Telegram Channels Scraper

📊 Powerful Apify Actor for extracting message history from public Telegram channels.

Telegram Channels Scraper automatically downloads complete or incremental message history from the channels you specify.

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1. Why you will love it

• 🏎 Fast — fetches thousands of messages per minute thanks to full async processing.
• 🛡 Reliable — retries API calls, respects rate limits and survives network hiccups.
• 🔎 Flexible — scrape any number of channels and use historyFrom to limit the time range.
• ☁️ Scalable — run dozens of parallel actors on Apify without dealing with servers.

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2. Input configuration

{
  "channels": [
    "@apify",
    "https://t.me/durov"
  ],
  "historyFrom": "2025-01-01T00:00:00Z",
  "telegramSession": "${{ TELEGRAM_SESSION }}",
  "telegram2faPassword": "${{ TELEGRAM_2FA_PASSWORD }}"
}

Parameters explained:

• channels (array, required) — channel identifiers accepted in any of the following forms:
  • @channel
  • https://t.me/channel
  • channel
• historyFrom (string, optional) — ISO-8601 timestamp. Messages older than this value are skipped.
• telegramSession (string, optional) — pass a session string directly instead of using the secret.
• telegram2faPassword (string, optional) — account password if two-factor authentication is enabled.

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3. Running the Actor

1. Open Telegram Channels Scraper on Apify.
2. Click Run and open the Logs tab.
3. If you didn’t provide a session string, a QR code will appear. In the Telegram app open Settings → Devices → Link Desktop Device and scan the QR code.
4. If Telegram prompts for a password after scanning the QR (two-factor authentication), stop the run, open the input section and fill Telegram 2FA password (or set the secret TELEGRAM_2FA_PASSWORD) and start the Actor again.
5. (Optional) Copy the session string shown in the logs and store it as TELEGRAM_SESSION for future runs.

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4. Output dataset

Each message is stored in the default dataset. Sample record:

{
  "type": "message",
  "channel": "apify",
  "id": 12345,
  "date": "2024-05-21T15:32:10+00:00",
  "sender_id": 67890,
  "sender_username": "username",
  "text": "Hello, Apify!",
  "media_type": null
}

Download results in JSON, CSV, Parquet and more via Apify API or UI.

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5. FAQ

Q: I see FloodWaitError in logs — did the run fail?
A: No. The actor automatically waits the required time and resumes. You will only see a warning.

Q: Can I scrape a private channel?
A: Currently only public channels are supported. Private access is on the roadmap.

Q: How do I save only media messages?
A: After the run finishes, filter the dataset by media_type.

Q: Is it safe to provide telegramSession and telegram2faPassword?
A: Both values are stored in Apify Secrets; they never appear in logs and cannot be read by other actors. A session string only grants access to act as your account, and the 2FA password is used once during the sign-in flow. Recommended practices:
• keep both values exclusively in Secrets;
• regenerate / update the session string whenever you change your Telegram password;
• you can revoke access at any moment in Telegram settings by logging out the linked device.

Q: I noticed a new device called “apifytg” logged into my Telegram from an unfamiliar location. What is it?
A: When the actor authenticates, Telethon registers a device for the session (the default device model is “ApifyTG”). The IP you see is the data-centre where the actor is running (Apify Cloud or your local machine). This is expected and safe. If you want to revoke access, simply log this device out in Settings → Devices and remove the saved telegramSession / secret.

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6. Support & contributions

Found a bug or have a feature request? Feel free to open an issue or submit a pull request. We’re happy to discuss ideas like additional fields, filters or export formats.

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⭐️ Launch Telegram Channels Scraper today and turn Telegram content into valuable data for analytics, brand monitoring and research!