How to Reply, Quote and Mention Someone on Telegram

To reply to a message on Telegram, swipe it to the left on a phone or open its menu and choose Reply. To quote only part of it, select the words inside the message first and pick Quote. To mention someone, type @ followed by their username, or pick them from the list that appears in a group.

Those three tools look small, but they decide whether a busy group conversation makes sense. This guide covers each one on Android, iPhone, Desktop and Web, explains who gets notified, and lists the mistakes that make replies and mentions go unseen.

Why replies, quotes and mentions matter

In a one-to-one chat you can often answer without any of these tools. In a group with dozens of messages an hour, an answer with no context is easy to misread. "Yes, Tuesday works" means nothing if three different people asked three different questions.

Each tool solves a different problem:

• A reply attaches your message to an earlier one, so readers see what you are answering and can tap through to it.
• A quote narrows that reply down to the exact sentence you mean, which helps when the original message was long.
• A mention pulls a specific person into the conversation and sends them a notification, even if they are not reading the group right now.

Replies and mentions also affect notifications, which is covered further down. That is the part most people do not realise.

How to reply to a message

A reply shows a small preview of the original message above your text. Anyone can tap that preview to jump back to the original.

Reply on Android

1. Open the chat and find the message.
2. Swipe the message from right to left, or tap it once and choose Reply.
3. Type your answer. The original appears in a bar above the text field.
4. Send. To cancel instead, tap the small cross on the reply bar.

Reply on iPhone and iPad

1. Swipe the message to the left, or press and hold it and choose Reply.
2. Type and send your message.
3. Tap the cross on the reply bar if you change your mind.

Reply on Desktop and Web

1. Hover over the message, or right-click it.
2. Choose Reply from the menu.
3. Type and press Enter.

Menu wording can shift between app versions, but Reply has stayed in the message menu on every platform for years. If you cannot find it, the message may be in a channel, which works differently (see below).

Replying in channels

You cannot reply directly in a channel, because only admins post there. If the channel has comments enabled, each post has a comments button that opens a discussion thread, and inside that thread you reply exactly as in a group. If there is no comments button, the owner has not linked a discussion group. Our guide on enabling comments on a Telegram channel explains the owner's side.

How to quote part of a message

Quote replies let you highlight one sentence from a longer message. Your reply then shows only that excerpt, not the start of the original.

Quote on iPhone

1. Press and hold the message to open it.
2. Press and hold again on the text, then drag the handles to select the words you want.
3. Choose Quote from the options that appear.
4. Type your reply and send.

Quote on Android

1. Tap the message to open its menu.
2. Press and hold on the text to start a selection, then drag to adjust it.
3. Choose Quote, then write and send your reply.

Quote on Desktop

1. Select the words inside the message with your mouse, as you would on a web page.
2. Right-click the selection and choose the reply or quote option.
3. Type and send.

If no Quote option appears, check for an app update. Quote replies were added in a later version of Telegram, and very old installs do not have them.

Quote replies versus quote formatting

These are two different things that share a name. A quote reply links to another message. Quote formatting is a text style that indents and marks a block of your own message, with no link to anything. You use quote formatting when you want to paste a passage, for example from a news article, and set it apart visually. The Telegram text formatting guide covers that style and the others.

How to reply in another chat

Sometimes the right place to answer is not the chat where the message appeared. A colleague posts a question in a big group, and you want to discuss it privately with one person. Telegram lets you send a reply to a different chat while keeping the link to the original.

1. Start a reply to the message as usual.
2. Tap or click the reply bar above the text field. It opens reply options.
3. Choose the option to reply in another chat.
4. Pick the chat where your answer should go.
5. Write and send.

The person receiving it sees the quoted original, so they know what you are talking about. Two limits apply. Messages from chats with protected content (where the owner has turned off saving and forwarding) may not allow this. And readers in the new chat can only open the original if they also have access to the chat it came from.

How to mention someone

A mention puts a clickable name in your message and normally sends that person a notification.

Mentioning someone with a username

1. In a group, type @.
2. Start typing the person's username or name. A list of matching members appears.
3. Tap the right person, or keep typing the full username.
4. Finish your message and send.

The mention becomes a link to their profile. Readers can tap it to see who you mean.

