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Telegram Gateway API - Frequently Asked Questions


Question: I wanted to send myself a message. But even after I ran the sample code, I didn't receive anything. Why?
The most common cause is that you forgot to pre-register your number with the gateway. Do the following to register:
  1. Add the gateway's number (i.e. the secret number) to your phone's contact.
  2. Open Telegram on your iPhone / Android phone.
  3. Send a "Hi" message to the gateway from your phone's Telegram.
  4. Expect a confirmation message from the gateway.

Watch the following video to understand how the gateway works:

This video demonstrates what you need to do to send your first Telegram message:


Question: Can I send messages to people who have not pre-registered with the gateway?

No. This is by design. The goal is to prevent spamming.

Imagine this: When you receive an unsolicited message from a person not in your contact list, what would you do? You would probably get angry and report it to Telegram as SPAM. Makes sense?

Now, if you were allowed to send messages to anyone without pre-registration, the recipients of your message (i.e. your customers) would very likely do the same thing, i.e. get angry and report your message as SPAM. You don't want to make your customers angry, do you? That's why pre-registration is required.


Question: Can I register in my native language?

Yes, in some cases.

If you speak English, you and your users register with the gateway by sending a "Hi" message to the gateway.

If you speak Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish or Ukrainian, you can do so in your native language now!

Just say one of the following: 嗨, 你好, 安安, こんにちは, ハイ, Ching, Ciao, Hai, Hallo, Hola, Hoi, Oi, Salut, Здравствуй, Привіт, नमस्ते, היי, ﻡﺮﺤﺑﺍ

Watch the following video for a demo:


Question: My application needs to both send and receive messages. Can I do that?

Yes. The Enterprise Solution can help you with that. Contact us for details.


Question: Can I send multimedia messages such as images, audio, etc?

Yes, you can send image/audio messages if you have a Premium Account. See the API reference to learn more.


Question: Will the gateway be banned/blocked by Telegram?

It is unlikely - but still possible. Although we make every effort to prevent spamming (which will surely cause our service to be banned), there's still a chance that it could happen if some users abuse the shared gateway.

The Enterprise Solution can help reduce the likelihood because you are the only user of the dedicated gateway. Contact us for more details.


Question: Is there an API for me to query for the gateway's status?

Yes. The API Reference has the details.


Question: Is there a way to get notified when the gateway stops working for me?

You can schedule a job to send youself a message at a specific time every day. If you don't receive it some day, it's an indication that something may have gone wrong. Check out this blog post.

With that said, the chance for the gateway to stop working is quite small.


Question: I am calling the API with a trial account. It's giving me this "Free Quota Exceeded" error. Why?

The trial account allows new users to send messages for the first 2 weeks. When the trial period ends, please subscribe to one of the plans and call the API with your client ID and secret.


Question: My premium account has expired. What should I do?

Subscribe to one of the plans with your existing client ID. Your account will then be renewed.


Question: I am on an Auto-Renew subscription plan. Can I cancel my subscription?

Yes, please contact us with your Client ID.


Question: I sent in an inquiry via the Contact-us form. But I never receive a reply. Why?

We respond to all inquiries. If you don't receive a reply, it's likely that you might have left a wrong email address. Send in the form again with a correct email address.