Recovery guide
How to Restore Telegram Chats (and When You Can’t)
The short answer
Telegram cloud chats restore themselves: sign in with your number on any device and they reappear. There’s no separate backup to restore. Chats you deleted, Secret Chats, and anything on an account that was deleted or reset can’t be brought back by Telegram. A Desktop export can be opened and read, but not imported into an account.
Can I restore my Telegram chats?
| Situation | Can chats come back? | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| New or reset phone, same account | Yes, automatically | Sign in with your number. Cloud chats sync. |
| Reinstalled the app | Yes, cloud chats | Sign in again. Secret Chats from before are gone. |
| Chat archived or hidden | Yes, it was never deleted | Check the Archived Chats folder and your folder filters. |
| Chat deleted a moment ago | Possibly | Use the brief undo prompt Telegram shows after deleting. |
| Chat deleted earlier | No, not from Telegram | Use an export made before the deletion, if you have one. |
| Secret Chat | No | Secret Chats are tied to one device and one session. |
| Account deleted, reset or self-destructed | No | A new sign-up is a new, empty account. |
How do I restore Telegram on a new phone?
There’s nothing to restore in the usual sense. Install Telegram, sign in with the same phone number, enter your two-step verification password if you set one, and your cloud chats, groups, channels and contacts load from Telegram’s servers. Photos and videos download again as you open them.
If the login code doesn’t arrive, check the Telegram app on another device you’re still signed in on. Codes are often sent there instead of by SMS.
Can I recover deleted Telegram messages?
Not from Telegram. Its 2021 announcement (opens in a new tab) on deleting data says its servers don’t keep information about deleted chats, so once something is deleted it’s gone. Apps show a short undo option right after you delete a chat. After that, the only copies are the ones you made earlier, such as an export, or the other person’s copy if you deleted only on your side.
Why can’t Secret Chats be restored?
Secret Chats use end-to-end encryption between two specific devices. Telegram’s FAQ (opens in a new tab) says they are “not part of the Telegram cloud and can only be accessed on their devices of origin,” and that logging out loses them. That’s the point of the design. It also means no backup, export or tool can bring them back.
How do I open a Telegram export?
- Find the export folder. Telegram Desktop names it after the export date.
- For an HTML export, open the main HTML file in a browser. Chats are listed and linked, and media sits in subfolders.
- For a JSON export, open the data file with a tool you trust that reads Telegram exports, or search it with a text editor.
- Keep the folder structure as it is. Moving files breaks the links between messages and media.
Can I import a Telegram backup into my account?
No. Telegram can import chat history from other messengers such as WhatsApp, Line and KakaoTalk, which it introduced in 2021 (opens in a new tab). It doesn’t document any way to import a Telegram Desktop export back into Telegram, either into the same account or a new one. Be cautious of any service claiming to load your old Telegram history into a new account without explaining how.
What can I restore if the account is gone?
Messages from the old account are not coming back into Telegram. What you can rebuild is your network: contacts, groups, channels and folders on a new account. How much depends on what you recorded beforehand. The steps are in transferring Telegram to a new account, and how to prepare is in Telegram backup vs export.
Frequently asked questions
Where is my Telegram backup stored?
Cloud chats are stored on Telegram’s servers, not in iCloud or Google Drive. Telegram turns off default system backups for its apps. If you made a Desktop export, it’s wherever you chose to save it on your computer.
Can I recover Telegram messages someone else deleted?
If they were deleted for both sides, no. Telegram doesn’t keep them. If you exported the chat before the deletion, your export still contains them.
Do I lose my chats if I log out of Telegram?
You keep all cloud chats. You lose all Secret Chats on that device. Telegram says logging out doesn’t delete the other person’s copy of a Secret Chat unless you clear the history first.
Can I restore Telegram chats from an old phone backup?
Telegram doesn’t restore chats from iCloud or Google device backups. Cloud chats come from Telegram’s servers when you sign in, and Secret Chats don’t survive moving to a restored device.
Sources and references
Related guides
- Export4 min read
How to Export Telegram Chat History with Telegram Desktop
Step-by-step instructions for exporting Telegram chats, media and account data with Telegram Desktop, plus what HTML and JSON exports contain and what they leave out.
- Explainer4 min read
Telegram Backup vs Export: Why a Copy Isn’t a Recovery Plan
Exporting Telegram data gives you a copy to read. Being prepared means you can keep going if the account is gone. Here’s how the two differ and how to cover both.
- Migration5 min read
Transfer Telegram to a New Account: What Moves and What Doesn’t
How to move Telegram to a new phone, a new phone number, or a genuinely separate account, and exactly what you’ll have to rebuild by hand in each case.