Telegram
Send campaigns and operational messages on Telegram through a BotFather bot or a personal account linked by QR, with a number checker and per-recipient delivery reports.
Telegram is a first-class channel in Mersal, not a side attachment: it has its own gateways, campaigns, grouped reports and a checking tool that belongs to it alone. The important difference from the other channels is that Telegram charges nothing per message, so the practical cost of running the channel is your plan allowance and nothing else.
Two ways to connect
Pick whichever fits your case — and you can run both in the same account.
A Telegram bot
Created in BotFather inside Telegram in seconds, then you paste the bot token into Mersal. Best for subscribers and existing customers.
A personal account
You link your own account by scanning a QR code or entering a login code. It addresses phone numbers directly, and it is the only thing that can run the number checker.
Telegram's own rule
A bot cannot start a conversation with someone who has not started it first. That is a Telegram rule no system gets around. So a bot is ideal for anyone who pressed "Start" on your bot or joined your channel, while addressing numbers who have never contacted you needs a linked personal account.
Connecting a bot
Create the bot in Telegram
Open a chat with @BotFather, send /newbot, and choose a name and a username. You will be handed a long token that looks like 123456789:AA….
Open the Telegram gateways screen
In the sidebar: Telegram ‹ Bots, then press add.
Paste the token and save
Mersal validates the token against Telegram immediately and shows the bot's name if it is good. Use the Test button to confirm before your first campaign.
You can connect more than one bot. When you build a campaign you either pick a specific bot, or Automatic (the first available one), or Spread across all my bots to split the load.
Connecting a personal account
Open the accounts screen
In the sidebar: Telegram ‹ Personal accounts.
Choose how to link
Either a QR code you scan from the Telegram app on your phone (Linked Devices ‹ Link Desktop Device), or a login code delivered inside Telegram after you enter your number.
Two-step verification
If your account has two-step verification enabled, Mersal will ask for that password to finish linking.
Where the session lives
A personal-account session stays on Mersal's dedicated Telegram node. It is never exported and never displayed on any screen. You can unlink at any moment from the same page, which ends the session immediately.
The number checker
Before you spend a single message, find out who on your list actually has a Telegram account.
Start a check
From Telegram ‹ Number check, pick a contact group or upload a list of numbers.
Watch it run
The check works in batches and reports progress live. You can pause and resume later without losing what is already done.
Use the result
Export it as a file, or save the numbers that are on Telegram straight into a contact group that is ready to send to.
A deliberate daily ceiling
Checking spends from your personal account's own allowance with Telegram, so it runs under a daily cap. That limit exists to keep your account from being restricted — pushing past it is not faster, it is riskier.
Campaigns and sending
The Telegram send screen follows the same logic as every other channel:
- Recipients — pick a contact group, paste chat IDs and
@usernamesseparated by commas, or upload a file. - Message body — up to 4,096 characters, with dynamic variables and the same template library every other channel reads.
- Schedule and repeat — set a launch time, a repeat count and a cadence, or leave it blank to send now.
- Sending gateway — a specific bot or account, or automatic distribution.
Reports
Telegram reads from the same grouped report screen as everything else: per-message status, campaign grouping, and stop, resend and delete actions for what is pending or failed, with CSV export. See Reports & analytics.
Plans and limits
Telegram is available on plans, and each plan sets how many gateways are allowed and a daily message allowance. If you would rather set the limits yourself, use Build your own plan. And if you do not want to configure anything at all, Worry-Free Sending covers Telegram too.