There are over 500 million Telegram users around the world. In order to prevent your private information from going out unnecessarily, without your permission, there are privacy setups you can put in place to protect your privacy from going out without your express permission. Also check how to stop people from adding you to fraudulent Telegram groups.
How to configure your Telegram privacy settings
To configure your settings to your needs, go through Telegram’s Privacy settings section and change the default set values. Carefully follow the process highlighted below:
- Phone Number: who can see my phone number, set to ‘Nobody’.
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Phone Number: who can find me by my number, select ‘My Contacts’.
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Last Seen & Online: who can see my timestamp, select ‘Nobody’.
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Profile photo: who can see my profile photo, select ‘My Contacts’.
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Calls: who can call me, choose ‘My Contacts’ (or Nobody, if you prefer).
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Calls: Peer-to-peer: choose ‘my contacts’ (or Nobody, if you prefer not to share your IP address with chat partners).
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Forwarded Messages: who can add a link to my account when forwarding my messages, set to ‘My Contacts’.
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Groups & Channels: who can add me to groups, choose ‘My Contacts’.
Additionally, you can have a look at the Telegram’s privacy settings and data storage and remove every personal information you do not want to have outside.
If, however, you are an extremely security conscious person, you can follow the steps below to tighten your security the more.
- Download and use a VPN to hide your IP address (although Telegram can disclose this at the request of law enforcement agencies, for example).
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Consider using better suited apps like Signal or Threema, as the both of them secure and protect private communications.
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You can make use of a different phone number to sign in to Telegram, or even a virtual phone number instead of a real mobile number. However, make sure not to use a one-time number or else someone else could access your account.
Conclusion
No matter how sophisticating the security of an app may be, it has been proven many times that security on the internet is not absolutely. We advise that you always place your apps on pin code lock as your first line of defence. This way, people will find it hard to gain access to your phone.
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