Telegram signs in with a QR code

Connecting Telegram used to mean waiting for a five-digit code. On 18 September 2026 that stopped working for a real account: three requests were accepted, and no code ever arrived. Telegram's own service chat showed no login code for a fortnight. Nothing about it was ours to fix.

A scan needs nothing from Telegram except the app already on your phone. So the connector now shows a QR code:

1. Open Telegram on your phone, then Settings, Devices, Link desktop device.
2. Scan the code on the screen.
3. If your account has two-step verification, type that password once.

The code on screen is replaced about every thirty seconds, which is Telegram's timing, not ours. The sign-in is given five minutes before it is abandoned, and the session is saved only after Telegram confirms the login, so an abandoned attempt leaves nothing behind.

The phone code is still there, under the QR, for an account where scanning is not an option. Either way, what you end up with is the read-only login described in Telegram is read through your own login, and either way you can end it from Settings, Devices.