What parents need to know about Telegram's channels, secret chats, and self-destructing messages — and how to keep children safe.
Telegram is a cloud-based messaging app known for large public groups, channels and privacy features, used for chats, broadcasts and communities.
Official age
16+
We recommend
16+
Developer
Telegram FZ-LLC
Risks
4
Telegram is a messaging platform known for large group chats, public channels, and strong encryption. It allows groups of up to 200,000 members and hosts public channels on virtually any topic, including some with harmful or extremist content. The platform has minimal content moderation compared to other mainstream messaging apps.
Teenagers may use Telegram for group messaging with friends, joining public channels based on interests, or because friends have recommended it. Some children are drawn to it by the promise of greater privacy through secret chats and self-destructing messages. It is sometimes used as an alternative when other platforms are restricted.
Phone Number Visibility
Location: Settings → Privacy and Security → Phone Number
Set to: Nobody
Hides your child's phone number from other Telegram users, preventing strangers from obtaining their personal contact details.
Who Can Add Me to Groups
Location: Settings → Privacy and Security → Groups & Channels
Set to: My Contacts
Prevents strangers from adding your child to group chats or channels without their knowledge.
Forwarded Messages
Location: Settings → Privacy and Security → Forwarded Messages
Set to: Nobody
Removes the link back to your child's profile when their messages are forwarded, protecting their identity.
Have a frank conversation about why Telegram carries higher risks than other messaging apps and set clear boundaries about its use
Time: 15 minutes
Configure privacy settings to hide your child's phone number and restrict who can add them to groups
Time: 5 minutes
Consider whether your child genuinely needs Telegram and whether a safer alternative like WhatsApp would serve the same purpose
Time: 10 minutes
In immediate danger: call 999. For non-emergency police matters, call 101.
Concerned about a child but it's not an emergency? NSPCC helpline 0808 800 5000. Childline for young people 0800 1111.
Myth: Telegram is basically another WhatsApp.
Fact: The look is similar but the design is very different: Telegram is built around huge public groups and channels that anyone can search and join, and its moderation has historically been far lighter than mainstream platforms. That's why scam, drug-sale and extreme-content channels circulate there more openly than on family messaging apps.
Myth: Telegram is famous for encryption, so it must be private and safe.
Fact: Ordinary Telegram chats are not end-to-end encrypted — only its Secret Chats are — and in any case encryption isn't the issue for children. The real risks are who they can meet in large anonymous groups and what gets shared there, which no amount of encryption addresses.
Myth: My child only messages friends on it, so the risky side doesn't apply.
Fact: Group invite links get forwarded into friends' chats, and a single tap puts a child in a large group of strangers. Features like disappearing messages and usernames that hide phone numbers also make the app attractive to people who don't want a record of what they send.
This age group shouldn't be anywhere near Telegram — its own terms set the minimum age at 16 for UK users. If they've glimpsed it through older siblings, keep their own messaging on supervised family apps.
They're well below Telegram's minimum age, but this is when peer groups sometimes migrate there precisely because parents aren't on it. If it appears on their phone, ask what moved the group there before deciding anything, and hold the line on age.
If they start using it around the minimum age, set it up together: lock down who can find them by phone number and who can add them to groups, agree that channels selling anything are off-limits, and that they leave and tell you if illegal content appears in a group.
Talk about the scam economy that thrives there — 'easy money' offers, crypto pump groups, fake ticket and ID sellers — and that disappearing messages can still be screenshotted and traced. Their judgement about which groups to be in is the real safeguard now.
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