tai/research/tui-framework-design/telegram-faq.md

Telegram FAQ — check semantics and online presence

Metadata

Field	Value
Institute	Molodetz Institute — Research & Retrieval Division
Subject	tui-framework-design
Document type	Source Dossier
Tier	1
Source title	Telegram FAQ
Source URL	https://telegram.org/faq
Source publisher / author	Telegram
Source type	vendor docs
Source date (published)	Unknown — not stated
Date researched	2026-10-11
Researched by	tai (agent), model: Muse Spark, on behalf of retoor
Research method	direct page fetch
Confidence	High
Status	Active

Summary

The official statement of Telegram's delivery-check semantics: one check means the message reached Telegram's cloud (and the recipient was notified if allowed), two checks mean it was read — there is deliberately no delivered-to-device state because of multi-device sync. Also the source for the online-presence grace rule.

Key findings

• One check mark: the message was sent to the Telegram cloud and the recipient was notified if notifications are allowed.
• Two check marks: the message was read by the recipient (checks then render blue on the sender's side).
• There is no delivered-to-device state: with multi-device sync, cloud receipt is the only meaningful intermediate state.
• A user shows as online for roughly 30 seconds after sending, reading, or typing activity, regardless of privacy settings.

Pros / strengths

• Official and unambiguous on the exact question it answers; kills any "sent vs delivered" guessing.
• The multi-device rationale explains why the state machine is clock/one-check/two-checks and nothing else.

Cons / limitations / caveats

• FAQ-level brevity: states the semantics but gives no client rendering detail (glyphs, colors, placement).
• Only the check/presence subset of the page was synthesized; the rest of the FAQ was not mined for this subject.

Relevance to tai

Settles the per-message status vocabulary tai's transcript rows should implement: sending clock, single check, blue double check, and no delivered state to ever design for.

Changelog

Date	Change
2026-10-11	Initial dossier created.