I’m working on a Telegram bot and I want to make it seem more interactive. Is there a way through the Telegram Bot API to make my bot appear as “online” or show the “typing…” indicator when users message it?
I’ve been searching through the documentation and various forums but can’t find any clear information about this feature. Some messaging platforms allow bots to simulate presence status, so I’m curious if Telegram supports something similar.
Has anyone successfully implemented this kind of status display for their bot? Any guidance would be really helpful since I want to improve the user experience.
Nope, the Telegram Bot API doesn’t have methods for online status or typing indicators. I ran into this exact issue when building a customer service bot last year - the API just doesn’t expose those presence features that regular users get. Here’s what I did instead: use sendChatAction with the “typing” parameter right before sending responses. It shows a brief typing indicator while your bot processes the request. Not persistent like you probably want, but it gives users visual feedback that something’s happening. You can also add small delays between messages to make things feel more natural, though that’ll obviously slow down response times.
Nope, you can’t make Telegram bots show as online permanently. I ran into this same issue building a chat bot for work - the Bot API just doesn’t have those presence controls. But there’s a workaround that makes conversations feel more natural. Use sendChatAction with “typing”, “upload_photo”, or “record_voice” right before sending messages. Add some response delays too - it makes the bot feel less mechanical. I also split longer replies into shorter chunks with small pauses between them. Makes it seem like someone’s actually typing instead of just dumping walls of text.