Bot API 10.0

Today's update reshapes how bots communicate on Telegram – unlocking cooperative multi-bot agentic flows, seamless integration in any chat, granular access controls and more.

Guest Mode and Agentic Flows
• Introduced guest mode, allowing bots to easily participate in any chat without joining it.
• Users can summon up to 3 guest bots per message – unlocking complex agentic flows in any chat. Guest bots receive only relevant messages and can inspect caller context or send replies.
• Bots can now message each other by username if they enable bot-to-bot communication.
• Account automation via Business Bots no longer requires a Premium subscription.
• Business Bots can now interact with other bots on behalf of the user.

Chat Management
• Admin bots can now remove individual message reactions, clear all recent reactions from a user or restrict them from issuing more.
• The list of chat admins can now optionally return bot administrators.

Live Photos
• Introduced support for live photos – images enhanced with short built-in motion and sound.
• Bots can now detect, download and send live photos to any chat, including as paid media.

Polls
• Bots can now detect and attach media in both polls and individual poll options.
• Polls can now be limited to existing chat members or voters from specific countries.

General
• Users can now set a granular access whitelist for their bot via @BotFather, while Manager Bots can set one via the API.
• Bots can now fetch recent messages from the channel pinned to a user's profile.

• And more, see the full changelog for details:

https://core.telegram.org/bots/api-changelog#may-8-2026

AI Agents and Bot-to-Bot Communication

Historically, bot-to-bot interaction was restricted on Telegram to prevent infinite message loops.

Starting today, in specific contexts, Bot-to-Bot communication is allowed – unlocking complex agentic flows and AI-powered use cases.

Out of the box, this feature will work in groups and via business mode. To start using it, simply enable the Bot-to-Bot Communication Mode for your bot via @BotFather.

You can reference the full documentation here.

Bot API 9.6

Managed Bots
• Manager bots are used to bootstrap and control other bots on behalf of their owners – easily orchestrating any number of AI agents, Business Accounts and custom tools.
• Out of the box, manager bots can prompt users to create a bot in one tap and easily fetch their token to start piloting them.

Poll Revolution
• Polls now support multiple correct answers, re-issuing votes, hidden results and richly formatted descriptions.
• Poll options now have persistent ids and can be shuffled or dynamically added by users.
• Bots can now additionally reply to a specific poll option.

General
• Mini Apps can now natively request users, chats and managed bots in one tap via prepared keyboard buttons.
• Expanded support for date and time entities in checklists, quotes and gift texts.

• And more, see the full changelog for details:

https://core.telegram.org/bots/api-changelog#april-3-2026

Bot API 9.5

Date and Time Formatting
• Introduced date and time formatting, allowing bots to show a formatted date and time to the user.
• Out-of-the-box support for relative times, localized weekdays and more.

Custom Member Tags
• Introduced support for custom group member tags.
• Bots can now detect member tags, assign them, or allow admins to manage them.

Message Streaming
• With today's update, every bot on Telegram can freely use the message streaming feature.

• And more, see the full changelog for details:

https://core.telegram.org/bots/api-changelog#march-1-2026

Bot API 9.4

Custom Emoji and Buttons
• Bots can now use custom emoji in outgoing messages if their owner has Telegram Premium.
• Keyboard and inline buttons now support background colors and custom emoji.

Private Chat Topics
• Bots can now create new topics in 1-on-1 chats.
• Via the BotFather Mini App, bot owners can also prevent users from creating or deleting topics.

Profile Info
• Bots can now set and remove their own profile pic.
• User profile audios are now visible to bots.

Gifts
• Unique gifts now include model rarity information.
• Out-of-the-box support for detecting gifts burned after crafting.

General
• Bots now handle service messages when a chat owner leaves or ownership changes.
• Video objects now include a list of available qualities.

• And more, see the full changelog for details:

https://core.telegram.org/bots/api-changelog#february-9-2026

Bot API 9.3

AI Revolution
This release comes with new tools and native interfaces to easily integrate modern LLMs and AI features.

• Introduced topics in 1-on-1 chats, letting users organize bot chats into easily accessible threads.
• Topics in private chats support all send and forward methods, including chat actions.
• Out of the box, bots can edit or delete private chat topics, manage pinned messages and more.
• Allowed bots to stream live responses as they're generated.

Gifts
• Improved gifts — with support for blockchain, multiple currencies, backgrounds and more.
• Bots can now list all gifts owned by users and chats with detailed filtering options.
• Added detailed information about the colors tied to a gift or applied to a chat.

