How to Leave or Delete a Telegram Group

To leave a Telegram group, open the group, tap its name to open the info page, and choose Leave Group; on mobile you can also press and hold or swipe the group in your chat list. To delete a group you own for everyone, open its info, tap Edit, and use the delete option at the bottom of the screen. Leaving removes only you. Deleting removes the group for all its members and cannot be undone.

This guide covers both on Android, iPhone and Desktop, and explains what happens to your messages, who is told, and what owners should do before deleting. If you only want the group to stop bothering you, muting or archiving may be enough; that is covered too.

Leave, delete, mute or archive?

Pick the option that matches what you want:

• Mute if you want to stay in the group but stop notifications.
• Archive if you want it out of your main chat list but still want to be a member.
• Clear history if you want to remove the messages from your own view but stay in the group.
• Leave if you no longer want to be a member.
• Delete for everyone if you own the group and want it gone for all members.

Muting and archiving are covered in how to pin, mute and archive Telegram chats. The rest of this guide is about leaving and deleting.

How to leave a group

Android

1. Open the group.
2. Tap the three-dot menu at the top right, or tap the group name to open its info.
3. Choose Leave Group (sometimes shown as Delete and Leave).
4. Confirm.

From the chat list, you can also press and hold the group, tap the delete icon, and choose to leave.

iPhone and iPad

1. In the chat list, swipe the group to the left and tap Delete, then choose the option to delete and leave.
2. Or open the group, tap its name at the top, scroll down and tap Leave Group.
3. Confirm.

Telegram Desktop

1. Right-click the group in your chat list and choose Leave group.
2. Or open the group, click the menu at the top right and choose to leave.
3. Confirm.

Telegram Web

Open the group's menu or info panel and choose to leave. If you cannot find it, leave from a phone or Desktop; the change syncs everywhere.

What happens when you leave

• The group disappears from your chat list on all your devices.
• Your messages stay. Everything you wrote in the group remains visible to members, with your name. Leaving does not delete your history.
• Members may see that you left. Groups usually show a short service message when someone leaves. In a busy group it scrolls away quickly, but admins can also see leaves in the group's recent actions log.
• You stop receiving messages and notifications from the group.
• You lose access to the history. You cannot scroll back through the group after leaving unless you rejoin and the history is visible to new members.

Deleting your messages before you leave

If you want your messages gone too, delete them before leaving. In a group you can delete your own messages for everyone:

1. Press and hold one of your messages, or right-click it on Desktop.
2. Choose Select and tap your other messages to select several at once.
3. Delete and confirm.

There is no one-tap button for ordinary members to remove everything they ever wrote in a group. In a long history this takes time. Admins can remove all messages from a member, so in a group you used to help run, ask a remaining admin. For more detail, see how to edit or delete a sent message.

Messages others already forwarded, quoted or screenshotted are beyond your reach.

Leaving many groups at once

If you are clearing out a long list of old groups, you do not have to open each one. On Android, press and hold one group in the chat list, then tap the others to select them, and use the delete option to leave them together. On iPhone, tap Edit in the chat list, select several chats and delete them. On Desktop, leave them one at a time with a right-click. Check the confirmation carefully: some apps ask separately whether to leave or only clear each chat.

Before a big clear-out, sort the chats you want to keep into a folder so you do not remove them by accident; see how to use Telegram folders.

Rejoining later

• Public group: open it again by name or link and tap Join, unless you were banned.
• Private group: you need a valid invite link, or someone to add you back.
• History: if the group shows history to new members, you will see past messages again. If not, you start from the moment you rejoin.

What happens if you are the owner and you leave

Leaving a group you created does not delete it. The group keeps running without you. According to Telegram, when an owner leaves, they can pick a new owner in the confirmation window, and if they do not, ownership passes automatically to one of the group's admins after about a week.

If the group has no admins, nobody can take over its management. Before leaving, either:

1. Make someone you trust an admin and choose them as the new owner, or
2. Transfer ownership first from the admin settings, then leave as an ordinary member. Telegram requires two-step verification to be on before a transfer; see how to set up Telegram two-step verification.

