Telegram Gateway
Telegram Gateway allows any service to send authorization codes through Telegram instead of traditional SMS – offering a powerful and convenient way to lower costs while increasing the security and delivery speed of your codes to Telegram’s 950+ million monthly active users.
This page will walk you through the main benefits and features of the Telegram Gateway. For more information, see:
- FAQ
- Authorization Quick-start Guide
- Full Gateway API Reference for Developers
- Gateway API Terms of Service
What can you do with Telegram Gateway?
- Authenticate Users Anywhere
- Reduce Acquisition Costs
- Access Detailed Statistics
- Deliver Messages Securely
- Build an Audience
Authenticate Users Anywhere
To access Telegram, registered users only need an internet connection. Thanks to the Telegram Verification Platform, accessible by developers via the Gateway API, users can conveniently receive your message on mobile or desktop, without needing an active SMS plan from their provider.
Reduce Acquisition Costs
Verification via Telegram costs $0.01 per code – greatly reducing operating costs for your service. By comparison, SMS verification can cost up to 50 times more per code.
The Telegram Verification Platform also ensures instant delivery of your messages – unlike SMS, which can take several minutes to arrive and have failure rates as high as 5%.
Access Detailed Statistics
The Telegram Verification Platform shows detailed statistics to help you manage your budget and track message volume – allowing you to analyze user growth and conversion rates.
Deliver Messages Securely
Telegram offers a proven encryption protocol and open-source, verifiable apps. In contrast, traditional SMS methods are not encrypted (anyone can read them!) and susceptible to vulnerabilities – such as carrier trust issues, sender forgery, and SIM swap attacks.
By using Telegram, you can significantly enhance security and guarantee a more robust, encrypted, and reliable authorization process.
Build an Audience
Telegram is one of the top 5 most-downloaded apps in the world, with over 950 million users and robust features for companies and content creators – giving you the tools to scale your business in new markets.
Messages you send with the Gateway API can be signed by a verified channel on Telegram, helping users find updates and support.
FAQ
Q: Who provides the contact number for users?
Services using the Gateway API must provide the relevant phone number for each message they send. All phone numbers they use must be from users who voluntarily shared their number with the service in order to receive messages to their registered Telegram account.
Telegram does not disclose user phone numbers to services that utilize the Telegram Verification Platform.
Q: Do my users need to opt-in to receive my messages?
Yes. The registered phone numbers of Telegram users are always private – so users must voluntarily opt-in by sharing their phone number with your service and agreeing to receive your messages on Telegram.
Q: What phone number format should I use?
All phone numbers should be provided in E.164 format.
Q: How can I test my authorization flow?
To test the Gateway API, you can simply send codes to your own phone number on Telegram – all messages to yourself are free of charge.
Q: Can I transfer funds between Gateway accounts?
No, transferring funds between Verification Platform accounts is currently not supported. All funds transferred to your account constitute advance-paid credits and cannot be transferred or withdrawn.
For more information, please reference Section 3.1. of the Verification Platform Terms of Service.
Q: How do I check if a user can receive my messages on Telegram?
You can use the checkSendAbility method to check if a user can receive your messages on Telegram. If they cannot, your request will be free of charge.
More details on how pricing works for checks and actual requests are available in the documentation.