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Telegram friend finder

Telegram friend finder after People Nearby

Telegram used to have a nearby list. They turned it off in 2024. If you are in a city tonight and you would like a human evening, this is the gentler version: people show as a city, and a hangout can drop a pin for the cafe.

By TravelBFF editors ·

City hangout instead of Telegram People Nearby

What is a telegram friend finder?

A telegram friend finder is a way to meet people you do not already have as contacts, without leaving Telegram. Official help pages still teach add-by-username and QR. That is not this. Telegram People Nearby used to be the live list. Contacts, then People Nearby, then Make Myself Visible. Telegram closed that list in 2024. TravelBFF is a Telegram Mini App that shows travellers already in your city and lets you start a hangout. Coffee, a walk, a night out. People are city only. A hangout has a meet pin so joiners can open maps. A trip is the other product: same country, same dates. Women-only is a room setting before anyone chats.

You already chat here. You want a face in this city. Maybe anyone who will leave the hostel with you. That is the friend-finder search. If you typed a dating search instead, the honest landing is telegram dating app. This page is city travellers and hangouts.

What was Telegram People Nearby?

It was a native Telegram screen, not a Mini App. You opted in. Other people who opted in showed up nearby. You could start a chat without handing over a phone number first.

Telegram built it so you could share contacts in person, then opened it up. Their post is still up: People Nearby 2.0.

Distance felt close. A bio was optional. The chat was already Telegram. That is why the words never died, even after the screen did.

Why do people still type telegram people nearby?

Telegram closed People Nearby in 2024. Pavel Durov blamed bots and scammers. The Guardian ran the same news: the feature had issues with bots and scammers. The screen is gone. The search is not.

You still want someone in this city. You still refuse a second store app. YouTube still teaches the old taps. So telegram people nearby keeps getting typed years after the native list closed. We did not rebuild that GPS list. We built a city list of travellers, plus hangouts with a pin.

Telegram friend finder vs the old GPS list

Here is the honest split. TravelBFF does not restore Telegram People Nearby. Nearby here means travellers already in your city, plus a hangout you can start or join.

Telegram People NearbyTravelBFF
What it isTelegram's old nearby listA telegram friend finder for travellers in your city
Why you open itSomeone close, tonight, on a live listCoffee, a walk, a hangout already in town
Where a person showsA live nearby radar you opted intoCity only. We discard the GPS after the snap.
Where a hangout showsThere was no hangout pinAn exact meet pin. Joiners can open maps.
Is it still around?No. Closed in 2024.Yes. Inside the Mini App.
Women-onlyNoYes, on a hangout or a trip. Self-declared.

So what do you actually see?

Open the Mini App. If you are already in a city, you can see other travellers there. Start a hangout or join one. Coffee. A walk. An hour at a market. A night out. That is for tonight. A trip is for the week you booked: same country, same dates, plan in chat.

GPS is requested, then discarded. The backend stores a city, not a live pin on you. Distance in the list is city-centroid plus fuzz. A hangout is different: the creator drops a meet pin, and joiners can open it in maps. Female-only hangouts hide that pin from people who are not marked female. The nearby list is capped by tier. More nearby on Donor and Premium. Walk through how it works. The location rule lives on safety.

Is a telegram friend finder safe?

A nearby list is still a first meet with a stranger. Telegram said bots and scammers liked the old live list. That is why they dropped it. Same rules as any first meet. Public place. Daylight if you can. A friend who knows where you are. No gift cards. No login codes. No "continue on my other account."

TravelBFF does not make that stranger safe. It changes what you share. You are not a glowing dot. You are a traveller in a named city, with an optional hangout pin, plus report and block. Report a user, a post, a trip, or a hangout. Block sits on direct chat. If someone then asks you to leave for a personal number, that is the classic Telegram scam. Stay. Report. Read safety before you treat a hangout as a guarantee.

Why a Mini App feels different

Advice columns treat "move to Telegram" as a red flag on Tinder. They are right when the next step is a personal chat with no brand. A live nearby radar had the same smell. A stranger. A distance. No public page.

This is a named Mini App from @travelbffbot, printed on this site. You did not follow "Anna 23" off a store app. If the person in the app then wants a different private chat, gift cards, or a code, stop.

Is this even for you?

You typed telegram friend finder or telegram people nearby because you are already in a city and you do not want another store app. Want coffee with a traveller tonight? Open a hangout. Want a roommate for a week you already booked? Set the country and dates on the travel companion app door. Want the how-to in one place? How to find travel friends. Country pages live under destinations. They are trip pages, not a live map.

Quick answers

Is this Telegram People Nearby?

No. That native Contacts screen closed in 2024. TravelBFF is a Mini App. Nearby here means city travellers and hangouts.

Is this a live GPS list?

No. People are city only. Hangouts have a meet pin. We do not restore the old radar.

Why talk about People Nearby at all?

Because that is what you typed. Hiding it sends you to old YouTube taps and romance bots. This page names the search and refuses the GPS list.

Do you store my exact location?

Not on you. GPS is discarded after the city snap. A hangout you create can store a pin for the meet. Details sit on safety.

Is the nearby list unlimited?

No. The nearby list is capped by tier. More nearby on Donor and Premium. We do not print a free count here because the screens do not all agree yet.

See who is nearby in Telegram

Skip the old GPS list. See travellers in your city and start a hangout. The nearby list is capped by tier.

Open it in Telegram