How to clear chat in telegram channel


How To Delete All Messages in Telegram

It’s reader question time again, and this time it’s about Telegram. The full question is, ‘I heard that messages are stored on Telegram servers, and I don’t want that. How can I delete all of my messages in Telegram?’

Telegram is a secure messaging app for mobile and desktop. It has millions of users, and the company prides the service for its simple-to-use and encrypted messaging service. That means those who use it use it a lot which means housekeeping may be in order. That’s why today we will review your deletion options within Telegram. I’ll also share a few Telegram tricks I have learned since using the app.

One of the reasons Telegram is so popular is because of the end-to-end encryption. This service means you can message another person anything you’d like while protecting your content from unintended readers. Even if you have nothing to hide, privacy is a right that is cherished in today’s digital society. If you live in a region where freedom of speech is restricted or are concerned about your privacy, you will especially like Telegram.

Is it possible to delete all messages in Telegram?

Fortunately, Telegram has finally given users to expand their privacy options over the past two years. You can recall any messages at any time for any reason. Before the newer updates became available, users could only delete messages if they were younger than 48 hours.

To delete all messages in Telegram:

  1. Select a message that you’ve sent.
  2. Select the trash can icon in the top right of the chat screen.
  3. You have the option to delete the message on your contact side as well. Just tap on the “Also delete for [Contact]” before selecting Delete.

Depending on the option you choose, your chat history will disappear from the other user’s chats as well.

If you’d like to delete an entire thread with another user, simply swipe slowly on the thread (from the message list) and tap the red ‘Delete’ option on an iPhone. Android users can long-press the thread to remove all content.

Group Chats

Before you go responding to Group messages, it’s important to understand that you may not have the option to delete those. According to Telegram, only Group admins can remove and delete chat history.

If you do join a group chat, take care with what you say, as that information may be out of your control once you hit ‘Send.’

Telegram takes online messaging a bit further than simply deleting chats. You can create ‘Secret Chats’ within the app.

Secret Chats in Telegram

Secret chats work differently than normal chats in Telegram. Normal chat keeps a copy on the server so you can sync between devices and always maintain a conversation. Secret chat is peer-to-peer, so copies are only maintained on the devices you and the person you’re talking to are using.

Secret chats also self-destruct. You can set a destruct timer within Telegram so the messages will disappear once both parties have read them. To start a secret chat in Telegram, select ‘New secret chat’ from the menu.

Change Your Phone Number in Telegram

If you have a couple of phones or change your number when you switch contracts, you can change it in Telegram to keep all your chats.

  1. Select Settings in Telegram and then Change Number.
  2. Add your new number in the box and select Save.
  3. All your chats will be transferred and downloaded to your new device (if you have one).

Use Multiple Telegram Accounts

Some users have multiple Telegram accounts. Fortunately, the messaging platform is happy to accommodate those who want to keep and continue using multiple accounts.

  1. Tap on the Menu icon (three stacked lines) in Telegram.
  2. Select the down arrow by your name.
  3. Select Add Account from the list.
  4. Add your number and follow the account setup wizard.

Once added, you use the same down arrow to switch between accounts. You can do this as many times as you need.

Lock Your Chats

Security is a big selling point for Telegram. End-to-end encryption is a serious benefit, but the ability to lock chats is even better. It adds another level of security that keeps your conversations about as secret as they can be.

  1. Select Settings in the Telegram app.
  2. Select Privacy and Security.
  3. Select Passcode Lock and enable it.
  4. Add a PIN, and you’re good to go.

Telegram has gotten a lot of bad press over the past year or so. Some of it warranted, and some of it not. Either way, it remains an excellent chat app that secures your conversations in multiple ways. For that alone, it is worth using.

Preventing Messages from Forwarding

To further protect your privacy, you can change the settings to prevent anyone from forwarding your messages. Visit the privacy settings and tap the option for ‘Forwarded Messages’ to ensure that no one but the intended recipient gains access.

