Telegram invite link: create it, share it, track it, fix it

A Telegram invite link is a t.me address that lets anyone with Telegram join your group or channel without being added by hand. Admins get one primary link plus extra links that can expire, cap members, ask for approval or carry a name, and each extra link shows who joined through it.

What is a Telegram invite link, and what does one look like?

An invite link is a web address that opens a group or channel inside the Telegram app and offers a Join button. Telegram added invite links for groups on 30 April 2015, so people moving a chat from another app no longer had to be collected by phone number and added one by one. Private chats use a hash after a plus sign, public ones use a username. Any of these counts as an invitation link Telegram will accept:

• https://t.me/+AbCdEf123456 for a private group or channel; the random hash changes on reset
• https://t.me/joinchat/AbCdEf123456, the older private format
• https://t.me/yourgroup for a public chat that has a username
• tg://join?invite=AbCdEf123456, the app-only form

That list doubles as a Telegram invite link example set. The same rules cover a small group, a large supergroup that has outgrown the basic group format and a channel. If you are still choosing between apps, the Telegram and WhatsApp business comparison explains why link-based joining is one of the bigger differences: WhatsApp groups cap out at 1,024 people, while a Telegram group takes 200,000.

How do you create a Telegram group invite link?

Open the group, tap its name to reach the profile, then tap Edit and Invite Links. The primary link sits at the top, ready to copy. Below it, Create a New Link builds an additional one. Telegram describes the path in its February 2021 update post: Profile, Edit, Invite Links, with the menu button turning any link into a QR code. In practice it looks like this:

1. Open the chat profile. Tap the group or channel name at the top. On Desktop, use the three-dot menu and Manage group.
2. Go to Edit, then Invite Links. You need to be the owner or an admin with the right to invite users.
3. Copy the primary link, or tap Create a New Link for an extra one.
4. Set the options. Give it a name, pick an expiry date or a member cap, and switch on Request Admin Approval if you want to screen people.
5. Save and share. The new link appears under Additional Invite Links with a counter of who joined.

The steps for how to create a Telegram channel invite link are the same. A channel without a username is private, so its only way in is the invite link. A channel with a username already has a public address, but you can still create extra links on top of it for tracking. If another person is going to manage invites for you, give them the invite permission when you add them as a Telegram admin, because plain members cannot create links. The same goes for channels that use a linked discussion group: the group needs its own link if you turn on comments under channel posts.

Which kind of link should you make for each job?

Telegram gives you five flavours of link, and picking the wrong one is the root of many later problems. The limits in this table come from the Telegram Bot API reference, which spells out the same options the apps show admins.

Every additional link can also carry a name of up to 32 characters, which only admins see. The subscription row is the one to read twice if you plan to charge: a paid membership bot for Telegram is often built on top of these Stars links rather than handling payments itself.

How do you invite someone to a Telegram group or channel?

You can add a person directly or send them a link. Adding works from the group profile with Add Members, then picking contacts or searching a username. Linking works for everyone else. The direct route fails more often than people expect, because every user controls who may add them under Privacy and Security, then Groups and Channels. When someone has limited it to their contacts, current app versions offer to send that person an invite link instead, so they can decide for themselves.

That is also the answer to how to invite someone to a Telegram channel. Channels let admins add a limited number of their own contacts in the early days, and after that, links and the public username carry the growth. If you need to reach the person first, the guide on how to DM someone on Telegram covers messaging people who are not in your contacts. To see who already joined, use the Telegram members list and export options rather than guessing.

For how to invite friends on Telegram when they do not use the app yet, open Contacts and tap Invite Friends. That sends a download link by SMS or another app, not a group link. Once they have an account, send the group link as a second step. The people you start with set the tone, which is why the advice on building a Telegram community and the wider piece on how to build an online community both start with a few invited regulars, not a crowd.

How do you send the link, and where should you post it?

Copy the link from Invite Links and paste it into any chat, email or page, or tap Share to send it straight to a Telegram contact. To send it in person or on paper, open the link menu and choose QR Code. That covers how to send invite link on Telegram. Where you put it matters more than how you send it. Each place below suits a different audience:

• A printed or on-screen code, using the tips on Telegram QR codes for groups.
• A shareable bundle of several chats at once through Telegram folders and addlist links.
• Your own profile, with wording ideas from these Telegram bio examples.
• The channel description, written with help from channel description examples.
• A message people can find later, following the Telegram pinned messages guide.
• A tappable button under a post, as shown in adding buttons to Telegram messages.
• Public listings, after reading how Telegram channel directories work.

Keep the link on its own line so the app turns it into a preview, and use Telegram message formatting to put a short reason above it. If you promote it through sponsored messages, the Telegram ad examples and image sizes page lists what each format allows. When you send telegram invite links to people you have never spoken with, write a real opener first; the cold message templates and scripts show what that sounds like without pressure.

How long do Telegram invite links last?

A primary link has no expiry. It keeps working until an admin revokes or resets it. An additional link lasts as long as you set it to: until a chosen date, until enough people joined, or forever if you set neither. Telegram introduced those limits in the 23 February 2021 update, saying admins could create links "with a limited duration, number of uses, or both."

One detail surprised us. When we read the Bot API reference while drafting this page, we saw that the member cap is defined as the maximum number of users who can be members "simultaneously" after joining through the link. A cap is not a plain count of clicks. Treat the cap as a seat count, and test it yourself before relying on it for a paid cohort.

