I just started working with Telegram bots and have some questions about data access. When I add a bot to a group chat, I’m wondering what kind of member information it can actually see. I also want to understand how privacy mode affects this. If privacy mode is enabled or disabled, what specific user details can the bot collect from people who send messages? Can it get phone numbers, usernames, or other personal data? I’m trying to understand the privacy implications before implementing my bot in group chats.
Here’s what everyone’s missing - you can’t just scan through all group members and grab their data. Your bot only sees info from people who actually interact with it or during certain events. When someone messages your bot, you’ll get their user ID, display name, and username (if they set one). That’s it. No profile photos through the API either. Found this out the hard way building a member directory feature. The privacy restrictions are way tighter than most people think, which is great for users but sucks if you need full member data for legit reasons.
I’ve built several Telegram bots for group management, and the data access is pretty limited by design. You can grab basic stuff like user ID, first/last name, and username if it’s public. But phone numbers? Never - unless someone literally types theirs in a message. Privacy mode just controls whether your bot sees all messages or only the ones directed at it. Doesn’t change what user data you can access. One thing that surprised me: bots can detect when people join or leave groups, and you get their basic profile info at those moments. The API docs spell out these limits, but honestly, testing in a controlled environment helped me understand the actual data flow way better.
totally agree! privacy mode is a biggie for data access. with it on, bots can really only see direct messages to them or replies. but if it’s off, they can see most of the chat, yet still no personal stuff like phone numbers unless shared directly. mostly just usernames and messages.