To prevent forwarding:

  1. Open the Telegram app and tap ‘Settings’ in the bottom left-hand corner.
  2. Tap on ‘Privacy and Security.’
  3. Scroll down and tap ‘Forwarded Messages.’
  4. Change from ‘Everyone’ (the default) to either ‘My Contacts’ or ‘Nobody.’

The app even allows you to set forwarding capabilities to select contacts. Depending on your messaging needs, the app is fairly customizable.

Delete Your Telegram Account

Interestingly, if you delete your Telegram account, all your chat histories go with it. If you no longer feel the need to keep your Telegram account or have issues with the deletion process, deleting your account is a drastic but effective solution for maintaining anonymity.

To completely delete your account follow these instructions:

  1. Visit the Telegram website and input your phone number – You will have to use your country code plus the standard 10-digits of your phone number, so for the U. S., that would be +1 (area code) – (last seven digits of your phone number)
  2. Follow the verification steps.
  3. Confirm the deletion of your account.

Your Telegram account will be automatically deleted after some time with no activity.

  1. You can travel to ‘Settings’ in the app and tap on ‘Privacy and Security.’
  2. Once there, locate the ‘Delete My Account’ header.
  3. Tap on the ‘If Away For’ option and set your account to delete after one month, three months, six months, or one year.

If you have difficulty deleting your account or using other features, you can always contact the Telegram Support team.

Although the support team is full of volunteers, the FAQ page located in the ‘Settings’ menu of the app is actually really helpful too.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are the answers to more of your questions about Telegram.

If I delete my Telegram account, will all of my messages disappear?

Absolutely! If you want to start over with a clean slate, you can delete your Telegram account. All of your previous messages will disappear when your account no longer exists.

Can I save all of my personal Telegram chats?

If you want to save some chats before deleting everything, you can export your Telegram chats using a computer. Download the Telegram app and sign into your account. Tap on the three lines in the upper left corner, then tap ‘Settings.’

Click on the ‘Advanced’ option and ‘Export Telegram Data.’ Follow the on-screen prompts and retrieve your messages.

How to Delete Messages on Telegram

A good way to hide the evidence

Since Telegram offers more features than any other messaging app, message management on this platform can be a bit more complex. Such a mundane task like deleting your messages from a chat becomes more difficult if you also want your messages gone from Telegram’s servers. 

We’ll show you all of the ways that you can delete messages on Telegram, whether it’s in a regular chat with your friend or colleague, or in a group chat with many users.  

Table of Contents

    How Telegram Stores Your Message History

    If you’ve recently switched from a different messaging app to Telegram for security and privacy reasons, you first need to understand how Telegram stores your chat history, as well as how you can erase it. 

    You can have two different types of chats on Telegram: normal or cloud chats, and secret chats. Cloud chats are the chats between you and other users, group chats, and public channels. They’re stored in the cloud, which allows you to seamlessly use Telegram on different devices, since your chat history can be easily downloaded. According to Telegram, cloud chats are encrypted with encryption keys stored in several data centers in different jurisdictions. 

    However, if you want to eliminate the possibility of your chats being decrypted or intercepted, you should choose secret chats over cloud chats on Telegram. Secret chats are end-to-end encrypted (between only you and the recipient) and are never uploaded to a server at all.  

    How to Delete Cloud Chat Messages on Telegram

    If you don’t want your messages to be stored in the cloud, you can easily delete them from the chats. You can delete messages from any one-on-one chat, and from any device. You can delete both the messages you sent, and the messages you received. It doesn’t matter how long ago you sent or received the message – there’s no time limit. 

    To delete messages from a Telegram chat, follow the steps below. 

    1. Open Telegram and select a chat.
    2. Find the messages you want to delete. Select and hold the message. 
    1. Select Delete
    1. You can opt to only delete the message for you, or for the recipient as well. 
    2. Select Delete to confirm. 

    When you’re finished, the message will be gone from either just your device, or from both your and the recipient’s devices, as well as the Telegram server. 

    If your chat has more than 2 participants in it, you can still delete the messages that you already sent from everyone’s devices. However, there’s a time limit. You can only do it within 48 hours after sending the message. After those 48 hours, you can still delete your message, but from your device only. The message will remain on other participants’ devices, as well as on the Telegram server. 

