Telegram proxy not connecting: what to check
Most of the time the proxy itself has died or been blocked. Free proxies come and go within days, so the fastest fix is to switch to one that worked a few minutes ago. If that does not help, go through the steps below in order.
Try a proxy that works right now
These three passed our last check 175 minutes ago. We recheck every proxy every 20 minutes and drop the ones that keep failing.
More in the live proxy list.
What the status means
| You see | What it means |
|---|---|
| “Unavailable” next to the proxy | The app tried the server and got no answer. The proxy is down or your network blocks it. |
| “Connecting…” that never ends | The app reaches nothing, or reaches the proxy but cannot get through to Telegram behind it. |
| Connected with a ping, but chats do not load | The proxy works but is overloaded, or your network slows it down. |
| “Waiting for network” | Your device has no internet at all. The proxy is not the problem. |
Fix it in this order
- Switch to another proxy. A proxy copied from a channel or a forum post is often days or weeks old. Only one in eight proxy and VPN channels with 1,000+ subscribers had posted in the 30 days before our August 2026 snapshot (12.5%), and many lists are never rechecked. Use a proxy from a list that is.
- Prefer dd or FakeTLS secrets over plain ones. Plain secrets are the easiest for blocking systems to recognise. FakeTLS is the hardest, but it is rare: 5% of the working proxies in our list, against 38% for dd. Try dd first. How the types differ.
- Check that the secret is complete. A secret cut short when copying is one of the most common reasons a proxy never connects. Plain secrets are 32 characters, dd secrets 34, FakeTLS secrets longer. The proxy link checker tells you if anything is missing.
- Change network. Switch between Wi-Fi and mobile data. Operators block differently: in Nepal, for example, mobile operators enforce the Telegram ban while many fixed-line providers do not.
- Turn off other VPN or proxy apps. Running two tunnels at once often breaks both.
- Set the date and time to automatic. Some FakeTLS servers reject devices whose clock is noticeably off.
- Update Telegram. Telegram changes its apps to get around blocking, as it did during the 2026 restrictions in Russia, so an old version can fail where a current one connects.
- If nothing connects on any network, your network may be blocking proxies broadly. Then a VPN is the next step: proxy or VPN.
Why free proxies stop working
A public proxy gets shared in channels with hundreds of thousands of subscribers, so it ends up carrying traffic for thousands of strangers. That makes it slow, and it makes it visible: blocking systems find popular proxies and add their addresses to block lists. Owners also switch servers off when they stop paying for them.
Operators respond by rotating addresses. Of the 200 working proxies we analysed, 39 used a domain name instead of a bare IP, and 27 of those names were built for Iranian users, often as random subdomains that can be swapped once one gets blocked. What 200 working proxies look like.