Profiles and Private Chats
• Business bots can now repost stories across accounts they manage.
• Copied and forwarded messages can now show effects in private chats.
• Bots can now see the rating of users who contact them.

General
• Allowed bots to hide their main @username if they set an upgraded one via Fragment.
• Bots can now restrict channel admins from removing members.

• And more, see the full changelog for details:

https://core.telegram.org/bots/api-changelog#december-31-2025

Happy Holidays from the Telegram Team

Bot API 9.2

Direct Messages in Channels
• Introduced Channel Direct Messages Chats, allowing bots to send and detect Direct Messages in channels they manage.
• Bots can now identify direct messages chats and their parent channel.
• Bots now additionally receive topic metadata for direct messages.

Suggested Posts
• Introduced full support for Suggested Posts in channels, unlocking granular automations via bots with sufficient rights.
• Bots can now detect, send, approve and decline suggested posts, with detailed price and date options.
• All relevant service messages are supported – including approvals, errors, declines, successful payments and refunds.

Checklists
• Bots can now reply directly to individual checklist tasks.

Gifts
• Gifts can now expose their publisher chat for attribution.

• And more, see the full changelog for details:

https://core.telegram.org/bots/api-changelog#august-15-2025

Official @BotFather Mini App

@BotFather now hosts a native mini app that developers can use to create new bots or manage existing ones in a streamlined interface.

The previous flow remains unchanged – the mini app simply offers an alternative way to seamlessly access the same functionality.

The mini app is especially useful on mobile devices – allowing you to easily access your bot token, toggle settings or edit your bot in a few taps.

Notice to Developers

Due to a minor internal technical issue that occurred today from 18:10 to 19:35 UTC, certain bots may have been unable to reliably load the list of purchasable Telegram Gifts.

We have promptly resolved the issue and apologize for any inconvenience caused.

Bot API 9.1

Checklists
• Introduced support for native checklists.
• Out of the box, business bots can create and edit checklists.
• Bots can now receive checklists and detect progress via service messages.

Gifts, Stars and More
• Improved gifts with details on their last sale and transfer cooldown.
• Bots can now easily check their Telegram Star balance.
• Mini Apps can now hide the on-screen keyboard.
• Unlocked more poll options, allowing up to 12.

• And more, see the full changelog for details:

https://core.telegram.org/bots/api-changelog#july-3-2025

Bot API 9.0

Announcing the largest Bot API update of 2025 (so far )

Telegram Business 2.0
• Bots can now fully customize the branding of Business Accounts – managing their name, username, bio and profile pictures.
• Introduced support for managing Paid Gifts , including conversions, transfers and upgrades.
• Bots can now check Telegram Star balances and transfer Stars from managed businesses.
• Bots can now easily mark Business messages as read or delete them.
• Added extensive support for managing stories on Business accounts – featuring photos, videos and interactive elements like links, locations, reactions, weather info and even Gifts.
• All stories posted by bots can also be edited or deleted.
• Introduced granular Business permissions, giving users even finer control over connected bots.

Mini App Storage
• Mini Apps can now store data locally on the user's device.
• Sensitive tokens can be safely persisted in a specialized secure storage.

Telegram Gifts
• Introduced support for unique Gifts – with detailed model, symbol and backdrop info.
• Bots can also check which Gift types are accepted by users and chats.

Paid Messages
• Bots can now track how many Stars users paid to send a message.
• This includes out-of-the-box support for paid messages in both groups and business accounts.

Telegram Premium
• Bots can now gift a Telegram Premium subscription paid in Stars.

• And more, see the full changelog for details:

https://core.telegram.org/bots/api-changelog#april-11-2025

Bot API 8.3

Video Improvements
• Introduced support for custom covers and start timestamps for videos.
• Out of the box, bots can specify a cover and start timestamp when sending, editing and forwarding videos — including in albums and paid media.

Gifts and Reactions
• Bots can now send gifts to channels, in addition to regular users.
• Added support for transactions with chats.
• Bots can now add reactions to most service messages.

Similar Bots
• A list of similar bots will now appear in bot profiles, helping users discover other bots they may find interesting.

• And more, see the full changelog for details:

https://core.telegram.org/bots/api-changelog#february-12-2025

Verification from Third Parties and Bot API 8.2

With today's update, official Bots and Mini Apps can verify users and chats on behalf of other organizations, assigning them a custom badge and a brief description.

This decentralized verification platform proactively prevents spam and misinformation – setting a new safety standard for social platforms

Additionally, Bot API 8.2 comes with out-of-the-box support for Collectible Gifts – allowing Bots and Mini Apps to prepay for Gift Upgrades.