    The same applies to Telegram users who are using an old version of Telegram prior to version 5.5. In that case, even if it’s a one-on-one chat, the 48-hour rule applies, and you won’t be able to delete the message for everyone afterwards. 

    If 48 hours have already passed since you sent the message, the only way to completely erase it is to ask the recipient (or recipients) to delete your message from their devices. After that, the message will also disappear from the Telegram server. 

    How to Delete Messages in Secret Telegram Chats

    If complete privacy’s what you’re after, consider using secret chats in Telegram over the normal cloud chats. To open a secret chat with someone, select their username on Telegram, then select More (three vertical dots in the upper-right corner) > Start Secret Chat.  

    Inside the secret chat, the process of erasing messages is the same as described above. However, you might not need it if you set your messages to self-destruct. Open the secret chat and select More. Then select Set self-destruct timer. You can then choose how long the recipient will have until the message disappears from the chat. 

    With the self-destruct timer, the messages will automatically disappear from your secret chat after a set time. They’ll also disappear from the other person’s device, as well as from the Telegram server. 

    How to Auto-Delete Messages From Telegram Chats

    Secret chats aren’t the only chats where you can set your messages to self-destruct. You can set your messages to automatically disappear after a certain period of time in any chat on Telegram. To enable the auto-delete feature, follow the steps below.

    1. Open Telegram and select a chat.
    2. On Android, select More > Clear History > Auto-delete messages in this chat.  
    1. On iOS, select and hold any message in the chat. From the menu that appears, follow the path Select > Clear chat > Enable Auto-Delete

    You can choose your messages to disappear either after 24 hours, 7 days, or in 1 month after you send them. 

    How to Delete Entire Chats in Telegram

    If you want to get rid of an entire conversation on Telegram, open the app and select it. Then select the bin icon on top of the screen. You’ll see a pop-up message asking whether you only want to delete the chat for yourself, or for both you and the recipient. If you choose the latter, the chat will disappear from both your devices and from the Telegram server. 

    Don’t Forget About Push Notifications

    Being able to delete a message from someone else’s device after you have already sent it can potentially save you from having to explain yourself later. The feature is similar to Gmail Unsend, and is a lifesaver when you send a message to someone by mistake.  

    However, don’t forget that while you can prevent the recipient from seeing your message, you can’t disable push notifications on their device. When you send a message to someone, it’ll appear in their notifications. Depending on their settings, the recipient might see the contents of your message even if you already deleted it. Even though your message won’t appear in Telegram, the user can take a screenshot of the notification and keep a copy of your message that way. 

    Get Rid of Your Telegram Messages for Good

    One final option for those who want to erase all of their messages from Telegram is to delete their account completely. If you don’t want Telegram to store copies of any of your messages, make sure you also delete all of your conversations for yourself and for other users as well. 

    Have you thought of deleting all of your messages from Telegram? What option do you use for deleting messages from the app? Share your experience with Telegram chats in the comments section below.  

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    Anya is a freelance technology writer. Originally from Russia, she is currently a full-time Remote Worker and Digital Nomad. With a background in Journalism, Language Studies, and Technical Translation, Anya couldn't imagine her life and work without using modern technology on a daily basis. Always looking out for new ways to make her life and location-independent lifestyle easier, she hopes to share her experiences as a tech- and internet-addict through her writing. Read Anya's Full Bio

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    How to clear a chat in Telegram: step by step instructions

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    07/24/2022

    Author: Alexander Ponomarev

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    How to clear a chat in Telegram: what to do on a computer and smartphone

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    In Telegram, you can communicate not only with friends, but also with companies, repair specialists and other "one-time" interlocutors. How to delete a chat if it is no longer needed?

    Telegram

    Each messenger user may have his own reason for deleting messages or entire correspondence. Someone just wants to get rid of irrelevant information, and someone wants to clear up space on the device - this can be especially true if there are a lot of files in the chat. It doesn't matter what goals you are pursuing. It is important to know how to clear a chat in Telegram correctly. This seemingly difficult task has an important nuance that not everyone knows about.

