None declared
None declared
Mostly a question of trust: Telegram Messenger collects data linked to you but declares no tracking. The sensitive items are financial info, location, contacts and user content. In total the label lists 7 data types; 14% of secure messengers we checked declare tracking.
Telegram Messenger privacy in one look
- 1Collects nothing
- 2Not linked
- 3Linked
- 4Tracks you
Built only from the developer's App Store label. It describes disclosure, not tested behaviour.
Telegram Messenger collects 7 data types tied to your identity but declares no tracking.
Did Telegram Messenger ask for something?
Pick the permission prompt you saw. We compare it with what Telegram Messenger's developer declared.
Telegram Messenger lists Location on its label, linked to you. Choose While Using and turn off Precise Location if the feature works without it.
Telegram Messenger lists User Content on its label, linked to you. Choose Limited Access and pick only the photos you want to share.
Telegram Messenger lists Contacts on its label, linked to you. Limited Access shares selected contacts instead of your whole address book.
Telegram Messenger declares no tracking, so a tracking prompt would contradict its label. Decline it, and consider reporting the mismatch to Apple.
Health & Fitness is not on Telegram Messenger's label. That can be fine: data used only on your iPhone does not have to be declared. If the data would need to leave the phone for the feature to work, ask why it is missing.
A permission is what the app can reach on your iPhone; the label is what the developer says leaves it. They answer different questions.
What Telegram Messenger collects, explained
| Data type | What it covers | Where to limit it |
|---|---|---|
| Financial InfoSensitiveLinked to you | Card numbers, bank details, credit scores, salary, income, assets or debts. | Pay with Apple Pay where offered so the app never sees your card number, and turn on the app's own login lock. |
| LocationSensitiveLinked to you | Where your phone is, either precisely (street level) or approximately (city or area). | Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services: choose Never or While Using, and turn off Precise Location if the app does not need it. |
| ContactsSensitiveLinked to you | The people in your address book or social graph. | Settings › Privacy & Security › Contacts: choose Limited Access to share only selected people, or None. |
| User ContentSensitiveLinked to you | Messages, photos, videos, audio recordings, documents and support chats you create or upload. | Settings › Privacy & Security › Photos: choose Limited Access or None; review Microphone and Files access too. |
| Contact InfoLinked to you | Your name, email address, phone number or postal address. | Use Sign in with Apple with Hide My Email where offered, and check the app's account and marketing preferences. |
| PurchasesLinked to you | What you have bought or tend to buy. | Review in-app marketing settings; subscriptions are listed in Settings › [your name] › Subscriptions. |
| IdentifiersLinked to you | An account ID, screen name, customer number or a device-level ID such as the advertising identifier. | Settings › Privacy & Security › Tracking: turn off Allow Apps to Request to Track, or tap Ask App Not to Track when prompted. |
What Telegram Messenger's label means for you
Telegram Messenger's label has 7 types under “Data Linked to You”. A data type can appear in more than one section when it is used for different purposes — for example, identifiers used for both analytics and advertising.
Telegram Messenger declares no tracking, which means the developer says it does not combine your data with other companies' data for advertising or sell it to data brokers. The data linked to you — financial info, location, contacts, user content, contact info, purchases and identifiers — is still tied to your identity, typically through an account, and is covered by the developer's privacy policy and retention rules.
The items that deserve the most attention are financial info, location, contacts and user content. Financial data is high-value to criminals and is often regulated. Expect it in banking and budgeting apps; question it elsewhere.
Messengers see who you talk to as well as what you say. Even with end-to-end encrypted content, contact lists and metadata can be collected and linked to you. Check whether contact upload is optional, whether backups are encrypted too, and whether disappearing messages exist.
Among the 172 secure messengers in our snapshot with a label, 14% declare tracking, 54% collect data linked to you and 29% say they collect nothing. Telegram Messenger lists 7 data types, more than the average of 2.8 for this group.
