How to Stop People From Adding You to a Telegram Group or Channel

Today, communication applications are problematic, as WhatsApp is already involved in many discussions. Some people started figuring out the WhatsApp alternative, “Telegram,” a messaging app that ensures more security and privacy than WhatsApp. Despite its promise, one thing both applications need to consider is that anyone can add you to the group.

Like WhatsApp, Telegram uses mobile numbers in the login process. Anyone can join a group. On Telegram, the same thing can happen. However, WhatsApp has some features to minimize that issue. However, people new to Telegram do not know how to prevent it from happening similarly. For that concern, we came here to let you know how to stop people from adding you to a Telegram group.

How to Control Who Can Add You to a Telegram Group or Channel

Along with mobile signup, Telegram also has a second pillar: usernames. Someone who does not know your phone number can add you to any Telegram group or channel through a username. The majority of these random groups are spam, but due to usernames, people are unnecessarily added to these channels. Despite this, Telegram has some dedicated privacy features for groups or channels. But as a newbie, I understand you need help with different options.

You will get two options from the Telegram privacy options overview in the groups and channels section. These options are available to everyone, and the second is my contact information regarding some exceptions. The first option is to have everyone add you to Telegram groups. In the second option, only your contacts can be added. If you wish, with the My Contacts option, you can add exceptional users who can be added to your Telegram group. These small steps can help avoid such spam channels. So, let us change that setting.

Note: Steps 6 and 7 are optional if you do not have any contact with any user and want him to add you to a Telegram group.

1. Open the Telegram app.
2. From there, navigate to the settings page.
3. Tap on the Privacy & Security tab.
4. Under Privacy & Security, tap on Groups and Channels.
5. Choose the My Contacts option under “Who can add me to a Telegram Group or Channel?”
6. Next, tap the add users option under the exceptions section beside always allowed.
7. Type that exceptional user name and tap the tick icon to save the changes.
8. That is it. No one can add you to a Telegram group or channel (except your contacts and exceptional users).

These steps will most likely help you a lot, but they are necessary when removing a group you accidentally added to. As a public release, this article may also be read by users who have yet to add any groups. However, they are looking for a preventive guide for such cases. So, below, we are sharing a few tips to help you get more privacy so that no one can add you to a Telegram group except you.

Block the user who added you to the Telegram group.

Telegram blockers neither receive messages nor add you to groups. Discovering who in your circle can add you to spam groups is a preventative tip. After finding them, you can block them and get away from this issue. Although blocking a user with Telegram’s navigation is simple, you might still need to get it. So, follow these steps to do that.

1. Open the Telegram app on your device.
2. From there, select the user that you want to block.
3. Tap the three dots at the top right of that user profile to open it.
4. Under that menu, tap on the block users option.
5. That’s it. The user will no longer be able to communicate with you.

Change your username.

As we already said, there are two main ways in which anyone can add you to a Telegram group—the person who has your contact number. The second is your username. Using the previous tip, you can find the contact number. You can only change the username. After that, he will search for your profile using the old username, but he will not find it. As a reference, you can follow these steps to change your username.

1. Launch the Telegram app.
2. From there, tap on the hamburger menu at the top left.
3. Now tap on your profile icon.
4. Next, tap on the username option.
5. Enter your new username and tap the tick icon at the top right.
6. That’s it, and you have a new username.

Hide your phone number.

We have previously explained that your mobile number and username are the two ways anyone can access your profile. Changing usernames is a permanent solution, but blocking a mobile number alone is only sometimes possible. To make things easier, you can hide your phone number from the general public. For a clear view, you can follow the steps below in Telegram.

1. Open the Telegram app on your device.
2. Then, select the hamburger menu at the top left.
3. From there, select Settings >> Privacy & Security.
4. Now, under privacy, tap on the phone number option.
5. Next, select the Contact or Nobody option (depending on you).
6. Lastly, save the changes, and you are done.

Delete your Telegram account.

Despite these presumptive solutions, you must be frequently added to unknown spam groups. Finally, you can delete your Telegram account. Since you were added to these groups, your profile has circulated a lot. Also, Telegram offers a 6-month option (default), where if you are not online for the period, your account will be deleted automatically by Telegram. Note that these six months can be changed in settings. But here, we are self-opting to delete, so follow these steps.

1. Visit the Telegram web page.
2. Log in with your phone number from there.
3. Following this, three options will appear on the screen, including the “Delete Account” option.
4. Now click on Delete My Account and confirm the pop-up.
5. It is done; your Telegram account will be deleted shortly.

As we saw in the first step, Telegram has many features that allow us to add exceptional users to the app. However, there still needs to be a solution for spam groups and channels. It depends on what you prefer to do. Which of these things is more helpful for them? Otherwise, deleting the Telegram account is the final way to avoid this issue. So, I hope your issue has been fixed; if any users still have questions, please ask them all below.

Frequently Asked Questions