Telegram

What Telegram receives

Notifications show App · User and the customer's message by default. A ✓ marks a verified identity. You can choose what they show. Long notifications are shortened. Images the customer sends follow the notification without sound, as replies to it. Open the inbox for full content.

Answers sent from Inbox and AI replies appear without sound under the customer's latest notification, with who replied and any images, so your team sees what is already answered. Conversations without a notification in the chat are skipped.

Illustrated reply flow: reply to the customer’s notification; the bot’s 👍 confirms your answer was saved.

Customer messages still reach the inbox if their Telegram notification fails. Missed notifications, including messages received while paused or disconnected, are not automatically replayed.

Connect Telegram

Use a bot dedicated to Reception and a private chat, group, or supergroup. Channels are unsupported. Everyone who can send ordinary messages in the chosen chat can reply to customers, even without a Reception dashboard account. Limit access to your support team.

Create your bot with BotFather

1. Open the official BotFather in Telegram and send /newbot.

2. Follow its prompts for a display name and bot username.

3. Keep the resulting token private; enter it only in Reception's Bot token field.

If the token is exposed, replace it through BotFather and update each Reception app using the bot.

The Telegram guide inside the dashboard.

Choose a private chat or support group

For private notifications, open your new bot and tap Start. For a team, add it to a trusted group and allow it to send messages. Keep bot privacy mode enabled; replies to its notifications are enough for this workflow.

Removing someone's Reception membership does not remove their Telegram access. Manage group membership separately.

Find the chat ID without exposing the token

Use the destination's numeric chat ID, including its minus sign if negative, or a public supergroup's @username. Do not use the bot ID, an invite link, phone number, or a person's username.

For an existing connection, open the connection row to find the ID. For a new connection, ask the person managing your bot for the destination ID. If needed, ask the Reception team for help without sharing the bot token.

Save credentials in the dashboard

1. Open your app’s Telegram settings and select the connection row. View setup guide explains how to create a bot if needed.

2. Enter Bot token and Chat ID, then choose Connect.

3. Verify notifications and a real reply using the steps below.

Connected means the connection is saved and enabled; verify delivery separately. Paused retains the connection but stops notifications and replies. Not set up means the connection is incomplete or removed.

Open the connection row to update the destination or token. A blank token field keeps the saved token, which is not displayed. Saving a paused connection keeps it paused. You can also connect during onboarding; app settings provide testing, pause, and disconnect controls afterward.

Enter your bot token and Chat ID. No credentials are shown here.

Verify notifications and real replies

Check outgoing delivery with Send test

Connecting or changing the chat sends a confirmation with reply instructions. Choose Send test in app settings and confirm it appears in the intended Telegram chat. This checks notifications only: replying to a test or setup confirmation cannot verify customer replies.

Check the complete conversation path

1. Send a new support message from your app and confirm it appears in Inbox.

2. In Telegram, use Reply on that message's new notification and send a short text answer.

3. Look for the bot's 👍 on your answer, then verify the answer in Inbox and your app.

4. If you use push notifications, separately verify background delivery on a real iPhone.

The 👍 means Reception saved the answer. If reactions are turned off in your group, the bot replies ✓ Reply sent. instead. Neither confirms device delivery, reading, or push. If the confirmation is missing, check Inbox before resending because the reply may already be saved. Previews and simulations do not test a real connection.

Reply from Telegram

Always reply to the customer's notification, an image the bot posted under it, or an answer the bot posted from Inbox, including for a second answer. Standalone messages, copied notifications, replies to teammates, and replies to the bot's confirmation cannot reach the customer's conversation.

Select the original message

Open the notification's menu and choose Reply. On Telegram for Mac, right-click it. Check the reply preview identifies the customer notification before sending.

Confirm the answer

Look for the 👍 (or ✓ Reply sent.) and check Inbox. For another answer, select the original notification again.

Supported reply content

Send nonempty plain text up to 4,000 characters after trimming, or an image with an optional caption. If you are the only member of your organization, replies appear as yours. Otherwise they appear as team messages without a personal name or profile photo. Telegram formatting is not preserved.

Send a photo, or a JPEG, PNG, WebP or GIF image as a file (a GIF as its first frame), up to 20 MB. Each image is its own reply, so an album arrives as several replies. Convert other image formats, such as HEIC, to JPEG first. Large images are scaled down to fit the chat, and photo metadata such as location is removed. If an image can't be sent, nothing is sent, not even its caption, and the bot says why.

