Telegram Groups Scraper

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📊 Powerful Apify Actor for extracting message history from public Telegram groups (including private invite links).

Telegram Groups Scraper automatically downloads complete or incremental message history from the groups you specify.

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 groups and use historyFrom to limit the time range.
• ☁️ Scalable — run dozens of parallel actors on Apify without dealing with servers.

2. Input configuration

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

3. Running the Actor

1. Open Telegram Groups 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.

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.

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 group?
A: Yes! Provide a valid invite link (e.g., https://t.me/+abcdef1234567) and the actor will automatically join and fetch its history (your account must have permission to join).

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.

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.

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.

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