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Telegram has two different identifiers that are often confused:

  • A username is an optional public handle, such as @alex.
  • A user ID is a numeric identifier, such as 987654321, used by Telegram’s API.

You can find a username directly in Telegram. Finding the numeric user ID is different: Telegram’s official client FAQ does not document a universal profile-screen path for displaying it. The reliable official method is to obtain it from a Bot API User object.

Username and user ID: what is the difference?

Identifier Example What it does
Username @alex Optional public handle used for search and links
User ID 987654321 Unique numeric identifier returned by Telegram’s API
Chat ID -1001234567890 Identifies a private chat, group, supergroup, or channel

A username is not a converted version of the numeric ID. Opening https://t.me/alex also does not reveal the numeric ID; it opens the Telegram chat associated with that username.

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How to find your Telegram username

  1. Open Telegram.
  2. Open Settings. Telegram’s official FAQ identifies Settings as the place where a username is configured, but the exact profile or edit button labels can differ between Android, iOS, Desktop, and Web editions.
  3. Look for the username field in your account profile or editing screen. If a username is already configured, it will be shown there.
  4. Save the change if you add or edit the username.

Telegram usernames can contain only letters from a-z, numbers, and underscores. They are case-insensitive, so Telegram and TeleGram refer to the same username. Telegram may preserve your preferred capitalization when displaying it.

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A username is optional. You can use Telegram without one, and other people can still contact you through an existing conversation or other permitted discovery methods.

Find another person’s username

  1. Open Telegram’s main search field.
  2. Enter the person’s username, with or without the @ symbol.
  3. Select the matching account or chat from the results.

Telegram’s universal search can search chats, messages, and usernames. Search results can contain similarly named accounts, so check the profile details before starting a conversation.

If the account has a public username, its links normally use either of these formats:

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https://t.me/username
https://username.t.me

Both forms are username links, not numeric user-ID links.

Remove a Telegram username

  1. Open Settings.
  2. Open the username editing field in your profile.
  3. Delete the username so the field is empty.
  4. Save the change.

After removal, the account stops appearing in username search. Existing conversations are not deleted or changed.

Find your bot’s Telegram user ID with getMe

If you need the ID of a bot that you control, use the Bot API’s getMe method. Replace <TOKEN> with the token issued by BotFather:

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https://api.telegram.org/bot<TOKEN>/getMe

For example:

curl "https://api.telegram.org/bot123456:ABC-DEF1234/getMe"

A successful response resembles:

{
  "ok": true,
  "result": {
    "id": 123456789,
    "is_bot": true,
    "first_name": "Example Bot",
    "username": "example_bot"
  }
}

The bot’s numeric user ID is the value of result.id. Its username, when present, is result.username.

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Protect the bot token. Anyone who obtains it may be able to control the bot through the API. Do not publish it in an article, source repository, screenshot, or client-side application.

Find a user’s numeric ID with a bot you control

A bot can receive a user’s User object when that user generates an eligible update. The simplest test is a private message sent to the bot.

  1. Open the bot’s Telegram chat.
  2. Send it a message, such as /start.
  3. Retrieve pending updates with the Bot API:
curl "https://api.telegram.org/bot<TOKEN>/getUpdates"

Look in the response for the incoming message:

{
  "ok": true,
  "result": [
    {
      "update_id": 123456789,
      "message": {
        "from": {
          "id": 987654321,
          "is_bot": false,
          "first_name": "Alex",
          "username": "alex"
        },
        "chat": {
          "id": 987654321,
          "type": "private"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

For a normal incoming private message:

  • result[].message.from.id is the sender’s numeric user ID.
  • result[].message.from.username is the sender’s username, if the user has one.
  • result[].message.chat.id is the private conversation’s chat ID.

In a one-to-one private chat these values can look identical, but they represent different concepts. Do not use chat.id as a substitute for from.id in code that identifies users.

