Telegram is a popular messaging app that allows you to easily connect with friends, family, coworkers, and more. Over time, your contacts list may become cluttered with people you no longer wish to communicate with. Fortunately, Telegram makes it easy to remove and delete contacts from your friends list.
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Why You May Want to Delete Contacts
Here are some common reasons for deleting Telegram contacts:
- Clean up your contacts list: Over time your contacts list can become disorganized and filled with people you no longer talk to. Deleting old contacts helps keep things tidy.
- Stop unwanted communication: You may wish to delete contacts who spam you with frequent messages or unwanted content. Removing them prevents further communication.
- Protect your privacy: Deleting contacts you no longer interact with ensures they no longer have access to your Telegram activity status or when you were last online.
- Remove ex-friends/partners: You may wish to delete the contacts of those you no longer associate with, like ex-friends or ex-partners, to help move on.
How to Delete a Single Telegram Contact
Deleting a single Telegram contact is quick and straightforward:
- On mobile:
- Open your chat with the contact
- Tap the three dots in the top-right corner
- Select ‘Delete’ to confirm
- On desktop:
- Click on the contact name in your chats list
- Click the three dots next to their name
- Choose ‘Delete’
And that’s it! The contact is removed from your Telegram friends list and can no longer message you.
How to Delete Multiple Telegram Contacts
To delete multiple Telegram contacts in one go:
On Android
- Open Telegram settings
- Go to Privacy and Security > Delete Synced Contacts
- Select ‘Delete’ to confirm
This removes all contacts synced from your phone contacts.
On iPhone
- Go to Contacts in Telegram
- Tap ‘Edit’ in the top-right
- Select all contacts you wish to remove
- Tap ‘Delete’ to confirm
On Desktop
Unfortunately you cannot mass delete contacts on Telegram Desktop. You need to delete contacts one by one.
How to Delete All Telegram Contacts
You can also delete your entire Telegram contacts list in one go if you wish.
On Android
- Open Telegram Settings
- Go to Privacy and Security > Delete Synced Contacts
- Select ‘Delete’ to confirm
On iPhone
- Go to Contacts in Telegram
- Tap ‘Edit’ in the top-right
- Tap ‘Select All’
- Then tap ‘Delete’ to confirm
On Desktop
As mentioned above, you cannot mass delete contacts on Telegram Desktop. You would need to manually delete each contact individually.
Ensure Contacts Don’t Reappear
In some cases, even after deleting contacts they may reappear in your Telegram friends list later on.
This is because Telegram automatically syncs contacts from your phone contacts list.
To prevent deleted contacts reappearing:
- Turn off Sync Contacts in Telegram settings
- Also delete the contact from your phone contacts list
Now they should stay deleted in Telegram.
Other Things to Know About Deleting Telegram Contacts
Here are some other key points about removing contacts:
- They can still message you: Deleting a contact only removes them from your friends list. They can still find and message you if they have your number. To fully block them, use Telegram’s blocking feature.
- Delete the chat too: For a full purge, make sure to also delete your chat history with the contact after removing them from your friends list.
- Contacts remain in common groups: Deleting a contact doesn’t remove them from any common Telegram groups you share. You remain visible to each other there.
And that covers the key things you need to know about deleting contacts from your Telegram friends list! With this guide you should now feel comfortable permanently removing contacts you no longer wish to associate with.
