How to Delete Telegram Data from Servers

[fatimahislam]

Telegram distinguishes between "Cloud Chats" (most regular chats, groups, and channels) and "Secret Chats," which have different server-side retention policies. Your ultimate control over data deletion lies in managing your account.

1. Deleting Individual Messages
Telegram provides robust options for deleting messages, even for the other party, which impacts server data.

Cloud Chats (Regular Chats, Groups, Channels):

Deleting for Yourself Only: When you delete a message in a telegram data cloud chat for yourself, it's removed from your device and your personal view of the chat history on Telegram's servers. However, a copy remains on the server as part of the other participants' message history until they also delete it.
"Delete for Everyone" (in one-on-one chats): Telegram allows you to delete any message, both sent and received, for both sides in one-on-one cloud chats. This means the message is removed from your device, the recipient's device, and critically, from Telegram's servers. There is no time limit for this in one-on-one chats as of recent updates.
"Delete for Everyone" (in groups/channels): In groups and channels, you can generally only delete your own messages for all participants. Once deleted for everyone, the message is removed from all devices and Telegram's servers. However, for messages in supergroups, deleted messages (and original versions of edited messages) are stored for 48 hours for administrative "Recent Actions" logs.
How to do it: Long-press or right-click on the message, select "Delete," and then choose the option to "Delete for Everyone" (if available).
Secret Chats:

End-to-End Encryption: Secret Chats are fundamentally different. They are end-to-end encrypted, meaning Telegram's servers do not store the content of these messages. The messages exist only on the devices of the participants.
Self-Destructing Messages: You can set a timer for messages in Secret Chats to self-destruct after a set period (e.g., 10 seconds, 1 minute, 1 hour) once they are read. When the timer expires, the message is automatically deleted from both devices and was never stored on Telegram's servers to begin with.
Deleting Manually: Deleting a message in a Secret Chat also instructs the other party's device to delete it.
2. Deleting Entire Chats
You can also delete entire chat histories.

Cloud Chats:
"Clear History": In any cloud chat, you can "Clear History." This removes all messages from your view of the chat on your device and from your copy on the server. Similar to individual message deletion, the other participants' copies remain on the server until they also delete their history.
"Delete Chat for Both Parties" (in one-on-one chats): For one-on-one cloud chats, you can choose to "Delete Chat" and then select "Delete for [Other Person's Name] and me." This removes the entire chat history for both participants and from Telegram's servers.
Leaving/Deleting Groups/Channels: When you leave or delete a group or channel, the chat history for you is removed. If you are the creator of a group, deleting it will remove it for all members and from the servers.
3. Deleting Your Entire Telegram Account
This is the most comprehensive way to delete all your associated data from Telegram's servers. It is a permanent and irreversible action.

What gets deleted: Deleting your account removes all messages (both sent and received in cloud chats, assuming the other party hasn't also manually deleted them), photos, videos, contacts, and any other data you have stored in the Telegram cloud.
What remains: Groups and channels you created will remain, but they will become "orphaned" (without an official creator) and your profile will no longer be associated with them. Messages sent to others will remain on their devices unless they were in "Secret Chats" or you specifically used "Delete for Everyone" in one-on-one cloud chats. Your name in their chat history will simply appear as "Deleted Account."
There are two primary ways to delete your account:

Immediate Deletion (via Web Browser):

Go to Telegram's deactivation page: my.telegram.org/auth?to=deactivate.
Enter the phone number linked to your Telegram account and click "Next."
A confirmation code will be sent to you via the Telegram app (not SMS).
Enter this code on the website and click "Sign In."
You'll see a "Delete Your Account" option. You can optionally provide a reason for leaving.
Confirm the deletion. This action is irreversible.
Self-Destruct (Inactivity Timeout):

Open the Telegram app on your phone.
Go to Settings > Privacy and Security.
Scroll down to the "Delete My Account" section and tap "If away for..."
Choose an inactivity period (1 month, 3 months, 6 months, or 1 year).
If you do not log in to your Telegram account at all for the selected period, your account and all associated data will be permanently deleted from Telegram's servers. This is the default setting if you ever stop using Telegram without manually deleting your account.
Important Considerations:
Secret Chats are not stored on servers: Messages in Secret Chats are never stored on Telegram's servers, so they don't need to be "deleted from servers" in the same way cloud chats do. They are designed to be ephemeral and device-specific.
Data Retention: Telegram states in its privacy policy that it only stores data needed to function. For cloud chats, this means keeping messages on servers for synchronization across devices. Metadata (like IP address, device information, username change history) might be kept for up to 12 months for security and abuse prevention.
Irreversibility: Account deletion is permanent. Export any important data you need before proceeding with account deletion.
By understanding these options, you can effectively manage and delete your Telegram data from their servers according to your privacy preferences.