Why getUpdates may not show the user

The user has not generated an update

A bot cannot use getUpdates to discover every Telegram account by username. The person must generate an update that the bot is allowed to receive, such as sending the bot a message. A username is optional, so from.username may be missing even when from.id is present.

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A webhook is configured

Long polling with getUpdates and an outgoing webhook are mutually exclusive. If the bot uses a webhook, remove it before polling:

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curl "https://api.telegram.org/bot<TOKEN>/deleteWebhook"
curl "https://api.telegram.org/bot<TOKEN>/getUpdates"

Only remove the webhook if you intend to switch the bot to polling. Removing it can interrupt the bot’s existing update-delivery setup.

The message is more than 24 hours old

Telegram retains updates on its server for no longer than 24 hours. If the user sent the message outside that window, the update may no longer be available.

You keep receiving the same update

After processing an update, confirm it by requesting the next offset. If the last processed update is 123456789, use:

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curl "https://api.telegram.org/bot<TOKEN>/getUpdates?offset=123456790"

The offset must be one greater than the processed update_id. The limit parameter accepts values from 1 through 100; its default is 100.

The message was sent in a group

In groups, bot privacy mode affects which messages the bot receives. With the default privacy behavior, the bot generally receives messages directed at it or commands it can process. If privacy mode is disabled, it can receive more group messages, subject to its access and permissions.

For a group update, the sender’s ID is still found in the relevant from.id field, while the group’s identifier is in chat.id.

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How to handle Telegram IDs in code

Do not store Telegram user or chat IDs in a signed 32-bit integer. Telegram documents that user IDs can have more than 32 significant bits and at most 52 significant bits. Use a signed 64-bit integer, a JavaScript BigInt, or another type that safely preserves these values.

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Chat IDs have additional edge cases:

  • Private chat IDs may be positive.
  • Group, supergroup, and channel IDs may be negative, often with a -100 prefix for supergroups and channels.
  • A chat can have a numeric ID without having a username.

In JavaScript, for example, avoid treating a large ID as an ordinary imprecise Number:

const userId = BigInt("987654321");

When serializing or displaying IDs, keeping them as strings is also a practical option, provided comparisons are consistent.

Do phone-number links reveal a user ID?

No. A phone-number link has a different format:

https://t.me/+123456789

The number must use international format, and the link works only when the target account’s phone-number privacy settings allow discovery by phone number. It is not a username link and does not expose the account’s numeric user ID.

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Are third-party ID bots safe or official?

Bots such as @userinfobot or @getidsbot are third-party services, not the official Telegram API. Their availability, behavior, privacy practices, and returned data are not guaranteed by Telegram’s documentation.

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For development or account-management work, use a bot you control and the official getMe or getUpdates methods. Never give an unfamiliar bot your BotFather token.

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FAQ

Can I find a Telegram user ID from an @username?

Not by simply converting the username or opening its t.me link. The username and numeric ID are separate fields. Use a bot that receives an update from the person, then read the user ID from the update’s User object.

Does every Telegram account have a username?

No. Usernames are optional. A user can have a numeric ID while the username field is absent.

Is a Telegram user ID the same as a chat ID?

No. A user ID identifies a Telegram user or bot. A chat ID identifies a private conversation, group, supergroup, or channel. They can happen to have the same value in a private chat, but applications should treat them as different fields.

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Can I see my numeric ID in every Telegram profile screen?

Telegram’s official client FAQ does not document a universal current profile path that displays numeric user IDs. Client editions and labels vary, so the dependable documented method is obtaining the ID through the Bot API.

Why is my username unavailable?

The username may already be reserved or in use, or it may contain characters outside Telegram’s allowed set. Usernames support letters a-z, numbers, and underscores and are case-insensitive.

The Bottom Line

Use Telegram’s Settings and global search for usernames and public username links. For a numeric ID, use the official Bot API: call getMe for your bot’s own ID, or receive the person’s message and read message.from.id. Keep that separate from message.chat.id, account for webhooks and the 24-hour update window, and store IDs in a type that safely handles values larger than 32 bits.

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