    • Operation

      How to find a channel in Telegram: using a messenger, search engines and directories

    First, you can delete individual messages in a conversation. Secondly, you can completely delete a specific chat with a specific person. Thirdly, you can delete messages and entire chats not only on your device, but also on the device of your interlocutor, who will not be able to do anything about it. As well as you, since the deletion operation is irreversible and cannot be canceled if you do not have time to react in the first few seconds after confirming the command, when the messenger still makes it possible to save the correspondence and cancel its deletion. Therefore, if you are not sure of your readiness to permanently part with correspondence, then it is better not to resort to such radical methods.

    How to clear a chat in Telegram on a computer

    If you use the desktop version of the messenger, you can delete individual messages:

    • Launch the application;
    • Enter the chat where you want to delete messages;
    • Right click on the message you want to delete;
    • If you are going to delete several messages, right-click on one, select the "Select" item from the menu that opens and select all the messages to be deleted;
    • In the lower left corner of the chat, find the red "Delete" icon;
    • In the menu that opens, select whether to delete messages only from you or from you and your interlocutor;
    • Confirm the delete command.

    On the computer, you can also completely delete the whole chat with a specific interlocutor:

    • Launch the application;
    • In the left column in the contact list, find the user you want to delete the chat with;
    • Right click on the user's chat;
    • In the menu that opens, select "Delete chat";
    • In the menu that opens, select whether to delete the chat only for you or for you and your interlocutor;
    • Confirm the delete command.

    Thus, in a couple of clicks, you can completely delete the entire dialogue and the entire history of communication, not only for yourself, but also for the interlocutor. These actions, we repeat, are irreversible and require absolute certainty that you are really ready to clean up the correspondence.

    How to clear Telegram chat on iPhone and Android

    From a technical point of view, there is no difference in deleting correspondence between a computer and a smartphone in the application, just as there are no special differences in which operating system - Android or iOS - is installed on your gadget. The whole difference comes down solely to minor design features of the messenger, which can be safely ignored in the work.

    To delete individual messages on your smartphone, you need:

    • Launch application;
    • Enter the chat where you want to delete messages;
    • Tap on the message you want to delete;
    • If you are going to delete several messages, tap one by one, select the "Select" item in the menu that opens and select all the messages to be deleted;
    • In the lower left corner of the chat, find the trash can icon;
    • In the menu that opens, select whether to delete messages only from you or from you and your interlocutor;
    • Confirm delete command.

    To delete an entire chat from your smartphone, you should:

    • Launch the application;
    • In the left column in the contact list, find the user with whom you want to delete the chat;
    • Tap on correspondence or swipe left;
    • In the menu that opens, select "Delete";
    • Decide whether to delete the chat only for you or for you and your interlocutor;
    • Confirm delete command.

    You can also enter a chat with the user, and then:

    • Tap on the photo of the interlocutor in the upper right corner;
    • In the menu that opens, under the photo on the right, find the “More” item;
    • In the pop-up menu, find the item "Delete correspondence";
    • Decide whether to delete the chat only for you or for you and your interlocutor;
    • Confirm delete command.

    How to clear chats automatically

    All of the above methods of deleting correspondence involve manual work and after the fact, when the chat was created, you communicated and created a certain amount of content, but you can take care of clearing the chat in advance. Because in February 2021, the developers of the messenger provided such an option.

    It became a logical extension of the function introduced in the fall of 2013, which meant the creation of secret chats with self-destruct timers - correspondence is deleted automatically after a time set by the chat author without the need to delete data manually.

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    After the next update, “automatic deletion of messages for all participants became available in any chat. In this mode, messages disappear after 24 hours or 7 days after being sent.

    "Automatic deletion will only affect messages sent after the timer was set - older messages will remain in the chat history. Unlike secret chats, the countdown will begin immediately after the message is sent, and not at the moment the recipient reads it. When the timer is enabled, you can see how much time is left before a particular message is deleted in the action menu. In groups and channels, only administrators can enable automatic deletion of messages, ”says the official description of the new feature on the Telegram blog.