Other files, videos, voice messages, stickers, and other media are not sent; the bot says so. Telegram edits and deletions do not change a saved Reception reply. Forwarded messages, bots, and anonymous or channel senders are ignored. In a group, reply as yourself.

Closed conversations and old notifications

Reopen a closed conversation in Inbox before replying. Answer in the device's latest conversation: an old notification can target a historical thread whose replies no longer appear in its current chat.

Reset or deleted conversations can no longer receive replies through old notifications. After changing the bot or destination, verify with a new customer notification. Manually sending the same answer again can create a duplicate reply.

Choose what notifications show

In Settings → your app → Telegram → Message, choose Edit. Each line of the notification lists its fields, with the value of your newest customer and a preview below. Choose + to add a field, such as user ID, plan, app version, local time or any custom field your app sends, × to remove one, and drag fields to reorder them or move them to another line.

The first line is bold, with ✓ for a verified identity. Later lines show each field with its name, like Plan: Pro. IDs and emails appear in monospace, so one tap in Telegram copies them. Fields without a value for a customer are left out, and the customer's message always comes last. Send test shows the result in your chat; Reset brings back App · User.

Separate chat per customer

In a group with Telegram Topics, each customer can get their own topic, which works like a separate chat inside the group, instead of everyone sharing one chat. The topic is named after the notification's first line (App · User by default, without the ✓ and values that change between messages, such as local time), holds all of that customer's notifications, and is renamed when their display name changes.

Illustrated topic list: General plus one topic per customer, each like a separate chat.

Turn it on

1. In Telegram, open your support group's settings and turn on Topics. Telegram may upgrade the group; Reception follows the new chat ID automatically.

2. Make your bot an admin of the group with the Manage topics right. The option appears only once Topics are on. The bot needs no other admin rights.

3. In Settings → your app → Telegram, turn on Separate chat per customer. Reception checks the group and the bot's rights, tells you what is missing, and posts a confirmation in the group.

Existing conversations get their topic with their next customer message. Earlier notifications in the main chat still accept Reply. If Telegram shows every topic's messages in one stream, switch the group back to the topic view.

Answer in a topic

Write in the customer's topic; no Reply is needed. The same 👍 confirms Reception saved your answer. The same reply content rules apply. Plain messages in General and in topics you create yourselves never reach a customer; Reply on a notification works everywhere.

If a topic is deleted in Telegram, the customer's next message opens a new one. If Topics are turned off in the group or the bot loses its topic rights, notifications arrive in the main chat, where Reply works; once topics work again, each customer returns to their existing topic. Changing the bot or chat turns Separate chat per customer off until you turn it on again. Turning it off sends new notifications to the main chat; you can still answer in existing topics.

Pause or disconnect

Turn off Notifications & replies to pause the app's connection while keeping its credentials. Messages and replies missed during the pause are not replayed when you resume. Use a new customer notification to verify after resuming.

Choose Disconnect… and confirm to remove the saved token and chat ID. This does not delete the bot, revoke its token, or delete Telegram history. Other Reception apps sharing the bot continue to work. Notifications already being sent can still arrive.

Connection controls with a simulated connection and example Chat ID. Verify your own connection using Send test.

Shared bots and reply routing

One bot can serve several Reception apps, each with its own destination and enabled state. Everyone in a shared destination can answer notifications for those apps. Pausing one app does not pause the others.

Use the bot only with Reception. Connecting it to another service can stop incoming replies even if outgoing notifications still arrive. After changing its token in BotFather, update every Reception app sharing it.

Test during iOS development

Your simulator and development iPhone use the same hosted Reception service. Follow the conversation test above during development and before release; also test configured push on a real iPhone.

Privacy notes

Connecting Telegram shares the app name, customer display label, message content and images, and your team's answers with Telegram and everyone with access to the chat. There is no separate redaction setting. Push content settings do not affect Telegram.

Images from your replies are stored by Reception as part of the conversation, like images sent from the inbox. Review group membership and notification previews. Deleting Reception data does not remove Telegram copies; manage those separately. See Data & privacy.

Troubleshooting

Something not working? Write to us in the Support chat. We're happy to help. Briefly describe what happens and any error message you see. Include the affected app and time, but never a bot token.