In this article
Telegram runs in a browser with nothing installed. You open web.telegram.org, scan a code with your phone, and your account is there — the same chats, the same history, a full session of its own.
There are two official web clients rather than one, and the reason the web version exists at all is the case where installing something is the wrong move.
What you will be able to do
- check_circle Sign in to Telegram in a browser with a QR code.
- check_circle Choose between the two official web clients.
- check_circle Install it as an app-like window if you use it often.
- check_circle Leave a borrowed computer without leaving a session behind.
Signing in is a QR code on the screen and the camera in Settings, Devices on the phone.
public Two clients, one account
Telegram ships two web clients, reachable as separate paths under web.telegram.org. They came out of a public contest and Telegram kept both rather than picking a winner, so they differ in feel — one leans towards a traditional desktop layout, the other towards animation and gestures — while talking to the same account and showing the same chats.
There is no wrong choice and no migration cost. Open both, use whichever you prefer, and switch whenever you like; nothing is stored in one that the other cannot see.
Either can be installed from the browser as its own window, with a dock or taskbar icon and a badge, which is most of what the desktop app gives you without an installer.
Four reasons to be in a browser
Three are good ones. The fourth is the limit that decides when you need the real app.
lock A borrowed or public machine
work A machine you are not allowed to change
switch_account Keeping accounts apart
cancel The one real gap
Use the web client where installing would be wrong — and end the session from your phone when you walk away.
settings Getting in
- Go to web.telegram.org Type it rather than following a search result; a fake sign-in page is the obvious attack here.
- Open Settings, Devices on your phone And choose to link a desktop device.
- Scan the code on the screen The browser signs in immediately.
- Try both clients They are separate paths on the same address; use whichever suits you.
- Install it from the address bar if you use it daily It then behaves like an application window.
- Log out properly when you leave a machine And check Devices from your phone afterwards.
This page is getting in and getting out. The curriculum step goes through the clients properly: what differs between them, the browser security considerations of running a messenger in a tab, and when the installed app is the right answer instead.
At a glance
- 1Sign in by QR
Open web.telegram.org and scan with your phone.
- 2Two web clients
Both web versions are official; switch if one misbehaves.
- 3Sign out
Closing the tab is not logging out; end the session in Devices.
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