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Do unknown contacts write you on Telegram? So you can avoid it

 

Do unknown contacts write you on Telegram? So you can avoid it

Some time ago the instant messaging application, Telegram, was updated and among one of the new features it was launching was opening the door for unknown contacts to contact us. A functionality that directly collides with the philosophy of the app, since among the virtues it boasts is being the safest instant messaging application on the market.


Even with this premise, on Valentine's Day 2020 Telegram added the "People nearby" functionality that allows anyone within a radius of 3 km to open a chat to talk to us. Also the reverse: we can open a chat with people who are close and visible or enter groups that are created near our location. A feature that can dangerously remind us of dating apps like "Tinder" or the like.


Disable "Make me visible"

This function is activated in the Telegram settings menu, in the contacts section and clicking on “Find People Nearby”. Once activated, it is possible to start a conversation with the people around us who also have this function activated. We can also expose ourselves and make ourselves visible to others, this is done by clicking on "Make myself visible". 


This function is designed to meet people around us and it is not a bad idea, but we must bear in mind that these people are strangers and before this we always have to take some precautions, so if you want to deactivate it you must follow the steps we have just seen go ahead and press «Stop showing me visible».


It can also happen that we have activated the "Make myself visible" function unintentionally and if we also do not have the privacy options configured correctly (show the phone, profile photos, etc ...), we may be giving too much information to those unknown people. For this reason, it is worth knowing the privacy parameters that we can configure in Telegram to avoid displeasure.


Telegram privacy parameters

To access the security options we must open the Telegram menu and enter the settings. Then access "Privacy and security" and once inside we have the following options:


Blocked Contacts:


In this option we can block the people we do not want to contact us. It is an interesting option if we see that some unknown person begins to bother us.


Phone number:


Here we can choose who we want our phone number to go to. Everyone, my contacts or no one. We can also add exceptions so that some specific users can see or not see our phone number.


Last time online:


This option shows the last time we have been connected or if we are online. As in the previous option, we can configure it so that everyone, our contacts or nobody can see it. We can also set exceptions.


Profile picture:


We can choose that the profile photo can be seen by all or only our contacts. We can add exceptions, but in this case only if we want some contact to not have access to our photo.


Forwarded messages:


This function enables who can add a link to my account when forwarding my messages. As in the previous options, it can be allowed to be done by everyone, my contacts or no one. It also allows us to add exceptions.


Calls:


This option allows you to configure who can call us. It allows us again to be called by everyone, my contacts or no one and allows us to add exceptions. Although in this case an option called Peer-to-peer is added and if we deactivate it, all calls will go through the Telegram servers to avoid giving our IP address.


Groups and channels:


One of the most used function in Telegram is the use of groups and channels. From this option we can configure who can add us to groups and channels. All or my contacts.


Archive and mute chats from strangers

It is important to have the privacy settings correctly configured because it is what will be shown to people who have a conversation with us. And it is important because once we have activated the "Find people" option we can no longer deactivate it. We can only choose if we want to make ourselves visible or stop showing ourselves.


What we can do take advantage of one of the options that Telegram added a short time ago. The one to silence and archive new chats of strangers. With this function, anyone who is not in our contact list and who wants to start a conversation with us is silenced. To activate this function we have to enter the menu and go to "Privacy and Security" and activate the option to Archive and silence New chats of strangers.

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