How to Add Someone on Telegram: Username, Phone Number or QR Code
Telegram gives you three ways to find a person and one privacy screen that decides how much each of you sees. The same screen explains why some people can't be added to a group at all.
How to add someone on Telegram: if you know their username, type it into the search bar, open their profile and tap Add to Contacts. If you have their number, add it in the Contacts tab with New Contact. Or scan their profile QR code with your camera or Telegram's scanner. Their number stays hidden unless their settings show it.
Those three routes end in the same place, a saved contact you can message, call or invite to groups. What differs is how much each side sees along the way, and that is controlled by a handful of privacy settings most people never open. The same settings are behind the most common complaint in this topic: trying to add someone to a group and being told you can't.
Telegram treats a contact as something you keep, not something the other person accepts. There's no friend request: saving someone adds them to your list, and they don't have to approve it. What they control is what you get to see and do once you've saved them, through their privacy settings.
That design is why the username route exists at all. Telegram's FAQ says you can write to anyone in your phone contacts who has Telegram, and that the other way to reach people is to type their Telegram username into search. Since June 2019, every new chat also shows an Add to Contacts button at the top, so you can save someone who messaged you even if you never learn their number.
Contacts and group members are different lists, and it's worth keeping them apart. A contact is a person you can reach; a group member is a person inside a chat you run. Adding contacts one by one is how a small group starts, but it isn't how a public group grows, since people outside your contact list find it by its public link. The member count on a public group is the number a visitor reads before joining, and it's the number Telegram members adds to.
How do you add someone by username?
A username is the @name a person chose in their Telegram settings. Not everyone sets one, but when they have, it's the cleanest way to connect, because neither of you needs the other's phone number.
1. Tap the search bar at the top of your chat list.
2. Type the username, with or without the @. Telegram shows matching people, groups and channels as you type.
3. Open the right profile and check the name and photo; similar usernames are common, and impersonators exist.
4. Tap Add to Contacts, or the person icon with a plus, depending on your app version. You can edit the name you save them under.
5. Send a message. You don't need to save someone to message them by username.
A t.me link works the same way. If someone shares t.me followed by their username, tapping it opens their profile inside Telegram.
Can you add someone on Telegram without their number?
Yes. Saving a contact by username or from a chat doesn't require their phone number, and it doesn't reveal it to you. Telegram's FAQ says that when someone contacts you by username and you reply, neither side sees the other's number unless their privacy settings allow it.
When you save such a contact, the app may offer to share your own number with them. Telegram's developer documentation describes this as an option on adding a contact: whether to allow the other user to see your phone number. Leave it off if you only want to connect by username.
People Nearby, the old way of exchanging contacts with someone standing next to you, is gone. Pavel Durov announced in September 2024 that Telegram had removed it, citing very low use and problems with bots and scammers. The QR code is the in-person method now.
How do you share your Telegram QR code?
Your profile has a QR code that opens your account when scanned, which is the quickest way to swap contacts face to face. In current versions:
1. Open Settings.
2. Tap the QR code icon next to your name at the top.
3. Show the code on screen, or tap Share to send it as an image.
To add someone from their code, scan it with your phone's camera or with the scanner Telegram shows on the same QR screen, then tap Add to Contacts on the profile that opens.
The QR code points to your username, so you need a username set for it to work. That's also the privacy upside: the person scanning gets your @name and profile, not your phone number.
What happens when you add someone by phone number?
Telegram checks whether that number has an account. If it does, the person appears in your contacts with their profile photo and you can message them. If it doesn't, you can invite them to join.
To do it by hand, open Contacts and tap the add icon, then type their name and number. If you've given Telegram access to your phone's address book, people already saved there who use Telegram appear automatically, at the top of your Contacts.
Their privacy settings still apply. They can stop people from finding them by phone number, in which case a number you saved won't lead to their account. And seeing their number on their profile depends on their Phone Number setting, which by default shows it only to people they have saved as contacts.
Does Telegram notify when you add someone?
Saving someone as a contact doesn't send them a message or an alert, and there's no request for them to accept. They'll know you're there when you message them, or if you chose to share your number when adding them.
The notification people do see is a different one: when someone in their phone's address book joins Telegram, many users get a note that a contact joined. That's triggered by the new account matching a saved number, not by anyone adding anyone, and it can be switched off in the app's notification settings. On iPhone the option is called New Contacts; on Android it reads Contact joined Telegram.
If what you're really asking is whether someone blocked you rather than ignored you, what it looks like to be blocked on Telegram goes through the signs.
Why can't I add someone to a group?
Almost always because of their privacy settings, not yours. Telegram lets each user decide who can add them to groups and channels, and many people limit it to their contacts. If you aren't on their allowed list, the add fails.
The workaround is the one Telegram's design points to: send them the group's invite link in a private chat and let them join themselves. Telegram's FAQ says anyone with Telegram can join a group by following its invite link, and that revoking the link stops it working immediately. How to join a Telegram group covers that side of it.
Two other causes are worth checking. The group's permissions may let only admins add members, in which case you need an admin to do it. And on a public group, nobody needs to be added at all; people join from its link or by searching it, which is why growth there depends on how the group looks to a stranger. The difference between a Telegram group and a channel explains which counts a visitor sees on each. If the visible member count is the part you want to change, Telegram members adds to it from the group's public link, no admin access required.
How do you hide your phone number?
Open Settings, then Privacy and Security, then Phone Number. As of October 2026 the screen has two related choices:
- Who can see my phone number. Set it to Nobody and your number won't show on your profile to anyone who doesn't already have it saved.
- Who can find me by my number. Set it to My Contacts and people who type your number into their phone can't use it to reach your Telegram account unless you saved them first.
The limit of hiding it
Telegram's FAQ notes that people who already know your number and have it in their address book will always see it. The settings stop new people from discovering it; they can't take it back from people who had it. A username is the way to stay reachable without handing it out. Every Telegram service is listed on the Telegram page.
Questions people ask about adding contacts on Telegram
How do I add people on Telegram by username?
Type their username into the search bar, open their profile and tap Add to Contacts. You can also message them directly without saving them first.
Does the other person have to accept when I add them on Telegram?
No. Telegram has no friend requests. Saving someone adds them to your contacts on your side only, and they aren't alerted.
Can someone see my phone number if I add them by username?
Not unless you choose to share it when adding them, or your Phone Number privacy setting lets them see it. By default, your number is visible only to people you saved as contacts.
Why doesn't someone's account show up when I search their number?
They may not use Telegram, or they may have set who can find them by phone number to their contacts only. Ask for their username or QR code instead.
What happened to People Nearby on Telegram?
Telegram removed it in September 2024. Pavel Durov said very few people used it and that it had problems with bots and scammers. Profile QR codes are the in-person alternative.
How do I add someone to a Telegram group if their settings block it?
Send them the group's invite link in a private chat. They can join from the link themselves, which works regardless of who is allowed to add them.
Keep reading
- Telegram members — Contacts are who you can reach; Telegram members adds to the member count a visitor sees on a public group.
- How to join a Telegram group — Public groups, private invites and why a link stops working.
- Telegram group vs channel — Who can post, who can be seen and the two numbers a visitor reads.
- What it looks like to be blocked on Telegram — The four quiet signs, and the test that settles it.