In this article
Telegram offers two home screen widgets: a grid of chat shortcuts, and a list of recent messages. Both are on iOS and Android, both take a minute to set up, and they solve different problems.
The shortcut grid saves taps. The message list saves opening the app at all — which is either the point of it or the reason not to use it, depending on who can see your screen.
What you will be able to do
- check_circle Put the chats you use most on your home screen.
- check_circle Choose between a shortcut grid and a message preview.
- check_circle Decide what is safe to display where other people can see it.
- check_circle Understand why a widget is sometimes a few minutes behind.
Adding one is the platform's own widget flow; the only Telegram-specific part is choosing which chats appear.
widgets Shortcuts or previews
The shortcut widget is a grid of avatars. Tapping one opens that chat directly, skipping the chat list. It shows an unread count and nothing else, which makes it the version you can leave on a screen anybody might glance at.
The preview widget shows the latest message from each chat you picked: sender, a line of text, a thumbnail. It answers the question without opening anything, and it puts that answer on the outside of your phone.
Both are configured after you place them, by tapping the widget and choosing which chats it should hold. Different widgets can hold different sets, so a work group on one screen and family on another is a perfectly reasonable arrangement.
Four uses, and which widget each wants
The choice is almost always about who else can see the screen.
touch_app The chat you open twenty times a day
feed A channel you want to see without reading
lock What ends up on display
autorenew The widget is behind the app
Shortcut grid for getting somewhere, preview widget for not having to. Choose by who can see the screen.
settings Adding one
- Hold an empty part of the home screen Then open the widget picker your phone offers.
- Find Telegram in the list Both widget types appear under it.
- Pick the size The larger sizes hold more chats; the smallest holds a couple.
- Tap the placed widget to choose chats This is the step people miss; a fresh widget has nothing in it yet.
- Keep private conversations out of the preview version Or use the shortcut grid for them.
- Add a second widget if the sets differ Work on one screen, family on another.
This page promotes a few chats onto the home screen. The curriculum step is the other half of the same decision: archiving, auto-archive rules and pinning, so that what is left in the list deserves to be there.
At a glance
- 1Home screen widget
Add chat shortcuts or message previews to your home screen.
- 2Mind who sees it
Previews show messages to anyone looking at your phone.
- 3A little behind
The system refreshes widgets on its own schedule.
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