How to do Telegram hide phone number easily ?

Amongst different messenger services, Telegram is considered as a safe and more secure option in them all. While WhatsApp uses a single identification factor for the users who want to make their account on the platform, Telegram on the other hand uses the phone number as well as it has another identification factor in the form of a unique username.

Now, if you are a Telegram user, you probably know already that Telegram shows your phone number to all your Telegram contacts by default. This means that anyone in your phone’s contact list can see you when you join Telegram and can contact you through your phone number as it will be visible for them in their Telegram contacts.

Now, in many instances, this is not something desired by the user and they do not want their phone number to be displayed on Telegram. So, by following some easy steps, they can let Telegram hide phone numbers and only be visible to their contacts through their unique username.

By opting to hide your phone number on Telegram, even the people who start conversations with you will not be able to see your phone number.

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Ways to do Telegram hide phone number:

There are certain steps that you can take to hide your phone number on Telegram and to disappear from someone’s contact list if you do not want them to reach out to you via the Telegram app.

Step #1: Change your app’s privacy settings on your Android phone:

First off, launch Telegram on the Home page of your phone.
Then click on the Menu button.
From there, go into the app’s Settings.

In the Settings menu, you will see Privacy and Security. Tap on it.

This will lead you inside the Privacy menu. Here you will see ‘Phone Number.’ Select it.

When you select Phone Number, you will see several options with further sub-options.
In the “Who can see my contacts?” option, when you click on it, you will see three sub-options including ‘Everybody,’ ‘Nobody,’ and ‘My Contacts.’
Choose ‘Nobody.’

Now, scroll downwards and you will see another option: “Who can find me by my number?”

When you click on it, you will again find two sub-options: “Everybody,” or “My Contacts.”

Ideally, you should choose “My Contacts” instead of “Everybody.”
Now, look at your top-right corner and you will find a checkmark to confirm your changes and save them. Click on it, and then go back to your phone’s Home page.
You can check if all these options have been applied by going back to the same route and following the same steps.

Step #2: Change your app’s privacy settings on your iPhone or iPad:

The steps are pretty much the same as for Android. All you need to do is to:

Launch Telegram on the Home page.
Click on Settings which is near the bottom of your screen.

Go to ‘Privacy and Security.’
In the Privacy menu, you will find ‘Phone Number.’ Just click on it.

Again, you will be presented with the options of “Who can see my phone number?” and “Who can find me by my phone number?”
Choose “Nobody” and “My Contacts” respective for both the options as you would do for an Android phone.

Return to your Home page.

And through these two easy steps, you can disable your contact-sharing options.

Who can still find you by your phone number?

Although, these steps are pretty thorough, however, if you notice, there still is a slight glitch. In the option of “Who can find me by my phone number?” you can only choose “Everybody” or “My Contacts.” There is no third option of selecting “Nobody.”

So, this means that if someone in your phone’s contact list is on Telegram, they will most likely still be able to find you by your number even if you went through all the disabling the contact-sharing steps thoroughly.

To avoid this, you must remember to “delete that contact from your phone’s contact list.”

This is the only way you can prevent even your contacts to reach you or find you on Telegram. And this will be an extended step to let Telegram hide phone numbers too.

Step # 3: Do not forget to clear your app Caches:

You may not be aware of this fact, but Telegram actually caches your contacts, and even if you have deleted something, Telegram often retrieves it and adds it on Google Contacts.

So, it is important to delete all the synced contacts and clear your app Caches too regularly.

For Android, you must follow the following steps:

Go on the app’s Menu.

From there, go to the Settings.

From the Settings menu, select Privacy and Security.

Go to the bottom of the list and select ‘Delete Synced Contacts.’

For iPhone or iPad, you have to take the following steps:

Go to the Menu.
Then go to the Settings from there.
Now choose Privacy and Security.
From there, go down to the bottom of the list and select “Data Settings.”

From here, you can now choose the ‘Delete Synced Contacts’ option.
Through the same steps, you can enable the sync if you want later on.

By changing all these settings, you will be able to disappear from someone’s contact list for some time. However, since Telegram caches the contacts list, even if you are hidden, that person may still get to know that you have been on Telegram for a while. So, this is a small glitch too as it may make them realize that you deliberately chose to remain hidden from them. Anyway, you will again disappear completely once they clear their cached contacts too.