What Happens When You Mute Someone on Telegram

When you mute someone on Telegram, you stop getting notifications for that chat, and nothing else changes. Their messages still arrive, they are not told, and they can still see when you read what they sent. Muting is about your phone staying quiet, not about the other person.

That short answer covers a private chat. "Mute" also means slightly different things for groups, stories, group admins and voice chats, so this guide goes through each one.

Muting a person's chat

This is what most people mean: you open the chat with someone and choose to mute it.

What changes for you

• No sound, banner or vibration for new messages from that chat, for as long as the mute lasts.
• The unread badge looks different. On most apps a muted chat's unread count is shown in grey instead of the usual colour, so you can tell at a glance which chats you have silenced.
• The app icon count may ignore it. Telegram has a setting for whether muted chats count towards the number on the app icon. If muted chats still push that number up, look in the notification settings for the unread counter options.
• Everything else is normal. The chat stays in your list, keeps its history, and you can read and reply as usual.

What does not change for them

• They get no notice. Telegram does not send the other person any message or signal that they were muted.
• Their messages are delivered. Muting is not blocking. Everything they send reaches your device.
• Read receipts still work. When you open the chat, their messages get the second tick as normal. Our guide on one tick and two ticks explains what each means.
• Your online status is unaffected. Your last seen and online status follow your privacy settings, not your mute settings.

So someone cannot find out from Telegram that you muted them. The only clue they could notice is indirect: you might reply later than you used to.

How long a mute lasts

When you mute a chat, Telegram usually offers several choices:

• A set period, such as an hour, a few hours or a couple of days. The chat unmutes on its own when the time runs out.
• A custom duration on recent versions, where you pick the length yourself.
• Forever, until you unmute it manually.
• Disable sound only, which keeps the notification banner but makes it silent. This suits a chat you want to see but not hear.

The labels and order vary between Android, iPhone, Desktop and Web, but the options are similar.

How to mute a chat

1. Open the chat with the person.
2. Tap their name or photo at the top to open their profile.
3. Tap the mute or notifications button, which usually shows a bell.
4. Choose how long to mute for, or choose to turn off sound only.

On most phones you can also long-press or swipe the chat in your chat list to find a mute option, and on Desktop you can right-click the chat. To undo it, repeat the steps and choose unmute. For a wider tour of chat list controls, see how to pin, mute and archive Telegram chats.

Muting a group

Muting a group works the same way as muting a person, with one important difference: you are still notified when someone mentions you or replies to one of your messages. Telegram's FAQ describes this behaviour. It means you can mute a busy group and still hear about the messages that are actually addressed to you.

If even mentions and replies are too much, check the group's notification options. Recent versions let you adjust whether mentions and reactions in muted chats notify you.

Can I mute one member of a group?

Not as a regular member, at least not in a way that silences only that person's messages. Muting works on a whole chat. Telegram's bug tracker has reports from people who muted a single member and still got notifications for that person's messages, and the reply was that this is how it works for now.

What you can do instead:

• Mute the whole group and rely on mentions and replies to reach you.
• Block the person. Blocking stops them messaging you privately. In groups you share, how their messages are shown can vary by app version. See block and restrict on Telegram for what blocking does and does not do.
• Report them to the group's admins if they are breaking the rules.

Muting all chats of one type at once

If you want to quiet everything rather than one chat, use Telegram's notification settings instead of muting chats one by one.

1. Open Settings and go to Notifications and Sounds.
2. Find the sections for private chats, groups and channels.
3. Turn notifications off for a whole type, such as all groups.
4. Add exceptions for the chats you still want to hear from.

This is often the better approach for people in many busy groups. You switch all groups off once, then make exceptions for the two or three that matter. New groups you join later are silent automatically, so you do not have to remember to mute each one.

Per-chat settings take priority over the general ones. A chat you set to always notify keeps notifying even if its type is switched off, and a chat you muted stays muted even if the type is switched on. If a chat behaves unexpectedly, check its own notification setting first, then the exceptions list.

