As a frequent Telegram user, you may want to keep some of your messages hidden from view without permanently deleting them. You can do that quite easily if you’re worried someone may accidentally catch a glimpse of your screen while you’re on Telegram, possibly seeing messages they aren’t supposed to. Here’s how to safely tuck them away.
1. Hide Telegram Chats by Archiving Them
The easiest way to hide texts from view in Telegram without deleting them is to achieve them, although the process requires a few extra steps to complete. Follow the instructions below to do so on both mobile and PC.
Open the Telegram mobile app (Android | iOS) and locate the convo you wish to archive, but don’t tap on it.Long-press it until you see a green checkmark appear next to the contact’s profile picture. A few buttons will show up in the upper-right corner as well.
Select the “Archive” icon.On PC, you’ll need to right-click on the conversation on the right side of the display and select the “Archive” option.
How to Hide “Archived Chats” From View
Your chat thread will be taken to the “Archived Chats” folder, which is displayed at the top of your chats. But that’s not what you want, so you’ll need to hide this folder from view as well.
On your mobile device, long-tap on the “Archived Chats” folder and select the “Hide from Chat List” option at the bottom.
If you’re using Telegram on your PC, right-click on the “Archive Chats” folder and select “Move to main menu.”
How to Mute Conversations
With your “Archived Chats” folder finally hidden from view in the chat list area, if the other party decides to send you a new message, the conversation will pop up again in your regular chat feed. To ensure your conversation remains hidden, mute the conversation in question by following the below instructions.
Find your “Archived Chats” folder. If you’ve hidden it from view on your mobile, swipe from the top of the app and release to bring back the folder.
Long-tap on the conversation in question and select the “Sound” icon at the top.
Select “Disable” to stop worrying the conversation will resurface in the app’s main area.On PC, tap on the hamburger menu in the upper-left corner.
Select “Archived chats” at the top to get the conversation you hid.
Select the chat in question, right-click on it and opt for the “Mute Notifications” option.
Hit “Mute forever” or “Mute for…” and select a time frame that suits your needs.
2. Hide Telegram Chats in a New Folder
Follow the steps below to hide full Telegram chats by creating a new chat folder and moving them to that location.
On your mobile device, tap on the hamburger menu in the upper-left corner.
Go to “Settings.”
Select the “Chat Folders” option.
Tap on the “Create New Folder” button.
Name your folder, then add your chats by pressing the “Add Chats” button.
The new chat folder will appear at the top in the form of a new tab. Press it to go to your new folder and access the full conversations.
If you wish to remove any chats, you’ll have to go back to “Chat Folders” and use the “Remove chats” button to get rid of the unwanted conversations.On PC, press on the hamburger menu in the upper-left corner.
Select “Settings.”
Select “Folders.”
Click on “Create new folder.”
Name your folder and start adding chats by clicking on the “Add chats” button.
Your new folder will be in the left sidebar underneath “All chats,” where all of your other conversations are housed.
The only problem with this method is that the original chat thread will remain in the main chat area. Deleting them means erasing the conversation thread from everywhere. If you want the active thread only to exist in the new folder, you’ll need to take some extra steps:
- Archive the original convo.Hide the “Archive chats” folder from showing up in the main chat.Mute the conversation in question.
Your conversation will now be visible only via the folder you’ve created in the main chat.
3. Hide Telegram Conversations by Sending Them to Saved Messages
This option comes in handy if you wish to save select Telegram messages while deleting the remaining chat thread from view. If you’re looking to save a lot of messages, though, the steps may be quite tedious, so we suggest using one of the methods listed above.
Go to a chat in Telegram on your mobile device and identify a message you wish to save.Long-press on it and select “Forward.”
Select “Saved Messages” at the top.
The message in question will now appear in this specific folder.On PC, right-click on a message and select “Forward.”
Click on “Saved Messages” to send the text to that folder.
Note: unlike the archiving method, you won’t be able to hide the “Saved Messages” folder from view. You can delete the folder, but that would mean losing your saved messages.
Bonus: Export Your Chat History
If you simply want a snapshot of a part of a conversation with a person, you can export your chat history with them. Proceed to delete the chat from Telegram, and simply hold onto the resulting .html or .pdf files.
Check out our previous tutorial that walks you through the steps of exporting individual Telegram chats or all of them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Image credit: telegram application icon on smartphone screen close-up by 123RF. All screenshots by Alexandra Arici
If I archive a chat on PC, will it appear as archived in the mobile app as well?
Yes. If you archive a chat on PC, it will show up in the “Archived Chats” folder on mobile and vice versa. However, to hide the folder from view, you’ll have to do so on both mobile and desktop. If you’re looking to bring back “Archived Chats” to the chat list, you’ll need to do it twice.
Can I save Secret Chats in Telegram without deleting them?
Sure you can, although you’ll have to disable the timer, after which they are set to self-destruct. You won’t be able to save them to “Saved Messages,” though, because the “Forward” option is disabled for these types of texts. You can, however, archive Secrets Chats and add them to folders you’ve created manually. In fact, once you select a particular chat thread to be added to the new folder, Telegram will automatically add any Secret Chats you might have initiated with the person in question (on mobile, where the option is available).
Can I hide a folder I’ve created from the app’s main area?
Unfortunately, that’s not possible. However, your conversations will be hidden under the group tab, so no one will know at a glance which chats you stashed there. It’s a pretty effective way to keep a chat hidden in plain sight.
Alexandra is passionate about mobile tech and can be often found fiddling with a smartphone from some obscure company. She kick-started her career in tech journalism in 2013, after working a few years as a middle-school teacher. Constantly driven by curiosity, Alexandra likes to know how things work and to share that knowledge with everyone.
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