I need to find a method to get all the chats, channels, and groups where my bot has been added without using webhook or the getUpdates approach. The problem with these methods is that they require some activity in the chat first, like someone sending a message, and I would need to do this for each individual chat separately. I want to get a complete list of all groups in one go without having to trigger any activity or make modifications to the chats besides just having the bot present in them. Is this possible with the Telegram Bot API?
yep, it’s a pain. bots can only get groups they get messages from. u gotta track chat IDs when the bot joins, but that means monitoring those joins in the first place. good luck!
There’s no direct API method to get all groups your bot’s in without prior interaction. Telegram restricts this for security and privacy reasons. But I’ve found a workaround that works pretty well. Set up logging to capture chat info whenever your bot gets any interaction - messages, being added to groups, member changes, setting updates, whatever. Save those chat IDs to your database with timestamps. Then periodically check which chats are still active by trying to get basic chat info using those stored IDs. This has helped me keep an accurate list of active groups for my bots, though it takes time to build up initially.
Nope, Telegram’s Bot API doesn’t let you pull a list of all groups your bot’s in without prior interaction. It’s designed this way for privacy reasons - bots can only access chats where they’ve actually received messages or done something. I’ve managed several bots, and the best solution is setting up your own database. Log chat IDs whenever your bot gets added to groups (through /start commands or when people first message it) and keep track yourself. You can use getChatMember to check if your bot’s still active in those chats, but you’ll need the chat IDs first. Some devs try using user accounts with MTProto, but that breaks Telegram’s ToS for bots. Don’t do it.