How to delete a group for everyone

Only the owner can delete a group for all members.

Before you delete

Deleting is permanent. Nobody, including you and Telegram support, can bring the group back. Run through this first:

1. Save what matters. Telegram Desktop can export a group's messages and media to your computer. See export Telegram chat history.
2. Tell the members. A short message explaining the closure and pointing to an alternative, if there is one, avoids confusion.
3. Consider handing it over instead. If members want to keep going, transferring ownership keeps the community alive.
4. Check linked channels. If the group is the discussion group for a channel, deleting it removes the comments under the channel's posts. Unlink it first if you want to keep the channel's comment section working with a new group.

Deleting on Android

1. Open the group and tap its name to open the info page.
2. Tap the pencil icon to edit.
3. Scroll to the bottom and tap Delete Group (or Delete and Leave, with an option for all members).
4. Confirm.

Deleting on iPhone and iPad

1. Open the group, tap its name, then tap Edit.
2. Scroll to the bottom and tap Delete Group.
3. Confirm.

Deleting on Telegram Desktop

1. Open the group's info and choose Manage group or Edit.
2. Find the delete option at the bottom.
3. Confirm.

For a small basic group

In small groups that were never upgraded, the owner may see an option when leaving to delete the group for all members. It has the same effect. Upgraded groups, which most groups become once they use features like public links or visible history, use the Edit screen route above. See Telegram group vs supergroup vs gigagroup.

If the delete option is missing

1. Check that you are the owner. Admins, even with every right, cannot delete the group. The owner's name usually carries an "owner" label in the member list.
2. Update the app.
3. Try another device. Desktop and mobile occasionally differ.
4. Very large groups may have extra restrictions on deletion. If the option is not available, you can still make the group private, remove its invite links and restrict all messaging, which effectively closes it.

What members see after deletion

The group disappears from members' chat lists. Its messages and media are removed. Some apps may briefly show cached content until they sync. Members are not sent a separate notice beyond the group vanishing, which is why announcing it first is kind.

Worked example: closing a finished project group

This is an illustrative scenario.

Lena created a group for a two-month community project. The project ended, and the group has gone quiet.

1. She posts that the group will close at the end of the week and suggests members save any files they need.
2. On Desktop, she exports the group's messages and shared files to keep a record.
3. Two members want to stay in touch. She makes one of them an admin, then transfers ownership to her and leaves, instead of deleting.

The group lives on for the people who want it, and Lena keeps a complete archive. Had nobody wanted to continue, she would have deleted it from the Edit screen after the export.

Common mistakes

• Leaving when you only wanted silence. Muting keeps you in the group without notifications.
• Assuming leaving deletes your messages. It does not. Delete them first if needed.
• Owners leaving without an admin in place. The group is left without anyone who can manage it.
• Deleting without exporting. There is no recovery.
• Deleting a channel's discussion group by accident. The channel's comments go with it.

FAQ

Does Telegram notify the group when I leave?

Usually a short service message appears in the group saying you left, and admins can see it in recent actions. There is no separate notification sent to each member.

Can I leave a group without anyone noticing?

Not officially. In a busy group the service message is easy to miss, but anyone scrolling back can see it, and admins can check the log.

If I delete the group from my chat list, have I left?

On most apps the delete option in the chat list asks whether to leave. If you only cleared the history, you are still a member. Check whether the group reappears when new messages arrive.

Can a deleted group be recovered?

No. Deletion by the owner is permanent for everyone. Export anything you want to keep before deleting.

What happens to a group if the owner deletes their account?

The group continues to exist. Ownership is generally passed to an admin. If there are no admins, nobody can manage it. See what happens when a group or channel loses its owner for details.

Summary

Leaving a Telegram group removes only you: the group continues, your messages stay unless you delete them first, and members may see a short notice. Owners who leave should choose a new owner or have trusted admins in place. Deleting a group for everyone is done by the owner from the group's Edit screen and is permanent, so export what matters, tell members, and consider handing the group over instead. If you just want quiet, mute or archive the group.