When logging into a Telegram account, the app requests a one-time code, which consists of five or six digits. In this article, we tell about the issues that a user may face when receiving such codes.

1. How can authorization codes be received?

The Telegram platform can send this code to the user in different ways:

• If the account already has an active session (i.e. the account has already been logged in on some device in some application), then the authorization code will come to this session from the Telegram service account. In this case, the application displays the «Didn’t get the code?» button, with which the user can sometimes request the code on the SIM card.
• If there are no devices with an active session, the code will be sent to the SIM card either as a phone call or an SMS message.
• If the Telegram has previously switched the user to authorization by email, then the code will come to the email address that was specified as the login email. By the way, codes come to this address even when the account has active sessions: in this case, the code is sent both to sessions and to email.

2. Sending a code to another session

If, when you log in to your account, the application shows the message “We sent a code via Telegram to another device where … is authorized”, then there can be only two problems:

2.1. The code did not arrive in another session

Sometimes users find themselves in a situation where

1. They have devices where the account is already logged in to.
2. They try to log in to their account on a new device or in a new app.
3. The app from step 2 says that the code has been sent to another device, but the code does not arrive.

We do not know for sure why this might happen. We recommend trying the following:

1. Try to log in to your account in another app (Telegram from Google Play, Telegram from the official website or Telegram X) and/or from another device. This can help if the Telegram server for some reason does not trust the device or app you are trying to log in to your account from. In this case, reinstalling the app can also help.
2. Wait a few hours and try again. This can help if the code does not come due, for example, to some internal platform failure.

2.2. No other sessions

Sometimes the user knows for sure that there are no other sessions (for example, he just manually terminated them), but the application still reports that the code was sent to another session. In this case, waiting a few dozen minutes or a few hours usually helps.

3. The application says that the code was sent as a call or SMS, but the code does not arrive

The user enters their phone number, the app indicates that the code has been sent, but then nothing happens: neither a call nor an SMS message is received.

We are going to explain all the conditions and measures that can affect the delivery of a one-time code outlined in three sections.

3.1. Required conditions

If any of these requirements are not met, it’s likely that receiving (and sometimes even requesting) the code will not be possible