When was this Telegram channel created:
Paste a channel's username, t.me link or numeric ID. Telegram issues channel IDs from blocks that change every few months, so the ID tells you when the channel was born.
How it works
Every Telegram channel and supergroup has a numeric ID that never changes, even when the channel is renamed or sold. Until late 2017 Telegram issued these IDs in order. Since then it draws each new ID at random from a block of 100 to 250 million and moves to a fresh block every few months, one block at a time.
We mapped every block from 247,850 channels whose posts we could date. The block an ID falls into gives the period the channel was created in. The method, the checks and what the blocks reveal about Telegram's history are in our research article.
A channel older than its own name was renamed. That is how we found the 81 channels called ChatGPT that predate ChatGPT; see lookalike channels of popular brands.
How precise it is
The answer is a period, not a day. For channels created since mid-2021 it is usually two to eight months. Channels created between November 2017 and June 2021 can only be placed in that whole span, because Telegram drew from one wide range for those years. IDs issued after September 2025 are not mapped yet.
What it is useful for
A name and a picture can be copied in a minute, an ID cannot. If a channel calls itself the official account of a project but its ID was issued years before the project existed, it was created as something else and renamed. The same check works for channels that claim to have been around since a given year.
The blocks
| Channel ID | Created between | Order inside the block |
|---|---|---|
| 1.00B–1.10B | Sep 2015 – Jan 2017 | Sequential |
| 1.10B–1.15B | Jan 2017 – Nov 2017 | Sequential |
| 1.15B–1.40B | Nov 2017 – Jun 2021 | Random |
| 1.40B–1.50B | Oct 2018 – Jun 2021 | Random |
| 1.50B–1.60B | Jun 2021 – Oct 2021 | Random |
| 1.60B–1.80B | Oct 2021 – Sep 2022 | Random |
| 1.80B–1.90B | Sep 2022 – Mar 2023 | Random |
| 1.90B–1.99B | Mar 2023 – Sep 2023 | Random |
| 1.99B–2³¹ | Sep 2023 – May 2024 | Random |
| 2³¹–2.25B | May 2024 – Aug 2024 | Random |
| 2.25B–2.50B | Aug 2024 – Feb 2025 | Random |
| 2.50B–2.70B | Feb 2025 – May 2025 | Random |
| 2.70B–2.90B | May 2025 – Aug 2025 | Random |
| 2.90B–3.10B | Aug 2025 – Sep 2025 | Random |
| 3.10B–3.20B | after Sep 2025 | Random |
14 closed blocks and one still open in our data. 1.15B–1.40B and 1.40B–1.50B were used together from October 2018 to June 2021.
Step-by-step guide: how to find when a Telegram channel was created, with the topics where most channels are new. More checks: how to check a Telegram channel.
Questions
Can I find the exact day a Telegram channel was created?
Not from the ID alone. Since November 2017 Telegram picks each new channel ID at random inside the block in use, so the ID tells you the block, and the block tells you the period. For channels created since 2021 that period is a few months.
Where do I find a channel ID?
If the channel is in our index, its username or t.me link is enough. Otherwise use the numeric ID that bots and Telegram libraries return. In the Bot API it appears with a −100 prefix, for example −1001006503122; you can paste it as is.
Does it work for groups?
Supergroups share the same numbering as channels, so their IDs date the same way. Basic groups use a separate numbering and cannot be dated with this table.
How do you know when each block was used?
A channel cannot post before it exists, so its last post date is an upper limit on its creation date. Many channels go silent soon after they are created, and the earliest silences in each range of IDs mark when that range started being issued. The full method is in our research article.