How to Add a Friend in Telegram

Telegram is an online messaging app that has surged in popularity as one of the major competitors to WhatsApp and Messenger. With an intuitive design and a different set of security features, you are most likely tempted to download the app and start chatting with your friends. But how do you add existing contacts to the new app?

Here’s everything you need to know about adding friends to Telegram.

How to Add a Friend on Telegram by Phone Number?

When you first install Telegram on your mobile device, it will look for your current contacts list and ask for permission to access it. If you grant the app permission to use the list, it will automatically integrate your phone’s contacts as a part of Telegram’s available chat friends.

When you access your Telegram contacts list, all the friends who are currently using Telegram will be shown with their current avatars (profile pictures). If you want to add a friend using their phone number, you can add them to your phone’s contact list and allow Telegram to recognize their name the next time they log in.

If your friend isn’t currently using Telegram, you can invite them to the app:

Open the app and log in with your information.
Select the “Contacts” tab.
Select the “Add Contact” icon at the bottom.
Put in your friend’s required details. You have to put at least their first name and their phone number in.
Once you’ve added their phone number, Telegram will detect whether or not they have an account.
A pop-up menu will display with an option to invite them to download the app.
If you tap “Invite,” your friend will receive a download link which will immediately open a chat with you once completed.

How to Add a Friend Into Telegram Group?

If you have a group chat on Telegram and need to invite more members, here’s what you need to do:

Open the group chat in Telegram.
Click on the “Menu” icon in the top left-hand corner (PC) or tap on the group’s name at the top (mobile).
Select “Add Member.”
Telegram will display your contact list. You can choose a contact from this list.
Alternatively, press/tap on the search button (the magnifying glass) to search members by their username.
Check the names you want to add, then select “Add” to invite them to the group.
You can also invite people to the group with an invite link by pressing “Invite to Group via Link.”
If you’ve generated an invite link, send this link to your friend using a different messaging method (SMS, other chat applications, email, etc.).

How to Add a Friend on Telegram Without Phone Number?

If you don’t know your friend’s phone number (who can keep track of all of them?), there are a few options you can choose from.

If they have installed Telegram on their device, you can do a global search by username. Follow these steps:

Open the Telegram app.
Select the magnifying glass icon in the top right-hand corner to access the global search.
Input your friend’s username in the search area.
Select the person you’re looking for from the results. Do note that the username part is below their name, after the “@” sign.
Once you click on the user, a chat with them will open automatically.
You can add them to your contacts list by pressing the “Add to Contacts” at the top of the chat or by tapping on their name and accessing the add option through the 3 dotted menu icon.

If you have a publicly available username, you can invite them even if they don’t have Telegram installed. For this, follow these two steps:

Create a “t.me” invite link. You can do this simply by typing “t.me/YOUR_USERNAME”
Send the new invite link to your friends through any other social platform or messaging app.
Opening the link will automatically install Telegram on their app (if they accept it) and open a new chat with you.
If a friend found you by your username or invite link, you can add them to your contacts list directly from the Telegram chat by pressing the “Add to Contacts” button at the top or by tapping on their name and accessing the add option through the 3 dotted menu icon.

How to Add a Friend on Telegram by QR Code?

Telegram doesn’t have an integrated QR code generator to add friends with. You can look up a QR generator online and translate your personal or group invite link with a QR code, then send that link to them.

How to Add New Friends on Telegram?

If you’ve just met someone new (or a group of people) at a party and need to save their contact information, exchanging contact information with each other can be time-consuming. Luckily, Telegram has implemented a feature to directly add new people that are nearby.

Here’s how to do it:

Open Telegram.
Open the “Menu” (the icon with three lines at the top), or swipe right.
Select “Contacts.”
Select “Find People Nearby.”
Telegram will display a list of people near you that have installed Telegram.
Click on the contact you want, then select “Add to Contacts” at the top.
Select “Done” to save.

Note that both (or all of you) need your mobile location-enabled and the same “Add People Nearby” section opened to show up on the list.

Additional FAQ

What Is a Telegram Username?

Your Telegram username is a unique combination of letters, numbers, and underscores that uniquely defines you in the network. If you have a username, other Telegram users can find you using a global search, and you can make a custom invite link to add more people.

If you don’t want other people to message you using your username, you can delete it by editing your profile and simply leaving the username field blank.

How Do I Talk to Someone of Telegram?

If you want to start a voice or video chat with another user, open the text chat with them and press the phone icon at the top. The voice and video calls are similar to what you’re already used to with your phone or other messaging apps.

Can You Add Friends on Telegram?

Adding friends on Telegram will simply open a new chat with them. If you add a friend via their phone number, their number will be added to your phone’s contact list as well.

Telegrams Are No Longer a Thing of the Past

With Telegram, you can start inviting your friends over from other messaging apps and have a clean, modern, and intuitive way to contact them. With a bevy of new features coming out, the number of users is skyrocketing.

How many friends do you have on Telegram? Have you transferred from another messaging app? Let us know in the comments section below.