How to scan a Telegram QR code from your gallery

On Android: Google Photos and Lens

Google's help describes these steps for any photo:

1. Open the Google Photos app.
2. Open the screenshot or photo with the QR code.
3. At the top, tap More, then Google Lens.
4. Lens reads the code and shows the link. Tap it to open Telegram.

Some phones have their own gallery app with a scan or Lens button. If yours does, it works the same way: anything that reads QR codes will show the t.me link.

On iPhone

Apple documents two ways to scan a QR code: the Camera app in Photo mode, and the Scan Code control in Control Center. Both scan through the camera.

So for a code saved in your Photos:

1. Show the image on another screen: a computer, a tablet or a friend's phone. Zoom in so the code fills most of the screen.
2. Open Camera on your iPhone and point it at the code, or tap Scan Code in Control Center.
3. Tap the link that appears at the bottom of the screen. Telegram opens.

If someone sent you the code in a chat, ask them for the link as text instead. It's the same t.me address and you can tap it directly.

Inside Telegram

Telegram's in-app camera on Android and iOS recognises QR codes and opens their links, which is handy for a code on a poster or someone else's screen. It's a camera, though, so a code saved in your gallery still needs one of the methods above.

Joining a group from a QR code

Groups and channels share QR codes in two ways. A public group's code holds its t.me/ username link. A private group's code holds an invite link that an admin turned into a QR code in the app.

1. Scan the code with any of the methods above.
2. Tap the t.me link. Telegram opens a preview of the group.
3. Tap Join. If the link needs admin approval, you'll see a button to send a join request instead, and you're in once an admin approves it.

If Telegram says the link has expired or is invalid, the code was probably made from an invite link with a time or use limit, or one that has been revoked. Only an admin can make a new one. See Telegram link not working.

Make a QR code people can scan

If you're the one sharing the code, a few things make scanning easier:

• Share the link as well as the code. In a chat or a post, people can tap a link; they can't tap a QR code on their own screen.
• Print it large enough and with a white border around it, on a plain background.
• Test it first with two different phones before you print a batch.

The tool on this page starts on a group link with the QR code at the top. Type your public group's username, then download the QR code. For a private group, copy an invite link in Telegram and turn it into a QR code there, or see Telegram group join link. For your own profile, use the Telegram QR code generator.