Telegram Bot Not Responding? 10 Fixes for /start, Commands and Group Messages (2026)

You send /start, and… nothing. Or the bot works in private chats but ignores your group. Or it worked yesterday and stopped today. A Telegram bot that doesn't respond almost always comes down to one of a handful of causes — and most can be found in a few minutes with the right checks.

Step 0: Run Two Quick Diagnostics

Replace <TOKEN> with your bot token and open these in a browser:

• https://api.telegram.org/bot<TOKEN>/getMe — if this returns your bot's details, the token works. If it says "Unauthorized", the token is wrong or revoked.
• https://api.telegram.org/bot<TOKEN>/getWebhookInfo — shows whether a webhook is set, the last_error_message, and pending_update_count (messages waiting to be delivered).

10 Reasons a Telegram Bot Stops Responding (and Fixes)

1. The bot's program isn't running

A bot only responds while its code runs somewhere. If you started it in a terminal and closed it, or the server restarted, it's offline. Run it under a process manager (systemd, Docker with restart policy, or PM2) so it restarts automatically. See where to host a Telegram bot.

2. Wrong or revoked token

If getMe returns "Unauthorized", get the current token from @BotFather (/mybots → your bot → API Token) and update it in your server's environment variables. If someone else had access to the old token, revoke it.

3. Webhook errors

If getWebhookInfo shows a last_error_message (for example SSL errors, timeouts or "Wrong response from the webhook: 502 Bad Gateway"), Telegram can't reach your server. Check that the URL is HTTPS with a valid certificate, the server is up, it uses an allowed port (443, 80, 88 or 8443), and your app responds quickly with HTTP 200.

4. 409 Conflict — two things receiving updates

The error "Conflict: terminated by other getUpdates request" means two copies of your bot are polling at once — often an old process still running, or the same bot on your laptop and server. The error about using getUpdates while a webhook is active means you're mixing polling and webhooks. Stop the duplicate, or call deleteWebhook before polling.

5. Privacy mode in groups ("has no access to messages")

By default, bots in groups only see commands, replies to their own messages and mentions. If your bot needs to read every message (moderation, keyword replies), open @BotFather → /setprivacy → choose your bot → Disable, then remove and re-add the bot to the group. Making the bot an admin also lets it see messages.

6. Commands not handled or registered

If /start works but another command doesn't, the code may not have a handler for it, or there's a typo. Register commands with setMyCommands (or /setcommands in BotFather) so they appear in the menu — and remember that in groups commands may arrive as /command@yourbot.

7. The code crashes on certain messages

An unhandled error — an unexpected message type, a missing field, a database timeout — can stop the bot or make it skip messages. Check your logs, add error handling, and log every incoming update while debugging.

8. Rate limits (429 errors)

If the bot sends too many messages too fast, Telegram answers with 429 and a retry_after value, and messages seem to vanish. Pace outgoing messages through a queue — see Telegram Bot API rate limits.

9. The user blocked the bot or never started it

Bots can't message users who haven't pressed Start or who blocked the bot — you'll see "Forbidden: bot was blocked by the user" or "bot can't initiate conversation with a user". That's expected; handle the error and move on.

10. Missing permissions in groups or channels

To post in a channel the bot must be an admin with permission to post; to delete messages or ban users in a group it needs those admin rights. Check the bot's admin permissions.

Quick Troubleshooting Table

The Bottom Line

When a Telegram bot stops responding, start with getMe and getWebhookInfo, then check that exactly one copy is running, privacy mode suits your group, and errors are logged. Most bots are back online within minutes. For a fresh start, see how to create a Telegram bot.

Frequently Asked Questions