Muting a channel

Muting a channel silences new post notifications. You stay subscribed, posts keep arriving, and the channel's admins are not told. Many people mute busy channels and read them when they have time. Muting does not affect the channel's view counts in any special way: a view is counted when a post is actually seen, muted or not.

If you also want a channel out of sight, archive it. A muted chat that you archive stays in the archive when new posts arrive, while an unmuted archived chat jumps back to the main list. That small rule is why people pair mute with archive.

Muting someone's stories

Stories are separate from messages. If you do not want to see a contact's stories at the top of your chat list, you can hide them.

1. Long-press their story circle at the top of the chat list, or open their profile.
2. Choose the option to hide their stories.

Their stories move to a hidden list, which you can still open if you want. They are not notified. Muting their chat does not hide their stories, and hiding their stories does not mute their chat; the two are independent. For more on stories, see Telegram stories explained.

When an admin "mutes" a member

In group moderation, "mute" usually means something else: an admin stops a member from sending messages. Telegram calls this restricting a member. The admin removes the member's permission to send messages, either for a set time or until they lift it.

This kind of mute is visible to the member. They see that they cannot send messages in that group, and often the group shows a notice where the message box would be. It is very different from muting a chat on your own phone, which is invisible.

Admins use it as a step between a warning and a ban. See slow mode and member restrictions for how to set it up.

Muting in a voice chat or live stream

In a group voice chat or live stream, "mute" is about microphones:

• Muting yourself turns your microphone off. Others see you as muted.
• An admin muting you turns your microphone off and can stop you unmuting. You see that an admin muted you.
• Muting someone only for yourself. Some apps let you lower or mute another participant's volume on your own device. Only you are affected.

The exact controls differ slightly between apps.

Mute, archive, block or restrict: which to use

Each tool solves a different problem.

• Mute when the person or group is fine but too noisy. Nothing changes for them.
• Archive when you want the chat out of your main list. Combine it with mute to keep it there.
• Block when you do not want a person to contact you privately at all. They may notice they cannot reach you, for example because your profile details and last seen stop updating for them.
• Restrict a member (admins only) when someone is disrupting a group and needs to stop posting there.
• Report when someone is spamming or abusing people. See how to report on Telegram.

Example: quieting a family group

An illustrative scenario. Sam is in a family group that sends dozens of photos a day. He mutes it forever and archives it. He still gets notified when his sister mentions him to ask about the weekend, because mentions in muted groups still come through. Nobody in the family is told anything, and he catches up on the photos on Sunday evening.

Common mistakes

• Expecting muting to stop read receipts. It does not. If you open the chat, they see that you read it.
• Thinking muting blocks someone. Their messages still arrive. Use block if you want them to stop.
• Muting a group and missing mentions. Mentions and replies normally still notify you. If they do not, check the group's notification options and your phone's notification settings.
• Muting for a set time and forgetting. A timed mute ends on its own. Choose "forever" if you want it permanent.
• Muting when notifications are the real problem. If no chats notify you, the cause is elsewhere; see Telegram notifications not working.

FAQ

Does the person know I muted them?

No. Telegram does not tell anyone they were muted, and there is no indicator on their side.

Will they still see that I read their messages?

Yes. Muting does not change read receipts. Once you open the chat, their messages show as read.

Do muted messages still arrive?

Yes. Everything is delivered. You just are not alerted. The chat shows unread messages, usually with a grey counter.

Do I still get notified if someone mentions me in a muted group?

Normally yes. Telegram notifies you about mentions and replies to your messages even in muted groups. Recent versions let you adjust this in the group's notification options.

What is the difference between mute and silent messages?

Mute is a setting you apply to your own notifications for a chat. A silent message is one the sender chooses to deliver without sound. See Telegram silent messages.

Summary

Muting a chat on Telegram turns off your notifications for it and does nothing else: messages arrive, read receipts work, and the other person is not told. In groups, mentions and replies still reach you. Hiding stories, an admin restricting a member, and muting in a voice chat are different tools that share the word. Use mute for noise, archive for clutter, block for unwanted contact, and restrictions or reports for people causing trouble.