    To enable the automatic deletion of chats in the messenger on the iPhone, you must press and hold your finger on any message in the correspondence, tap on the "Select" item in the menu, then find the "Delete chat" section in the upper left corner of the screen, and already there in the menu " Set up auto-delete »set the time for the existence of the correspondence and the period for its disappearance.

    To do the same on a device running the Android operating system, inside the chat you need to go to the menu (item with three dots), there select the "Clear history" section, in which you determine the desired time interval, after which the correspondence will be in automatically, without your further manipulation, removed.

    For those who are worried about the confidentiality of correspondence and are worried about whether deleted information will be deleted, representatives of the messenger assure: “Telegram servers do not save information about deleted chats and records in the call history, so this data will disappear forever.

    If you don't want to delete the conversation, you can simply clear the messenger's cache. In Telegram, everything that is in your chats or channels that you are subscribed to is loaded into the gadget's memory. Even if you just scroll the feed and do not read the posts, the pictures, videos, audio recordings, attached files, and in general all attachments contained in them are automatically loaded into the memory of your device so that when you want to see it all, they load faster and did not consume traffic. We talked about how to clear the cache in Telegram and thereby free up a lot of space on your smartphone. Well, if this is not enough for you, then we told you how to delete a Telegram account forever or wait for it to completely self-destruct.

    Tags messengers adviсe Telegram

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    Alexander Ponomarev

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    on iPhone, on Android, on a computer

    Sooner or later, any user will wonder how to clear a chat in Telegram and get rid of correspondence once and for all? If you decide to delete the conversation history, remember that it cannot be restored under any circumstances. Ready? Then let's start looking into it.

    On a smartphone

    Sometimes it is simply necessary to clear the chat history in Telegram - the reasons may be different, but the goal remains the same, as well as the methods to achieve it. Let's talk about all the possible options available!

    How to enter a blocked channel in Telegram? Instructions here

    On iPhone

    Let's work on iPhone first. You can completely delete the dialogue, it will no longer be displayed in the list of conversations:

    • Open the messenger and find the name of the person you need in the chat list;
    • Swipe from right to left;
    • If you see the basket icon, click;
    • Now select for whom the dialogue will be deleted.

    You can delete a conversation for yourself or for both participants. You don’t need to ask the permission of the second party, the person will not even see that you have removed the correspondence.

    Another thing is how to clear a chat in Telegram on iPhone from messages, while keeping the dialog itself in the list:

    • Open a conversation with a specific user;
    • Select any message and highlight it with your finger for a few seconds;
    • Click on "Select" in the drop down menu;
    • Now look for the "Delete" button at the top left;
    • Click and choose - erase only for yourself or for two people at once.

    Something else about how to clean up a chat in Telegram. In the same window, you will see the "Set up auto-delete" button. You can choose after what period of time the entire history will be automatically erased for both participants! The following options are available:

    • Day
    • Week
    • Month

    You no longer have to think about how to clear the chat in Telegram - the data will disappear automatically after the set time interval has elapsed. Don't forget to save your settings for the option to take effect.

    Having trouble changing languages? The solution is here!

    On Android

    A few words about how to clear a chat in Telegram on Android? In fact, the instructions have only slight differences.

    • Find the conversation on the main screen;
    • Tap and hold your finger for a few seconds until the basket icon appears at the top;
    • Select whether the conversation will be deleted for you or both participants.

    You can delete the history by analogy with iPhone, select one message to completely delete the correspondence inside the chat.

    On the computer

    We managed to clean up the Telegram chat on iPhone and Android - it's time to switch to the desktop program. Many use the messenger on the computer and do not want to pick up the phone to delete correspondence. It's good that the desktop has a corresponding function!

    • Enter the application;
    • Find the desired dialog in the left panel and open it;
    • Click on the username on the top bar;

    • In the tab that opens, look for the "Clear history" icon.

    A new window will open asking you to confirm the deletion of the conversation. In addition, you can clean the Telegram chat for both interlocutors! Just check the box "Also delete for ...". If you do this, the correspondence will be permanently erased for all participants. If you don't, it's only for you.


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