Telegram Notifications at Night: Do Not Disturb and Mutes

Two systems decide whether you are woken

At night, Telegram notifications pass through two filters: Telegram's own mute settings, and the phone's Do Not Disturb or Focus mode. Problems come from the two overlapping in ways you did not intend:

Let the phone handle the schedule

Telegram mutes chats for a period, but it has no daily quiet hours of its own. A nightly schedule is the phone's job:

• Android: Do Not Disturb, with a schedule such as Bedtime. Under its exceptions, allow the people or apps that may still reach you.
• iPhone: a Sleep or Do Not Disturb Focus with a schedule. Under allowed notifications, choose the people or apps that may get through.

Whatever you allow at the phone level is still filtered by Telegram. A chat muted in Telegram stays silent, even if Telegram itself is allowed through Do Not Disturb.

Quiet the noisy chats in Telegram

If you allow Telegram through at night so that close contacts can reach you, mute what should not:

1. Mute busy groups and channels, either for good or for a set time. Muting is saved to your account, so it applies on every device.
2. For a whole chat type, turn off notifications for Groups or Channels in Notifications, and add the few important ones back as Exceptions. See notification exceptions.
3. Leave private chats on, so a message from a person can still get through.

Calls at night

Depending on the phone, Do Not Disturb may treat Telegram calls as calls or as app notifications, so they can behave differently from normal phone calls. If you do not want calls from everyone, limit who can call you in Telegram's Privacy and Security settings rather than relying on Do Not Disturb alone. If you are expecting an important call, check that your Do Not Disturb exceptions allow calls from that person.

Notifications that are silent in the day too are a different problem; see notifications with no sound. Next step: photos or videos won't download.