Check out the full Bot API 8.2 changelog for more details.

Happy Holidays from the Telegram Team

Affiliate Programs and Bot API 8.1

Starting today, Bot and Mini App developers can launch their own Affiliate Programs, and specify how much of their future Star revenue from referred users they are willing to share with those who invited them.

It only takes a few taps to set up an Affiliate Program — you can find out more in our dedicated guide.

With Bot API 8.1, all bots can also detect commissions and affiliate transactions out of the box, see the full changelog for details.

Warning: As of December 1 2024, messages with video posted in big communities can be delayed by the server until the respective video is reencoded. Read more here.

Bot API 8.0

Announcing the largest update in the history of Mini Apps

Full-Screen Mode
• Mini Apps can now use the entire screen – allowing them to host immersive games with expanded interfaces.

Geolocation and Motion Tracking
• Mini Apps can now prompt users for Geolocation Access, allowing them to build virtually any location-based service.
• Likewise, Mini Apps can request acceleration, orientation and rotation data from devices in real time.

Paid Subscriptions
• Subscriptions Plans powered by Telegram Stars are now available to all Bots and Mini Apps.
• Apps can accept recurring payments – or cancel them at any time.

Gifts for Stars
• Bots and Mini Apps can now use star proceeds to send Paid Gifts to users with a custom caption.

Home Screen Shortcuts
• Mini apps can now be accessed via direct shortcuts added to the home screen of mobile devices.

Emoji Statuses
• Mini Apps can now let users pick a new emoji status with a native dialog – or request access to later sync it with in-game badges, third-party APIs and more.

Sharing and Downloading Media
• Mini Apps can now let users share media directly to any chat – with granular selection parameters.
• Introduced a native popup to download files from an App.

Customizable Loading Screen
• The loading screen of mini apps can now be customized in @Botfather – adding your own logo and brand colors.

Hardware-specific Optimizations
• Mini Apps on Android now receive basic hardware info – enabling smoother usage and gaming experiences for users.

• And so much more, see our blog for high-quality demos and the full changelog for details:

https://core.telegram.org/bots/api-changelog#november-17-2024

Warning: Starting December 1, 2024 messages with video posted in big communities can be delayed by the server until the respective video is reencoded. Read more here.

Bot API 7.11

• Bots can now participate in revenue sharing from Telegram Ads – unlocking a new way to help support their development.
• Introduced Paid Broadcasts – allowing bots to broadcast up to 1000 messages per second.

• Bots can now send and receive chat-specific hashtags that only show posts and stories from a specific chat when tapped.
• Added a new inline button to let users copy text in one tap.
• Bots can now add media to existing text messages.

• And more, see the full changelog for details:

https://core.telegram.org/bots/api-changelog#october-31-2024

Warning: Starting December 1, 2024 messages with video posted in big communities can be delayed by the server until the respective video is reencoded. Read more here.

Bot API 7.10

• Introduced support for Telegram Star Giveaways .
• Bots now receive updates when users purchase paid media.
• Mini Apps can now display and control a secondary button at the bottom of their interface.
• The bottom bar color of Mini Apps can now be customized.

• And more, see the full changelog for details:

https://core.telegram.org/bots/api-changelog#september-6-2024

Standard Bot Privacy Policy

As previously announced, all Bots and Mini Apps must provide a Privacy Policy detailing how they handle user data.

To facilitate this process, we published a Standard Privacy Policy which applies by default to all Bots and Mini Apps that don't have their own. This policy broadly covers the data handling practices of most apps on Telegram, simplifying compliance for developers and adding transparency for users.

Alternatively, you can now set up your own Privacy Policy directly on @BotFather – allowing users to access it from a dedicated button in your Mini App's settings menu.

Please ensure our Standard Policy suits your needs – and publish your own via @BotFather if it does not.

For more details, please reference Section 4 of the Bot Developer Terms.

Bot API 7.9

• Introduced Star Subscriptions – allowing bots to manage subscription-based invite links.
• Bots can now send Paid Media to any chat, including on behalf of Business Accounts.
• Added support for Super Channels – where admins may post as their own profiles or channels.

• And more, see the full changelog for details:

https://core.telegram.org/bots/api-changelog#august-14-2024

Today's update introduces a new Mini App Store – to highlight successful Mini Apps that utilize Stars , making them easily accessible to the more than 500 million users who interact with mini apps each month (out of Telegram's 950 million monthly users).

If your bot is a mini app, you can add a prominent Launch app button as well as demo videos and screenshots to the bot’s profile. To do this, go to @BotFather and set up your bot's Main Mini App.