Mentioning someone without a username

Many people never set a username. You can still mention them in a group:

1. Type @ and begin typing their display name.
2. Pick them from the suggestion list.
3. Telegram inserts their name as a link to their account, even though they have no public handle.

This only works for people Telegram can show you in that list, usually members of the group. You cannot mention someone into a group they are not part of, and a mention does not invite them. If you need to add someone first, see can't add members to a Telegram group.

Mentioning in a private chat

You can type an @username in a one-to-one chat, but it does not notify a third person. It simply becomes a link to their profile. This is useful for introducing someone: "You should talk to @example_name about this."

Mentioning bots

Typing @ followed by a bot's username can do something else entirely. Inline bots offer results right in the text field. If a list of results appears instead of a member suggestion, you are using an inline bot. Our article on inline bots explains how that works.

Who gets notified, and when

This is where replies and mentions do their real work.

• When you reply to someone's message in a group, the author of that message is notified in the same way as a mention.
• When you mention someone, they are notified, as long as they are a member of that group.
• Muted groups still deliver notifications for replies and mentions by default in Telegram's settings. A member who has muted a noisy group will still hear about messages aimed at them, unless they changed this in their notification settings.
• The @ marker: when a group has unread mentions of you, an @ badge appears near the bottom of the chat. Tapping it jumps through each unread mention in turn.

Example: you run a large study group and most members keep it muted. A general post asking "who is presenting on Friday?" may go unseen. Replying to the presenter's earlier message, or mentioning them by name, reaches them directly.

The flip side is etiquette. Mentions break through mute settings, so mentioning many people at once for something minor feels like spam to them. Some groups ban mass mentions in their rules, and admins may treat them as a moderation issue.

If notifications are not arriving at all, the cause is usually in phone or app settings, not mentions. See Telegram notifications not working.

Worked examples

Example 1: answering one point in a long message. A group member posts a ten-line message with four questions. You know the answer to the third. Select the third question, choose Quote, and type your answer. Readers see exactly which question you are answering, and nobody wonders whether you meant all four.

Example 2: asking a specific admin. You need the group's admin who handles events. Type @, start their name, pick them from the list and write your question. They get a notification even if they have muted the group.

Example 3: taking a side discussion private. Someone asks a detailed question in a public group that would derail the conversation. Start a reply, use the reply-in-another-chat option, choose your private chat with them, and continue there with the original question attached.

Common mistakes

• Replying without the reply tool. Typing "@Sam yes" mentions Sam but does not show which message you are answering. If Sam asked two things, use Reply.
• Quoting the whole message for a one-line point. A plain reply is enough when the original is short. Quotes earn their place on long messages.
• Confusing quote formatting with a quote reply. Pasting text and applying quote formatting does not link to anything and does not notify the original author.
• Mentioning someone who is not in the group. They will not get a notification. Add them first if you are allowed to, or message them directly.
• Mass mentions. Tagging everyone for routine news pierces their mute settings. Pin the message or post an announcement instead. The guide to pinning, muting and archiving chats shows how.
• Expecting replies in a channel. Channels only take comments if the owner has linked a discussion group.

FAQ

Does the person know I replied to their message?

Yes, in a group they are notified as the author of the message you replied to, unless they turned that notification off. In a one-to-one chat they see the message anyway.

Can I reply to a message that was deleted?

No. Once the original is gone, you cannot start a new reply to it. Existing replies stay, but their preview shows that the original is no longer available.

Why can't I find the Quote option?

Update the app first. If it is current, make sure you selected text inside the message before looking for the option. In some chats with protected content, copying and quoting may be limited.

Can I mention someone who has no username?

Yes, in a group where they are a member. Type @ and start typing their display name, then pick them from the list.

Will a mention notify someone who muted the group?

By default, yes. Telegram lets each person decide in their own notification settings whether mentions and replies break through a mute, so a few people may have turned this off.

How do I find all the times someone mentioned me?

Tap the @ button that appears in a group with unread mentions. It steps through each one. For older mentions, searching the group for your username can help, as covered in how to search inside a Telegram channel.

Summary

Reply with a swipe or the message menu, quote by selecting words inside the message and choosing Quote, and mention with @ plus a username or a name picked from the group list. Replies and mentions notify the person even in muted groups by default, so use them to reach someone specific, and avoid using them on everyone at once.