{
  "slug": "telegram",
  "name": "Telegram",
  "maker": "Telegram",
  "category": "chats",
  "verdict": "o",
  "answer": "Only if you turn on Secret Chats, which you start by hand for each person. Ordinary chats, groups and your chat history sit on Telegram's servers, where Telegram holds the keys. Calls are end-to-end encrypted by default.",
  "title": "Is Telegram encrypted? Secret Chats, groups and calls",
  "description": "Only Secret Chats, started by hand, are end-to-end encrypted. Telegram can read ordinary chats, groups and backups. Calls are sealed. Checked at the source.",
  "parts": [
    {
      "key": "msg",
      "status": "o",
      "words": "Only you, once you turn it on",
      "note": "Only Secret Chats are sealed: you start one by hand for each person, and it stays on the device where you started it.",
      "sources": [
        1,
        2,
        7
      ],
      "label": "Messages"
    },
    {
      "key": "grp",
      "status": "n",
      "words": "Telegram can read it",
      "note": "Groups are always ordinary cloud chats; no end-to-end encryption for group chats announced as of 25 October 2026.",
      "sources": [
        1,
        2
      ],
      "label": "Group chats"
    },
    {
      "key": "call",
      "status": "y",
      "words": "Only you and the people on the call",
      "note": "One-to-one calls and group calls of up to 200 people are sealed by default, but Telegram doesn't describe video chats held inside groups and channels as sealed.",
      "sources": [
        1,
        4,
        5
      ],
      "label": "Calls"
    },
    {
      "key": "bak",
      "status": "n",
      "words": "Telegram can read it",
      "note": "Your cloud chats are the backup, stored on Telegram's servers with keys Telegram holds; Secret Chats are never backed up.",
      "sources": [
        1,
        2,
        3
      ],
      "label": "Backups"
    },
    {
      "key": "pq",
      "status": "x",
      "words": "Not yet",
      "note": "No post-quantum protection announced as of 25 October 2026.",
      "sources": [
        1,
        6
      ],
      "label": "Post-quantum"
    }
  ],
  "extra_parts": [],
  "keys": "Telegram holds the keys for ordinary chats and groups; for Secret Chats and calls, only the devices in the conversation do.",
  "can_see": "Everything in ordinary chats and groups, plus your phone number, any contacts you sync, your IP address and the devices and apps you use.",
  "business": null,
  "fix": {
    "title": "Start a Secret Chat for private talks",
    "steps": [
      "Open your chat with the person and tap their name at the top to open their profile.",
      "On iPhone, tap More › Start Secret Chat. On Android, tap the three dots at the top right › Start Secret Chat.",
      "To check it, open the Secret Chat's info and compare the encryption key picture with the one on your friend's phone. If they match, nobody is in the middle."
    ],
    "after": "Takes a few seconds, but you do it for each person. A Secret Chat lives only on the device where you started it, and you lose it if you log out. Groups can't be made secret."
  },
  "fix_line": "Start a Secret Chat: open the person's profile › More (the three dots on Android) › Start Secret Chat.",
  "sections": [
    {
      "id": "is-telegram-encrypted-by-default",
      "q": "Is Telegram end-to-end encrypted by default?",
      "a": "No. Ordinary Telegram chats, which Telegram calls cloud chats, are encrypted between your device and Telegram's servers, then stored there [1]. Telegram keeps the keys in different data centres from the messages, but its own servers can still use them, as Telegram's founder has explained [1][3]. Telegram's privacy policy says it may use automated tools to scan messages in cloud chats for spam and phishing [2].\n\nOnly Secret Chats are end-to-end encrypted. Telegram says only you and the other person can read them, and it doesn't store them on its servers [1][2]."
    },
    {
      "id": "how-to-start-a-secret-chat",
      "q": "How do I start a Telegram Secret Chat, and where does it work?",
      "a": "Open the person's profile, tap More (the three dots), then Start Secret Chat [1]. Secret Chats are only for two people. They stay on the device where you started them, don't sync to your other devices, and are deleted if you log out [1].\n\nThey work in the phone apps and in Telegram for macOS [1]. Telegram Desktop, the other computer app, which runs on Windows, Mac and Linux, doesn't offer them: a request for Secret Chats there has been open on Telegram's own suggestions site since January 2021 [7]."
    },
    {
      "id": "are-telegram-calls-encrypted",
      "q": "Are Telegram calls end-to-end encrypted?",
      "a": "Yes. Telegram says one-to-one voice and video calls are end-to-end encrypted [1][2]. Since 30 April 2025, group calls of up to 200 people are too, and everyone on the call can check it by comparing the four emoji on their screens [4]. Telegram says not even it can secretly join one of these calls to listen [4].\n\nVideo chats held inside a group, and live streams in a channel, are a different kind of call. Telegram's developer documents describe only the newer group calls as end-to-end encrypted, and say video chats can be recorded on Telegram's servers [5]."
    },
    {
      "id": "can-telegram-read-my-messages",
      "q": "Can Telegram read my messages?",
      "a": "In ordinary chats and groups, yes, because Telegram holds the keys [1][3]. Its moderators can check messages that people report, and its privacy policy says it may give your IP address and phone number to authorities if a valid court order says you're a suspect in a crime [2].\n\nIn Secret Chats and calls, no. Telegram says those are encrypted with a key known only to the people talking, and that it has no way to decipher them [2]."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Telegram FAQ",
      "publisher": "Telegram",
      "url": "https://telegram.org/faq",
      "read": "2026-10-25"
    },
    {
      "title": "Telegram Privacy Policy",
      "publisher": "Telegram",
      "url": "https://telegram.org/privacy",
      "read": "2026-10-25"
    },
    {
      "title": "Why Isn't Telegram End-to-End Encrypted by Default?",
      "publisher": "Pavel Durov, Telegram",
      "url": "https://telegra.ph/Why-Isnt-Telegram-End-to-End-Encrypted-by-Default-08-14",
      "read": "2026-10-25"
    },
    {
      "title": "Extra-Secure Group Calls, Automated Accounts, and More (30 April 2025)",
      "publisher": "Telegram",
      "url": "https://telegram.org/blog/group-calls-made-easy",
      "read": "2026-10-25"
    },
    {
      "title": "Group calls (API documentation)",
      "publisher": "Telegram",
      "url": "https://core.telegram.org/api/group-calls",
      "read": "2026-10-25"
    },
    {
      "title": "End-to-End Encryption, Secret Chats",
      "publisher": "Telegram",
      "url": "https://core.telegram.org/api/end-to-end",
      "read": "2026-10-25"
    },
    {
      "title": "Secret Chats on Telegram Desktop (suggestion, opened 5 January 2021)",
      "publisher": "Telegram Bugs and Suggestions",
      "url": "https://bugs.telegram.org/c/904",
      "read": "2026-10-25"
    }
  ],
  "changes": [
    {
      "date": "2026-10-25",
      "text": "First published."
    }
  ],
  "related": [
    "signal",
    "whatsapp",
    "discord",
    "imessage"
  ],
  "url": "https://isitencrypted.com/telegram/",
  "checked": "2026-10-25"
}