In any Telegram app, you can customize a specific set of appearance elements:
Welcome message shown when the chat is opened for the first time.
“Open” button in the chat list.
You can check out a sample café app as an example.
Below, we’ll go over how to set this up.
App Avatar
Typically, the avatar is either a business logo or a personal photo.
You can add an avatar for the app on any platform.
Fig. 1. Open the app.
Tap on the app name (see Figure 1).
Fig. 2. App profile.
Tap the “Edit” button (see Figure 2).
Fig. 3. Tap the camera icon.
Tap the camera icon (see Figure 3), upload the desired image, and click the “Save” button.
You can change the current icon to another one at any time.
📌 Technical requirements for the avatar:
Image format: JPG, PNG, or WEBP.
Recommended size: at least 512×512 pixels (Telegram will crop it into a circle).
Aspect ratio: square (1:1) to avoid distortion.
Maximum file size: up to 5 MB.
Short Description
The short description of the app is shown in Figure 4 below the avatar.
To change it, repeat the steps described for setting or replacing the avatar, but instead of uploading an image, select the text under the avatar and update it accordingly.
Fig. 4. Short description of the app.
If needed, you can update this description at any time using the same method.
📌 Technical requirements:
Length: up to 120 characters (including spaces).
Language: should match the audience’s language or localization settings.
Format: plain text only — no emojis, links, HTML, or Markdown.
Unicode support: any alphabet can be used, but avoid strange or unclear symbols.
Must not include:
Prohibited words (e.g., drugs, violence — see Telegram’s policy).
Misleading claims (e.g., “official” if it’s not).
Welcome Message
This message appears the first time a user opens a chat with your app, or if they delete all messages in the chat (including the /start command). It can include an image/GIF and/or text.
To add it, use @BotFather. Open BotFather, choose “My Bots”, then select your bot. You’ll see the menu shown in Figure 5. Choose “Edit Bot”.
Fig. 5. Menu for the selected bot in BotFather.
After this, you’ll see a message like in Figure 6, where you can select the relevant sections to edit. The ones we’re interested in are marked with numbers 1 and 2.
Fig. 6. List of sections for editing.
To add or change an image/GIF, select item 1.
📌 Technical requirements:
Image: formats — JPG, PNG, or WEBP; size — 640×360 pixels.
GIF: format — GIF; sizes — 320×180, 640×360, or 960×540 pixels.
To add or change the text, select item 2.
📌 Technical requirements:
Text: up to 512 characters including spaces. Markdown is supported.
Afterward, open your app. If there are no existing messages, the welcome message will appear. If messages exist, delete them all, including the /start command, to see the welcome message again.
“Open” Button
This button will look like in Figure 7. It allows users to launch your app directly from their chat list or search, making it quicker and more convenient.
Fig. 7. The “Open” button in a Telegram app.
To add the “Open” button, you need to open the desired app in the Mini Apps Builder service, select the Dashboard section, and then copy the link that appears after the word “Domain”, as shown in Figure 8.
Figure 8. Link for the “Open” button.
After that, open @BotFather in Telegram, select /mybots, choose the desired app, and then select “Bot Settings”. You will see a menu like in Figure 9.
Figure 9. Menu List.
Select “Configure Mini App”. You will see Figure 10.
Figure 10. Next Step.
Click “Enable Mini App”. The bot will ask you to insert the URL, which is the one we copied in Figure 8. After sending the message with this URL, you will see a confirmation that everything is set up.
After this, the “Open” button will appear for your application. Sometimes, you may need to close and reopen the Telegram app for it to work.