How to find a bot in Telegram
A practical guide to finding real Telegram bots through search, direct links and catalogs — and spotting a fake before you trust it.
A Telegram bot is an automated chat account, and you find one exactly the way you'd find a person: by name in Telegram's search, by its unique @username, or through a direct t.me link. Telegram has no single built-in app store for bots, so most people rely on a mix of in-app search, links shared by others, and curated catalogs such as HotBots. This guide covers all three methods, plus how to tell a genuine bot from a copycat before you start typing into it.
Search for a bot inside Telegram
Telegram's global search covers people, groups, channels and bots in one box, and it's usually the fastest way to find a bot if you already know — or can guess — its name.
- Open the search field. On iOS, tap the Search tab at the bottom of the chat list. On Android, tap the magnifying glass icon in the top-right corner of the chat list. On Telegram Desktop, click the search box at the top of the sidebar, or press Ctrl+F (Cmd+F on a Mac).
- Type the bot's name or its @username. Telegram shows matching bots in a dedicated section of the results, separate from people and groups.
- Check the result before opening it — look at the avatar, the short description under the name, and whether it carries a checkmark that marks an official Telegram-run bot (only a handful of bots, like @BotFather, actually have one).
- Tap the bot to open a chat with it, then send /start to begin.
If several bots come up with similar names, don't assume the first one is right — see the verification checklist below before you share anything with it.
Open a bot with a username or a t.me link
Every Telegram bot has a unique @username ending in "bot" or "Bot" (for example, @BotFather). That username doubles as a shareable link: t.me/username. Opening https://t.me/BotFather in a browser, or tapping such a link in a chat, on a website, or from a QR code, opens that exact bot inside the Telegram app — no search required.
This is the most reliable way to reach a specific bot, because a direct link can't be confused with a similarly named impostor the way a search result can. It's also how catalogs and articles usually point to a bot: as a clickable t.me link rather than a name you have to retype.
Browse curated bot catalogs
Search only helps once you know roughly what you're looking for. If you just want "something that translates voice messages" or "a bot for tracking the weather," a curated catalog is more useful than guessing search terms. Sites like HotBots group bots into categories — translators, weather, ChatGPT-style assistants, and dozens of others — with a description, pros and cons, and a direct t.me link for each one, so you can compare a few options before opening any of them.
Catalogs are useful for a second reason too: a listing that explains how a bot behaves, what data it asks for, and when it was last checked gives you information Telegram's own search doesn't show at all.
Confirm a bot is genuine before you trust it
Anyone can register a bot and give it almost any name, which means popular bots attract copycats. Before you send a bot any data — your phone number, a file, a payment — run through this checklist:
- Check the exact username. Fakes often add or swap a character (an extra underscore, a "1" at the end, a look-alike letter) to sit next to the real bot in search.
- Look for a checkmark. Telegram verifies only a small number of official bots, such as @BotFather; a checkmark next to the name is a strong, though not the only, signal of authenticity.
- Read the bio and open the profile. A genuine, actively maintained bot usually has a clear description of what it does and who runs it; an empty or copy-pasted bio is a warning sign.
- Send /start and see what happens. A real bot responds with a relevant welcome message or menu. A clone may ask for information a normal bot never needs, like a password or card number, before it does anything useful.
- Cross-check in a catalog. If a bot is listed on an independent catalog like HotBots with a matching username and description, that's extra confirmation you found the right one.
None of these checks takes more than a few seconds, and together they catch the overwhelming majority of impostor bots.
