In this article
The desktop app is a full Telegram client rather than a companion to your phone. It signs in on its own, keeps its own session, and works whether or not the phone is on.
It also does several things the phone cannot, and those are the reason to use it for anything longer than a reply.
What you will be able to do
- check_circle Choose between the desktop clients available on your platform.
- check_circle Use the keyboard for the things that are slow on a phone.
- check_circle Move files in and out by dragging them.
- check_circle Know what is stored locally, and what to do on a machine that is not yours.
Signing in with the QR code takes seconds, and from then on the desktop is independent of the phone entirely.
desktop_windows Not a mirror
Each Telegram client holds its own session and talks to the servers directly. The desktop does not ask your phone for anything, which is why it keeps working with the phone off and why your whole history appears on it rather than a recent slice.
On macOS there are two separate applications: the cross-platform Telegram Desktop, and a native macOS client. They are both official, they differ in small ways, and either is a reasonable choice — the cross-platform one tends to receive certain settings first, the native one feels more like a Mac application.
Secret Chats are the exception to everything above. They live on the two devices that created them and never appear on a desktop at all, which is a feature rather than a gap.
Four things worth moving to the desktop
Each is something a phone does badly rather than something the desktop does uniquely.
keyboard Anything longer than two sentences
folder Moving files about
admin_panel_settings Running a group or a channel
Use the desktop for writing, files and administration; use the web client for anywhere you will not come back to.
settings Getting set up
- Download from Telegram's own site Or the platform's official store. Both desktop clients on macOS are legitimate; pick one and stay with it.
- Sign in with the QR code The app shows one; scan it from Settings, Devices on your phone.
- Set a local passcode Especially on a shared or work machine. It is separate from the phone's.
- Learn three shortcuts Up arrow to edit, the formatting keys, and search.
- Set the download folder In settings, so files land somewhere you chose.
This page is what the desktop is for. The curriculum step is which one to install: the difference between the native macOS client and the cross-platform app, what each does first, and how to choose between them.
At a glance
- 1Desktop clients
Telegram Desktop on every system, plus the native Mac app.
- 2Keyboard shortcuts
Jump between chats and folders without the mouse.
- 3On a borrowed PC
Use the web version and log out afterwards.
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