Private Telegram Groups Scraper

Export message history from private, invite-only, and members-only Telegram groups your account can access.

Telegram Groups Scraper automatically downloads complete or incremental message history from the groups 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 up to 20 groups per run and use historyFrom to limit the time range.
• 🔐 Reusable login — scan the QR in Live View once; the Actor securely reuses the session on later runs.

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2. Input configuration

{
  "groups": [
    "@mygroup",
    "https://t.me/+abcdef1234567"
  ],
  "historyFrom": "2025-01-01T00:00:00Z",
  "telegram2faPassword": "${{ TELEGRAM_2FA_PASSWORD }}",
  "limit": 3000
}

Parameters explained:

• groups (array, required) — group identifiers accepted in any of the following forms:
  • @group
  • https://t.me/group (public)
  • https://t.me/+<hash> or https://t.me/joinchat/<hash> (invite link)
• 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.
• limit (integer, optional, default 3000) — maximum number of messages to retrieve per group.

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3. Running the Actor

1. Open Telegram Groups Scraper on Apify.
2. Click Run and open the Live View tab.
3. If there is no valid saved session, a QR code appears in Live View and in Logs. In Telegram open Settings → Devices → Link Desktop Device and scan it.
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. The Actor saves the session in a private per-user Key-value store and reuses it automatically.

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4. Output dataset

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

{
  "type": "message",
  "group": "mygroup",
  "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.

The Run summary output is stored as the OUTPUT record in the run's default Key-value store. It includes group-level outcomes, authentication state, rate-limit waits, and message counters. It is not added to the Dataset, so it does not create an extra dataset-item charge.

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5. FAQ

Q: I see a Telegram cooldown in the summary — did the run fail?

A: Short cooldowns are handled automatically and message collection resumes without restarting from the beginning. Long cooldowns are reported per group so the Actor does not waste the entire run waiting.

Q: Can I scrape a private group?
A: Yes. Provide a valid invite link and the Actor joins and fetches its history. If the group requires administrator approval, the run summary says pending-approval; rerun after the account is accepted.

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: Secret input values never appear in logs. The generated session is stored in an Actor-specific Key-value store available only in that user's Actor scope. The QR token is displayed temporarily and is not persisted. 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. Related Telegram Scrapers

Looking for more Telegram data extraction tools? Check out our complete suite:

• 🔗 Telegram Channels Scraper — extract complete message history from public Telegram channels.
• 💬 Telegram Comments Scraper — download comments from channel posts with flexible filtering options.
• 👍 Telegram Like Scraper — collect like statistics, emoji reactions, and view counts from channel posts.

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7. 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 Groups Scraper today and turn Telegram content into valuable data for analytics, brand monitoring and research!