How to Turn Off Telegram Notifications: From One Chat to Total Silence

Telegram notifications are configured on three levels: an individual chat, a category of chats, and the whole account. Most people want the first — silencing one noisy group — and it's the confusion between the levels that keeps a phone buzzing after everything has supposedly been switched off.

The short answer

To silence a specific chat, press and hold it in the chat list and choose to mute it. For full silence, open Settings → Notifications and Sounds and turn notifications off separately for private chats, groups and channels.

Muting doesn't affect delivery: messages still arrive and the counter still grows — the phone simply stays quiet.

One chat, group or channel

1. Find the chat in your list and press and hold it.
2. Choose the mute option.
3. Pick a duration: an hour, a few hours, a couple of days, or forever.

The same thing is available inside the chat: tap the name at the top of the screen and open its notification settings. There you get more control — a separate sound, message preview on or off, and a way to reset the chat to your general settings.

A crossed-out bell next to the name shows the chat is muted. The other person never finds out: notifications are entirely your own side of things.

Groups: keep mentions only

Silencing a busy work group completely is awkward — someone in it may address you directly. A group's notification settings let you keep alerts for mentions and replies only: ordinary messages pass in silence, while anything aimed at you arrives as usual.

It's the most practical mode for large chats, and it usually solves the underlying problem that sends people looking for a way to switch notifications off entirely.

General settings for all chats

The Notifications and Sounds section splits everything into three groups, each configured independently:

• Private chats — conversations with people and bots;
• Groups — every group chat;
• Channels — subscriptions, the most common source of noise.

Within each category you can switch off sound, vibration, the pop-up and the message preview. A separate toggle controls the badge counter on the app icon — if it's the red numbers that bother you, that's the switch to use, not notifications.

What makes noise besides messages

• Calls. They have their own setting: muted chat notifications don't affect incoming calls.
• Stories. Alerts about new stories are switched off separately, in the same section or from a specific contact's menu.
• New contacts. Telegram announces when someone from your phone book joins; that item can be turned off too.
• Reactions. Notifications about reactions to your messages are configured independently of the messages themselves.
• Service messages. Login alerts come from Telegram itself — those are worth keeping, they're a security feature.

An alternative to switching everything off

Total silence isn't always the right answer: urgent messages disappear along with the noise. The middle-ground options tend to work better.

• Different sounds. Give a handful of important chats their own tone and mute the rest — then you know from the sound whether the phone is worth picking up.
• Chat folders. Sort conversations into folders: work, personal, channels. Silencing a whole category beats going through chats one by one.
• Notifications without a preview. The text is hidden but the alert still shows — a compromise for anyone who reads their phone around other people.
• The archive. Channels and bots you don't want to lose but don't want to see go into the archive along with their notifications.

Why the silence doesn't arrive

• Exceptions. The notification settings hold a list of chats with individual rules. The general switch doesn't apply to them — exceptions have to be removed separately, and the same screen can clear the list.
• Several accounts. Notifications arrive from every profile added to the app. If it's the second account making noise, that's the one to configure.
• System settings. Your phone can show notifications on the lock screen or in the shade regardless of the app — check Telegram's permissions in the system settings.
• Another device. A tablet or computer signed into the same account keeps alerting by its own rules: notification settings are local, not account-wide.

Notifications on a computer

The desktop app has its own notifications section: pop-ups, sound, message preview and the taskbar counter are all switched there. Nothing syncs with your phone — the computer has to be configured separately.

One useful trick for work: leave the app running and disable only the pop-ups. Chats stay within reach without pulling you out of a task every five minutes.

Silence on a schedule

Your operating system does this best — Do Not Disturb on Android and Focus modes on iPhone. They can switch on by time and place, and Telegram is added to them in a couple of taps.

Inside the messenger the available options change from version to version, so open the notifications section first and see what your build actually offers.

When it's the work chats

When client conversations and personal messages live in one profile, targeted muting turns into an endless exercise in managing exceptions. The app supports several accounts, and the notifications section has a toggle governing alerts from all profiles at once.

Hence the simple fix: move work into a separate account and silence that account entirely outside working hours. If that needs a second number, the Telegram accounts available on Fire Accs cover it — your personal profile keeps its normal notifications while the work one stays quiet until morning.

Common mistakes

• Muting a chat to avoid marking it read. The read receipt is triggered by opening the chat, not by receiving a notification — the two aren't connected.
• Only configuring the general section. Chats with individual settings keep alerting until they're removed from the exceptions.
• Confusing the badge with notifications. The red numbers on the icon have their own switch.
• Forgetting the second device. A laptop with Telegram open makes noise on its own settings.
• Disabling system notifications wholesale. That takes out the account login alerts too.

FAQ

Will the other person know I muted them?

No. Notification settings are visible only to you and show up nowhere on their side.

Do messages still arrive when sound is off?

Yes, delivery is unchanged: messages appear in the chat and the unread counter keeps climbing.

Can a chat be muted permanently?

Yes, the list of durations includes muting indefinitely. Sound can be restored the same way at any point.

Why do notifications arrive late after I re-enable them?

Usually it's battery optimisation: the phone limits the app's background activity. Check the battery settings for the messenger.

How do I silence notifications for the night only?

A scheduled Do Not Disturb mode is easier — it covers every app at once and needs no manual switching.

Does muting apply across all my devices?

No. Settings are stored separately on the phone and the computer, so each device is configured on its own.

What if notifications don't arrive at all?

Check in order: whether the chat is muted, whether notifications are enabled in the messenger's settings, whether the system permissions are granted, and whether the phone is throttling the app's background activity to save power.

Can I keep notifications for a few chosen contacts only?

Yes: turn notifications off for private chats as a whole, then re-enable them for the people you need through each chat's own settings — they'll land in your exceptions.

The takeaway

The fastest fix is muting the specific chat, and for large groups it's the mentions-only mode. Full silence is configured in the notifications section separately for private chats, groups and channels — just don't forget the exceptions, calls and the app badge, which are usually what keeps making noise after "everything" has been switched off.