Telegram is, in my opinion, the best instant messaging app on the market right now, and has been for years. Many of the features other apps have added in recent years appeared first on Telegram, and the app continues to deliver new capabilities and a smooth and easy-to-use UI that just works nearly perfectly for messaging.

However, there's something about Telegram many don't like, and that's the notifications you'll occasionally get when one of your contacts joins the service. Since you can provide Telegram access to your contacts, it will detect if someone on your contacts list creates an account and let you know about it, but you may not really care about that. Thankfully, you can disable these notifications.

How to turn off Contact joined Telegram notifications on Android

Those with Android phones or tablets users can disable these notifications by following these steps:

  1. Open the Telegram app on your device.
  2. From the hamburger menu, select Settings.
  3. Tap on Notifications and sounds.
  4. Scroll down to the Events section and turn off the toggle called Contact joined Telegram.

How to turn off Contact joined Telegram notifications on iOS

If you have Telegram on your iPhone, you can follow these steps instead.

  1. Open the Telegram app on your device.
  2. Tap Settings in the bottom right corner of the screen.
  3. Tap on Notifications and sounds.
  4. Scroll down to the New contacts and turn the toggle off.

How to turn off Contact joined Telegram notifications on Telegram Desktop

Telegram Desktop is the official app for platforms like Windows, macOS, and Linux. Disabling these notifications on Telegram Desktop is basically identical to the Android app:

  1. Open the Telegram app on your device.
  2. From the hamburger menu, select Settings.
  3. Click on Notifications and sounds.
  4. Scroll down to the Events section and turn off the toggle called Contact joined Telegram.

These steps are also nearly identical when using Telegram Web or Unigram for Windows, albeit with slightly different designs. In Unigram, the option is a checkbox rather than a toggle, for example.

Once this is done, you'll no longer receive a push notification when one of your contacts joins Telegram. However, you'll still see that notification in your message list when you open the app. You can archive or delete the conversation if you don't want to see it, but there's no way to disable this behavior.