Social apps are built around identity and contacts, so data linked to you is nearly universal. Tracking and contact upload are the settings worth checking.
Settings to check for Telegram Messenger
- 1
Tracking
Settings › Privacy & Security › Tracking. If “Allow Apps to Request to Track” is off, apps cannot ask, and they are told to treat you as having declined. You can also turn it off for this app alone.
- 2
Location
Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services › Telegram Messenger. Choose While Using or Never, and switch off Precise Location if a city-level answer is enough.
- 3
Photos
Settings › Privacy & Security › Photos. Limited Access lets you pick exactly which pictures the app can see; Add Photos Only lets it save without reading your library.
- 4
Contacts
Settings › Privacy & Security › Contacts. Limited Access shares only the people you select instead of your whole address book.
- 5
Microphone & camera
Settings › Privacy & Security › Microphone and Camera. The orange and green dots in the status bar show when either is in use.
- 6
Sign-in
When creating an account, Sign in with Apple can give the app a relay address from Hide My Email instead of your real one.
Does Telegram Messenger track you?
There is no “Data Used to Track You” section on Telegram Messenger's label.
Does Telegram Messenger track you? Full answer and how to stop it →
Lock Telegram Messenger behind Face ID
- Find Telegram Messenger on your Home Screen or in App Library.
- Touch and hold the icon until the quick-actions menu opens.
- Tap Require Face ID (or Require Touch ID / Require Passcode, depending on your iPhone).
- Tap Require Face ID again to confirm. Telegram Messenger now asks for authentication every time it opens.
The lock is an iPhone feature, so it works whether or not Telegram Messenger has a passcode of its own. It does not change what the app sends to its developer.
About Telegram Messenger
| Developer | Telegram FZ-LLC |
| App Store category | Social Networking (also Productivity) |
| Latest version | 13.1.2, released October 2026 |
| First released | August 2013 |
| Requires | iOS 15.0 or later |
| Size | 232 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ |
| Languages | 19 (AR, BE, CA, NL, EN, FR, DE, ID…) |
| Bundle ID | ph.telegra.Telegraph |
The current version shipped in October 2026, so the app is actively maintained and its label is likely current. Labels are updated by developers when practices change.
What the label cannot tell you
- A label is self-reported. Apple publishes the developer's answers and can reject apps that misrepresent them, but it does not independently verify what Telegram Messenger sends.
- It does not say where data is stored, how long it is kept, whether it is encrypted, or which companies receive it. The privacy policy covers those points.
- Optional data counts: if a feature lets you add something (a profile photo, a phone number), the type is listed even if you never use the feature.
- Data handled only on your iPhone is not 'collected', so a no-collection label is compatible with an app that reads your files locally.
- Third-party sign-in, payment processors and SDKs are supposed to be included, but a label can lag behind a new version.
The question to ask Telegram Messenger's developer: Is the message content end-to-end encrypted by default, including backups?
Telegram Messenger vs similar secure messengers
- Telegram Messenger (this app)
- Morse Secure Messenger
- Brrro
- GetSafeNow
- SimpleX Chat
- Zangi
- xPal Ultra Secure Messenger
- Air
Fewer types is not automatically safer: a cloud backup app has to collect your files to work. Compare like with like.
Look up any of our apps in seconds, or put two labels side by side.
Apps similar to Telegram Messenger
All secure messengers → Who tracks you? A–Z → Apps that collect financial info → Privacy label decoder →
Your Telegram Messenger privacy checklist
Done. You have applied every control the label points to.
True or false?
- Right.Not quite.
False: there is no Data Used to Track You section on Telegram Messenger's label.
- Right.Not quite.
Labels are self-reported by developers. Apple can reject or remove apps that misrepresent practices, but it does not audit each label.
- Right.Not quite.
True: Financial Info appears on its label.
- Right.Not quite.
It is collected and sent; the developer says it is de-identified rather than tied to your account or device.
- Right.Not quite.
Apple's rules require apps to work the same whether or not you allow tracking.