Short-lived links suit short-lived things. A link that expires at the end of a Telegram live stream or video chat keeps late arrivals from walking into an empty room, and a one-day link works well for a quiz you run in a Telegram group.

Why does Telegram say "this invite link has expired"?

The message means the link no longer leads anywhere you can join. In Telegram's own API, joining through a dead link returns the error INVITE_HASH_EXPIRED, described on the messages.importChatInvite reference page as "The invite link has expired." A Telegram invite link expired notice usually comes from one of three admin actions: the date passed, the member cap filled, or someone revoked the link. From the outside these can look the same. The table decodes the messages that page lists, so you know whether to wait, ask, or give up.

When the invite link has expired, nothing on your phone will revive it. The only fix for a Telegram expired invite link is a new one from an admin.

What if the link is not working or not opening?

A link that does nothing when tapped is a different problem from an expired one, and it is usually on the device side. Work through these in order:

1. Check the address. Some apps cut a link at the plus sign or add a full stop at the end. Paste it into a note and compare it with the original.
2. Open it in Telegram itself. Paste it into your Saved Messages and tap it there. That skips the in-app browsers of other apps, which often show the t.me web preview instead of opening Telegram.
3. Update or install the app. On a computer without Telegram, the t.me page offers a download and a web version.
4. Look at the page it shows. If the preview has no group name or photo, the link is usually dead rather than broken.
5. Ask for a new one. If none of that works, the Telegram invite link expired problem is on the admin side.

How do you change or reset a group invite link?

To change the primary link, open Invite Links, tap the menu next to it and choose Revoke or Reset. The old address stops working at once, and Telegram generates a new one; the Bot API reference says plainly that "if the primary link is revoked, a new link is automatically generated." Additional links can be edited in place: rename them, push the date, raise the cap, or revoke them one by one. Revoked links stay in the list so you keep their join history.

A Telegram custom invite link, in the sense of choosing the letters, is not something private links allow. The hash is always random. You have two real options. Name the link, so admins see "Instagram bio" or "March webinar" instead of a string. Or make the chat public and pick a username, which gives you a readable t.me/name address but also makes the chat searchable.

Reset the link after a leak, after an admin leaves, and before you transfer group or channel ownership to someone else. If the group is organised with topics in Telegram groups, one link still covers the whole group; topics have their own message links, not their own invite links.

How do you approve new members who join by link?

Switch on Request Admin Approval when you create or edit an additional link. People who open it see a button to send a request instead of Join. Admins get a bar at the top of the chat listing pending requests. Telegram's 3 November 2021 post says admins can view an applicant's public profile pictures and bio before they approve or dismiss the request. That is the whole of "Telegram approve new members" for most groups.

Bots can do the screening for you. A bot with the invite-users right receives each request and can approve or decline it. While a request waits, the bot may message the person for 5 minutes, which is how captcha and question bots work. Bot API 10.1 on 11 June 2026 added join-request queries: a bot assigned to process requests can show a Mini App first and must respond within 10 seconds. The best Telegram group management bots cover the ready-made options. If you want your own flow, look at building a Telegram Mini App or an n8n Telegram bot setup.

Approval works best when people know what they are joining. Pair it with a welcome message for new members and clear group rules, and keep the daily routine from managing a Telegram group or channel.

How do you track who joined through each invite link?

Open Invite Links and tap any additional link. Telegram shows how many people joined through it and lists them by name. The February 2021 post pitched this for working out "where new members came from or which format has been most effective for growth." Bots see the same thing through each link's pending request count and the link a joiner used. That built-in view is the only Telegram invite tracker most groups need.

Use one named link per place you post it. A link in your newsletter, one on a poster and one in a partner's channel turn the join list into a source report. Add those numbers to your Telegram channel analytics and post view counts to see which source brings readers who stay, not just people who tap Join. Named links also run referral schemes: give each member their own link, as in getting referrals through Telegram, or one link per prize entry route when you run a Telegram giveaway.

Keep in mind what the counter does not show. It records joins, not who later left or muted the chat. For audience growth past links, Telegram channel boosts work differently, and Telegram user numbers by country help you choose which region to promote a link in.

Can a bot or a generator make Telegram invite links for you?

Yes, but only a bot that is an admin in your chat. A Telegram invite link bot calls createChatInviteLink with the same options you see in the app: a name, an expiry, a member cap from 1 to 99,999, or approval. The reference adds a limit worth knowing: "Bots can't use invite links generated by other administrators", so a bot only manages the links it made itself. Subscription links for paid channels are also created this way, with a 30-day period and a price between 1 and 10,000 Stars.

A Telegram invite link generator on a website is a different thing. It either asks you to add its bot as an admin or asks for your Telegram login. Never type your login code or password into one; Telegram support never asks for it, and a stolen session gives someone your whole account. If links are part of a paid offer, read the Telegram channel monetization requirements and the ways people make money with Telegram bots before you pick a tool.

One last line on reach. An invite link is permission-friendly by nature, because the person decides whether to tap it. That is why it sits at the centre of messaging and conversational marketing, a sane outreach marketing strategy, and community-led growth. The brand community examples show it working at scale, and the Telegram vs Discord comparison covers the case where a link to a server would suit your people better.

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