Telegram's Main Screens: Chats, Contacts, Settings by Device

Same account, three different layouts

Your chats, contacts and settings are the same on every device, because they live in your account. The way into them is not. Telegram for Android, the iPhone app and Telegram Desktop each arrange the first screen differently, and a guide written for one device can send you looking for a button that is somewhere else on yours. This step shows where the four main places are on each.

You want	Android	iPhone	Computer
Your chat list	Chats tab	Chats tab	Left column, always open
Contacts	Contacts tab	Contacts tab	Main menu (☰) › Contacts
Settings	Settings tab	Settings tab	Main menu (☰) › Settings
Your own profile	Profile tab	Settings tab, at the top	Main menu (☰) › My Profile

Throughout this site, paths are written per device for exactly this reason: on a computer you start from the Main menu (☰), on a phone you start from a tab at the bottom.

Android: four tabs at the bottom

Recent versions of Telegram for Android put a tab bar at the bottom with Chats, Contacts, Settings and Profile. Older versions, and many older guides, use a ☰ menu at the top left instead; if you have a tab bar, everything those guides put in the ☰ menu is now in the Settings or Profile tab.

Chats

The screen you see on opening. Search sits at the top, and the round button at the bottom right starts a new message, group or channel.

Two chats are always worth knowing: Saved Messages, a private chat with yourself for notes and files, and the verified chat named Telegram, which is where your login codes arrive. Never pass those codes on.

Contacts

The people you know who use Telegram, sorted by when they were last online, with Invite Friends for those who do not. The button at the bottom right adds a contact by phone number. Finding your friends covers this in detail.

Profile

How you look to others: photo, name, your number (shown only to the people your privacy settings allow), and the stories you keep on your profile. The QR icon at the top left shows a code others can scan to find you.

The Settings tab holds everything else: Account, Privacy and Security, Notifications, Data and Storage, Devices, Language and the Help group with Ask a Question.

iPhone: tabs, with Settings as the hub

The iPhone app also has a tab bar at the bottom, with Contacts, Chats and Settings. A Calls tab appears if you switch on Show Calls Tab. Your profile is reached from the top of the Settings tab, under My Profile.

Two names differ from Android and are worth remembering when you follow a guide: the theme options are under Appearance, and some menu labels use different capital letters. The meaning is the same.

Computer: chat list on the left, menu behind ☰

Telegram Desktop shows your chat list in a column on the left and the open chat on the right. There is no tab bar. Everything else is behind the Main menu (☰) at the top left of the chat list:

• My Profile, your own profile.
• New Group and New Channel.
• Contacts and Calls.
• Settings, where the sections match the phone: Notifications and Sounds, Privacy and Security, Chat Settings, Advanced and more.
• Night Mode, a quick switch to the dark theme.

On a Mac you may have the native Telegram for macOS app instead, which has its own layout with Settings opened from the menu bar; the two Mac apps explains the difference.

When a guide's button is not where it says

1. Check which device the path was written for. A ☰ path on a phone with tabs usually means the Settings tab.
2. Search in Settings. On Android and iPhone the Settings screen has a search icon at the top; type the name of the option.
3. Check your version. Menus move between versions; the version number is printed at the bottom of Settings on phones.

Next step: adding and switching accounts on your phone.