When you extract members from a Telegram group using the official Telegram API, you get access to five data fields. Here is exactly what is available, and how often you can expect each one to be populated:

Data Field	Available?	Typical Availability	Notes
Display Name	Always	~100%	First name + last name (last name is optional)
Username	When set by user	~55–65%	The `@handle` - required for direct outreach
Phone Number	Rare - user must allow it	~5–15%	Only exposed if user's privacy settings permit it
User ID	Always	~100%	Unique internal Telegram identifier, never changes
Role	Always	~100%	Member / Admin / Owner

That table is the honest answer to "what data can you get from a Telegram group." Everything else in this article explains the nuances, the limits, and the ethical framework that governs how you use it.

Why Phone Numbers Are Rare - But Extremely Valuable

Most people assume that because Telegram requires a phone number to register, every account's number is available through the API. That is not how it works.

Telegram gives users granular control over their privacy. The relevant setting is "Who can see my phone number" - and by default, it is set to "My Contacts" or "Nobody." This means:

Users who set it to "Everyone": their phone number is returned by the API. This is a minority - typically 5–15% of group members depending on the community type.
Users who have any other setting: the API returns null for that field. No workaround. No trick that changes this.

So why does it still matter? Because a phone number in 2026 is a multi-channel contact point: WhatsApp, SMS, direct Telegram DM without needing to know their username, and reverse lookup for email enrichment. If 10,000 members are extracted from a crypto trading group and 800 of them have their phone number exposed - that is 800 warm, qualified leads with a direct contact channel your competitors likely do not have.

Telegram Scrap captures every phone number the API exposes. You do not need to do anything special - it is included in every full member extraction automatically.

What the Official API Provides vs. What Scrapers Claim

This is where a lot of confusion - and a lot of wasted money - comes from.

The Official Telegram MTProto API

Telegram's official API (core.telegram.org) is a documented, stable interface that any developer can use to interact with Telegram programmatically. When you call the channels.getParticipants method on a public group, you get back structured records for each member. Those records contain exactly the five fields in the table above - no more.

This is what Telegram Scrap uses. It is the same API that Telegram's own apps use. It does not violate Telegram's Terms of Service when used responsibly (for research, marketing to your own audience, or community analysis).

What Grey-Market Scrapers Claim

Some tools marketed as "Telegram scrapers" make claims that go beyond what the API provides:

"We extract profile pictures for every member" - the API returns a photo reference, but downloading each one at scale requires individual API calls and quickly hits rate limits. Most tools claiming this are either slow to the point of uselessness or simply lying.
"We get full message history from groups" - false for private groups and for members who have left. Public group message history is technically accessible through the API, but this is a different product entirely, not "member extraction."
"We extract members from private groups" - this requires your account to already be a member. Any tool that claims it can extract members from private groups you have not joined is either a scam or using methods that will get your Telegram account banned.
"We guarantee 100% phone number extraction" - impossible. As explained above, phone number availability is controlled by each user's privacy settings. If a tool promises 100%, it is lying.

The rule of thumb: if a tool claims to give you data that the Telegram API does not expose, it is either fabricated data or the tool is taking risks (ToS violations, account bans) that will eventually catch up with you.

What You CANNOT Get from a Telegram Group

Just as important as knowing what is available is knowing what is off-limits - both technically and legally.

Technically Impossible via the API

Private messages: DMs between users are end-to-end encrypted and inaccessible to anyone other than the participants. No tool can extract private Telegram conversations.
Profile pictures without individual API calls: Bulk profile photo download is not part of standard member extraction. Each photo requires a separate download request.
Members of private groups you have not joined: The API enforces membership. If you are not in the group, you cannot query its member list.
Historical member lists: If a user left the group before you ran your extraction, they are not in the results. You get a snapshot of the current membership at extraction time.
Precise location data: Telegram does not collect or expose GPS location through group membership APIs.
Email addresses: Telegram does not have users' email addresses. Any tool claiming to export emails directly from Telegram is either using a separate enrichment service (which they should disclose) or fabricating data.

Legally Off-Limits (Even if Technically Accessible)

Technically accessible data is not the same as data you are legally permitted to collect and use in any context. See the GDPR section below.

GDPR and Ethical Use: The Framework You Need to Know

Extracting Telegram group member data does not happen in a legal vacuum, particularly if you or your targets are based in the European Union.

Key GDPR principles that apply:

Lawful basis: You need a legitimate reason to process personal data. For outreach purposes, "legitimate interests" is the most common basis - but it requires that your interests do not override the user's reasonable expectations.
Purpose limitation: Data collected for one purpose cannot be repurposed arbitrarily. Extracting members from a crypto trading group to sell them DeFi analytics tools is defensible. Selling that same list to a health insurance company is not.
Transparency: If you are running a campaign to these contacts, you should be able to explain what data you have and where it came from if asked.
Data minimization: Only store the fields you actually need. If you do not need phone numbers for your campaign, do not store them.

Practical ethical guidelines:

Only extract data from groups that are public (anyone can join without approval) or groups you legitimately belong to.
Use extracted data for relevant outreach - do not mass-spam thousands of people with irrelevant offers.
Honor opt-out requests immediately. If someone tells you not to contact them again, remove them from your list.
Do not sell raw extracted member lists to third parties - this is generally considered a GDPR violation and is explicitly against Telegram's Terms of Service.

Telegram Scrap is built on the official API and designed for responsible use. The tool does not grant access to anything users have not made available - it simply surfaces it efficiently.

Practical Limits to Know Before You Extract

Group size cap: Full member extraction supports up to 10,000 members per extraction. For larger groups, you can extract the top 10,000 most recently active members.
Public groups only (without membership): For private groups, your Telegram account must already be a member.
Rate limits: The Telegram API imposes rate limits to prevent abuse. Telegram Scrap handles these automatically - your extraction runs in the background and completes without you needing to manage API calls.
Admin-only extraction: If you only need to identify group admins and owners (a common B2B use case), the Admin Extract returns only the admin/owner tier - much faster when you do not need the full member list. Included in all plans.

FAQ

Q: Can you see all members of a Telegram group?

A: For public groups, yes - the Telegram API allows you to retrieve the full member list up to 10,000 users. For very large groups (200,000+ members), Telegram limits what is returned, but the most recently active members are always included. For private groups, you must be a member to access the list.

Q: Does Telegram show who viewed your group or messages?

A: No. Telegram does not expose view counts or viewer identities for group messages through the API. You cannot determine which members have read a specific message in a group.

Q: Is a Telegram username always available?

A: No. Setting a username (@handle) on Telegram is optional. Roughly 55–65% of users in active groups have one set. Users without a username can still be DM'd if you have their phone number, or reached by replying to their messages within a group.

Q: What is a Telegram User ID and what can I do with it?

A: A User ID is Telegram's internal, permanent identifier for each account. Unlike usernames (which can be changed) or phone numbers (which can change if someone gets a new SIM), the User ID never changes. It is useful for deduplicating lists, tracking users across renames, and passing data between systems that integrate with the Telegram API.

See the Data Yourself

The fastest way to understand what you will get is to run an extraction on a group you already belong to.

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