup. Tap it and Telegram asks which group to add the bot to.

A developer can block group use entirely, and bots built for groups usually say so in their description. TrueMafia asks you to add it, make it an admin and start a sign-up round. QuizBot runs a timed quiz for everyone in the chat. Combot starts moderating as soon as it joins and keeps its detailed settings in a web dashboard.

What can a bot read in a group?

That depends on privacy mode, which is on by default. With it on, the bot gets commands addressed to it, replies to its messages and messages sent through it, but not the ordinary conversation. The group's member list shows which case you're in. If it says "has no access to messages" next to the bot, privacy mode is on; "has access to messages" means the developer switched it off and the bot sees everything.

Making a bot an admin changes that, because admin bots receive every message in the group regardless of privacy mode. So give admin rights only to bots that need them, like moderators and game hosts. Telegram's FAQ goes further and suggests keeping bots you don't trust 100% out of groups with sensitive information.

How do you stop a bot?

Block it the way you'd block a person. Some Telegram apps also put a "Stop Bot" button in the bot's profile. If you only want fewer messages, look in the bot's /help, since many developers add a command that mutes it. To take a bot out of a group, remove it from the member list like any other member.

How do you pay a bot, and can you get a refund?

Bots can charge you, and for digital goods they do it in Telegram Stars. Stars launched in June 2024, and Telegram now requires bots and Mini Apps that sell digital goods to take payment in them. The checkout doesn't ask for your card or shipping details.

Stars purchases are final, and Telegram doesn't refund Stars you bought by mistake or no longer want. If a bot doesn't deliver what you paid for, send it /paysupport. Every bot is required to respond to that command, and the developer can refund your Stars. If they refuse a fair refund, you can report it to Telegram with the transaction ID from Settings > Your Stars.

Physical goods work differently. Those payments go to third-party payment providers, and Telegram doesn't collect your card data.

Are Telegram bots safe?

Scams and Mini App permissions get a page of their own: Are Telegram bots and Mini Apps safe? Telegram's FAQ suggests treating any bot as a stranger. Don't give one your passwords or bank details, and never your login codes. Telegram sends those to the official "Telegram" chat, or by SMS or phone call, and they're never meant to be shared with any bot or service. Be as careful with files from a bot as with files from someone you don't know.

According to Telegram's privacy policy, any bot you use can see your public name, username and profile photos, your app language, the messages you send it, and whether the two of you share a group. If you tap a link to a site the bot controls, that site can see your IP address too. Every bot has to have a privacy policy, and if the developer hasn't written one, Telegram's standard policy applies. An AI assistant inside a bot is a third-party service as well, so it's that bot's policy you should read, not Telegram's.

The verified checkmark helps you tell an official bot from copies. Telegram gives it only to large, active official bots, channels and groups, and says the mark only separates the real one from imitators. It says nothing about whether the bot is any good. Bots that pose as Telegram or another company break Telegram's developer terms.

Where do you find good bots?

If you know the name, Telegram search is enough. Bots with a main Mini App appear in the Apps tab of search once you've opened them, and some get featured there for everyone.

If you only know what you need, browsing by category is quicker. Our catalog has 515 useful bots, from chat tools and music to AI assistants, and 215 games, including game platforms like PlayDeck. Of these, 384 work in English. Each listing has an Open button that takes you straight to the bot in Telegram.

Games follow the same rules, with a few extras of their own such as group play and the animated dice; how to play games in Telegram walks through them.