ID Bot: get any Telegram ID in seconds

You are setting up a bot, wiring notifications into a channel or adding yourself to an access list, and the system wants a numeric identifier, not a name.

Where do you find it when a Telegram profile has no such field? ID Bot answers in one step: forward it a message and receive the number. 🔢

It is a simple tool with no extras. Hundreds of thousands of people use it, mostly developers and chat admins.

Getting an ID in half a minute

1. Open the bot and tap /start.
2. For your own ID, send /id.
3. For another person, group, channel or bot, forward a message from them to the bot.
4. Copy the number from the reply and paste it where it is needed.

Open the bot guide with /help, and a voluntary tip for the author is available with /donate.

What IDs look like

• User. A positive integer, for example nine or ten digits. A private chat with a person has the same number.
• Basic group. A negative number, with a minus at the start.
• Supergroup or channel. Also negative, typically starting with -100. The prefix keeps channel identifiers separate from the rest.

Never drop the minus or the prefix. It is a common mistake: remove -100 and the system looks for an entirely different object and returns an error.

Why you need an ID

• Bot setup. Many bots ask for an admin or chat ID.
• Permissions and allow lists. A username can change, an ID stays forever.
• Integrations. Channel posting, service alerts, automations.
• Settling disputes. If someone renames themselves, the ID confirms it is the same account.

Why the bot sometimes shows nothing

The most common reason is privacy settings. If the sender hides their identity on forwards, the forwarded message carries no author data and the bot cannot tell who it is. You cannot get the ID in that case, and there is no workaround. 🔒

The bot also cannot reveal the ID of people who are just somewhere in a chat. It only works with what Telegram sends along with a forwarded message.

ID is not a username

A public username can be changed any time, while the numeric ID is tied to the account. For settings that must work for years, the ID is more reliable.

Note that an ID is not a secret key: knowing it does not give anyone access to your account. Passwords, message codes and seed phrases still should not be sent to anyone, and this bot never asks for them. 🔐