One-off broadcast

A one-off broadcast is for the things you say once and to everyone: “live stream tomorrow”, “sale until Sunday”, “we have moved”. One message, one send — and the numbers on who received it.

If you need several messages spread over days, that is a chain.

Where to create one

On a phone there is a single door: the Chats section, the round paper-plane button in the top right — New broadcast. Broadcasts slide out in a sheet: at the top you switch between Create a broadcast and Journal, below is the list of what you have already sent.

On a computer broadcasts have their own item in the left menu — Broadcasts: the list of broadcasts and the “+” button are there, and the selected broadcast opens next to them.

Until you have any, the list carries a prompt: “No broadcasts yet. One message from your bot — to all your subscribers or just the users you pick. It goes out right away or on the day and hour you choose.”

Broadcasts work in Telegram only.

Step “Who gets it”

Two rows:

• Bot — the bot the message goes out as.
• Who gets it — tapping it opens the audience screen.

The “Who gets it” screen

At the top is the count in words: “1 234 users will get it”, “Counting…” while we work it out, “Nobody gets it yet” when no one matches. Below that a search box (name, handle, phone or email) and the list of users, shown in the same rows as Contacts.

The Filter button opens the conditions:

• Finished the bot — tick the bots. Then “How it went” (“Any”, “Reached the goal”, “Did not reach the goal within a day”) and “When they went through” — a range of days; pick nothing and it means all time.
• Never went through the bot — “we take users who never talked to any of the bots you pick”.
• Got the message — your past broadcasts and chain messages; “we take those the message was delivered to”.
• Has the label — the user must have all of the selected ones.
• No label — none of the selected ones.

Reset sits at the bottom of the sheet. The count and the list update immediately.

The Select button turns on tick boxes: pick users one by one, or use Select all and Deselect all. The header shows “12 of 1 234 selected”. You can pick up to five thousand users by hand — beyond that, narrow it down with conditions.

The footnote is always there: “We do not write to users who stopped the bot or asked not to be messaged — they are not on this list.”

Step “Message”

A single Message row opens the window where the whole message is assembled: text, photo, video, GIF, voice message, video note, audio, file, album and buttons. The row shows what is inside: “Text”, “Photo, caption, buttons (2)”, “Voice message”. Empty means “Not filled in”, and the form will not move on: “Write the message text or attach an image.”

It is the same window a chain uses — the kinds of attachment, text formatting, button rows and button colours are covered in The message window. Whatever you type there is kept no matter how you leave: with the tick or with the “‹” arrow.

The buttons are the same as in a chain: “Open a link”, “Add a label”, “Unsubscribe”, “Open a mini app”, each with a “What to reply” note. See Chain messages, section “Buttons under a message”.

Step “When”

A single Send row with two options:

• Right away — “After ‘Create’, press ‘Send’ and the message goes out.” The broadcast sits ready and waits for your button: open it in the list and press Send.
• At a set time — the day and hour pickers come up straight away. “Goes out once at the moment you pick, in your time.” Underneath it says which clock we use: “Times follow your clock (Europe/London, UTC+1). You can change this any time.”

A moment in the past cannot be chosen: “That time has passed — pick another one.”

What you see afterwards

After “Create” you land back in the Bots list with the new broadcast at the top. Tap it and its page with the numbers opens:

• Sent, Delivered, Not delivered, Tapped a button. Below them: “Who did not get it and why — in the list below.”
• The Send and Stop buttons. While it is going out, the numbers refresh themselves. On the free plan a “Pro” badge stands next to Send: you can build and save the broadcast, and it is sent on the Pro plan.
• The status: “Draft”, “Scheduled”, “Sending”, “Done”, “Stopped”. In the list next to it: “Sent 320 · reached 311”.

In each recipient’s conversation a note stays — “Broadcast sent” — and the message itself sits in the thread as yours.

Why sending is not instant

A broadcast goes out at an even pace, not in one burst: a thousand messages in a second is the surest way to annoy the platform and get the bot limited. So with a large audience sending takes time and the Sent number climbs as you watch. Nothing is lost and the order is kept.

People who blocked or stopped the bot get nothing — they never make it into the selection in the first place. More about this: Telegram specifics, the section “Private messages under heavy load”.

Why sending may not start

• “Nobody matches the chosen conditions — there is no one to send to” — widen or narrow the conditions on the “Who gets it” screen.
• “Too many recipients at once — narrow the conditions.”
• “The broadcast is off. Turn it on and you will be able to send.”
• “This broadcast is not finished yet — open it and complete the setup.”
• Free plan. Broadcasts are sent on the Pro plan. You can build and save a broadcast now; sending opens once Pro is connected.

Common questions

Can I send the same broadcast twice? No, a one-off broadcast goes out once. Need a repeat — create a new one; putting the message together again takes a minute.

Does a broadcast reach someone who stopped the bot? No. Those users, and anyone with “Do not message” switched on, are left out of the audience entirely.