How to Get Verified on Telegram: Checkmarks and Badges

The Telegram verification badge is a checkmark that Telegram gives to the official channels, groups and bots of public figures and organizations. You apply through Telegram’s @VerifyBot, and you need verified accounts on other platforms plus press coverage. Personal accounts can’t get it, and nobody can sell it to you.

This guide explains how to get verified on Telegram, what the other badges mean, and how to avoid verification scams. If you meant verifying a new account with an SMS code, skip to the last section.

What the Telegram verification badge means

Telegram says it “offers verification for public figures and organizations so that users can easily identify official sources.” A verified channel, group or bot is official, and its application was approved by Telegram. The badge shows “on their info pages, as well as in users’ chat lists and search results.”

It isn’t an endorsement: “Verification is not an endorsement of any opinions or content shared by a chat.” And it doesn’t unlock features, because “verification doesn’t give any additional abilities in Telegram.”

Who can get verified on Telegram?

Channels, groups and bots, not people. Telegram’s verification guidelines are direct: “Sorry, Telegram doesn’t verify user accounts at the moment. Verification is only available for large and active official channels, groups and bots.”

How to get verified on Telegram

1. Check that you qualify. Telegram verifies “active official channels, bots or public groups” of public figures and organizations.
2. Link your chat from your other accounts. Add it to the bio of at least 2 verified accounts on the platforms above, “so we can confirm that they indeed belong to you.”
3. Collect 2 press articles that mention you or your organization. They “don’t need to link to Telegram.”
4. Message @VerifyBot and follow its steps. After it checks your links, the bot lets you add extra data and comments.
5. Settle your name first. A verified chat “can’t change its name or short link.” To change either later, send /unverify to @VerifyBot, make the change, then apply again.

Third-party verification icons

Since January 2025, Telegram also lets outside organizations verify accounts. “Official third-party services are able to assign extra verification icons to user accounts and chats,” in order “to prevent scams and reduce misinformation.” These are logos, not checkmarks: they “appear before the name of a chat,” and the profile explains who verified it.

To become a verifier, a service must first have “an official bot that has been verified by Telegram,” then apply through @VerifyBot. It’s a separate system from the checkmark: “Only Telegram is able to assign the official verification checkmark to chats. Third-party verifiers use completely different icons.”

Premium badges are not verification

Telegram Premium subscribers get a badge of their own, and it’s easy to mistake for verification. Telegram says “all premium users get a special badge that appears next to their name in the chat list, chat headers, and member lists in groups.” It shows that someone pays for Premium, nothing more. Premium users can also swap it for an emoji status, which “takes the place of your Premium Badge in the chat list, in your profile and in groups.”

How to avoid verification scams

A checkmark carries weight, so it attracts scams. Telegram’s own rules give you a simple test:

• There’s one place to apply: @VerifyBot. The guidelines don’t mention a fee, and the requirements are the same for everyone, so a paid shortcut doesn’t exist.
• Only Telegram adds the checkmark. A check mark typed into a name or bio proves nothing, so open the profile and look for the real badge.
• “Telegram staff” on other platforms aren’t Telegram. It says: “If anyone on Facebook or any other platform is telling you they’re us, they are not.”
• Never share your login code. Codes for your account arrive in the verified chat named Telegram and “should never be shared with anyone, including other services or apps.”
• Report impersonators. If “a scammer is pretending to be you,” contact @NoToScam.

Verifying a new Telegram account with an SMS code

If you searched for Telegram verification because the app wants a code, that’s a different step. “Telegram only requires a phone number to sign up and access all of its functionality,” and the code arrives by SMS, or inside Telegram if you’re logged in on another device.

You don’t have to use your personal number for it. A real US or UK non-VoIP number from PVADeals can receive the code, and if an eligible number receives no SMS during the rental, its cost comes back to your balance automatically as store credit. Telegram’s prices are below. See our guide to a virtual number for Telegram, or read how to use Telegram without a phone number, including anonymous +888 numbers.