Telegram Bot

Once it is connected, nobody gets in without completing age verification first. Groups and private channels are set up slightly differently, so start with the one you have.

Before you start

• A Telegram group or private channel you own or administer.
  For a group, private or public. For a channel, it must be private.
• An AgeWallet account
  Each client connects one group. Create one client for each group you want to age-gate.
  New to AgeWallet: start with Account Creation, then Register Your Client.
• Fully integrated in about ten minutes.

Which do you have?

Two quick integration methods depending on your Telegram setup: Group or Channel

Connecting your group

Anyone who asks to join your group must complete age verification before they are admitted.

1. Create a client for the group

In your AgeWallet dashboard, add a new client and:

• Name it after the group it will protect.
• Tick This client is for a Telegram group or channel — not a website or an app.
• Choose your industry. This sets the minimum age.
• Optional: if new members should go on to another bot, such as a registration bot, enter it under After verification, send people to. Paste its link, such as https://t.me/YourRegistrationBot, or type its username, such as @YourRegistrationBot.
• Optional: tick Let that bot decide when people join the group if that bot, not AgeWallet, should decide when people are let in. See Worth knowing below.
• Save.

Ticking the box configures the technical settings for you, so those fields are removed from the form.

2. Copy the bind command

Open the AgeWallet client again from your client list. Find the read-only field Telegram Group Bind Code and copy the whole line:

/bind@AgeWalletVerifyBot 3CYR-TY82-Z80G-0000-31NA-QMZK

Your code will be different. Copy the entire line, including the part before the space.

3. In Telegram, create an invite link that requires approval

Open your group, tap its name, then the edit or pencil button. Under Invite Links, create a link and switch on Request Admin Approval.

People who use a link without this setting join immediately, and no verification takes place.

If your group has a public link, also turn on Approve New Members in the group’s settings. Without it, people can join through the public link without being verified.

4. Add the AgeWallet bot

In the same group, choose Add Members and search for:

@AgeWalletVerifyBot

5. Make the bot an administrator

Go to Administrators, then Add Admin, and select the bot. Switch on Add Users and leave the other permissions off. Save.

6. Send the bind command in the group

Paste the line you copied in step 2 into the group as a message and send it.

The bot checks that you are an administrator, connects the group, and replies to confirm. If it cannot, its reply states the reason.

7. Share the invite link wherever you’d like

Distribute the invite link from step 3. Everyone who joins through it is verified first.

What someone joining will see

If the bot refuses

"Only an owner or administrator of this group can connect it to AgeWallet"
The command was sent from an account that is not an administrator of the group. Send it from one that is.

"I'm not an administrator with the Add Users right" or "I couldn't check who administers this group"
The bot is in the group without the Add Users permission. Return to step 5.

"That bind code has expired"
A code stops working seven days after the client page showed it. Reload the client page in AgeWallet and copy the new one.

"That bind code isn't valid"
The line was partially copied. Copy it again in full, including the part before the space, and resend.

No reply at all
The bot is not in the group, or the command was sent more than three times within ten minutes. Check steps 4 and 5, wait ten minutes, and send the full line from step 2 once.

Worth knowing

The connection does not expire. Only the bind code expires, seven days after the client page showed it. Once a group is connected it stays connected, including when Telegram upgrades it to a supergroup while the bot is in it, and the command does not need to be sent again.

Each client connects one group. Sending a client’s bind command in a different group connects that group instead, and the first group stops being age-gated. The bot’s reply names the group it replaced. You must be an administrator of both groups, unless the first group has been deleted or no longer has the bot in it.

If the bot is removed from the group, add it back as an administrator with Add Users. If people who ask to join are still not sent a verification link, send the bind command in the group again.

Removing the client in AgeWallet stops verification. People who ask to join are no longer sent a verification link or admitted. To keep the group gated, first connect it to a new client, or to one that is not gating a group.

Every person verifies each time they ask to join. A previous verification is not reused.

With a next bot set, your bot needs no changes. People are let into the group first, then shown a Continue button to the link you set. It opens your bot exactly as your own link does. You can add, change or remove the link later on the client page. Leave it empty if there is no next step.

To have your bot decide when people join, turn on Let that bot decide when people join the group on the client page. AgeWallet then verifies each person but waits to let them in. After saving, open the client again from your client list to see the address your bot must use. When your bot has finished with a person, it opens that address with the person’s Telegram user ID added, and AgeWallet lets them in. Your bot needs a step that can send a web request. A person who verified more than 7 days before your bot opens the address needs to ask to join again.

A registration bot can also come before AgeWallet. At the end of registration, have it give out the invite link from step 3. Everyone who uses that link is still age-verified. Registration itself is not required this way, because an invite link can be shared.

Existing members are not verified. Verification applies to people who ask to join after the group is connected.

Two actions bypass verification: adding a member directly, and approving a pending request manually in Telegram. Both are available to group administrators.

Connecting your private channel

Works for a channel sold with a monthly Telegram Stars subscription, and for a free private channel. You do not need to create a group, and your Stars still go to your channel.

1. Create a client for the channel

In your AgeWallet dashboard, add a new client and:

• Name it after the channel it will protect.
• Tick This client is for a Telegram group or channel — not a website or an app.
• Under What are you age-gating on Telegram?, choose A private Telegram channel.
• Monthly subscription price (Telegram Stars): if you charge a subscription, enter your monthly price in Stars, for example 1200. If your channel is free to join, leave it empty.
• Choose your industry. This sets the minimum age.
• Save.

Ticking the box configures the technical settings for you, so those fields are removed from the form.

2. Get the connect link onto your phone

Open the client again from your client list. Find the read-only field Telegram channel connect link. It looks like this:

https://t.me/AgeWalletVerifyBot?start=b_3CYRTY82Z80G000031NAQMZK

Yours will be different. Open it on the phone where you manage your channel, for example by emailing it to yourself and tapping it there.

3. Choose your channel

The link opens a chat with the AgeWallet bot. Tap Start, then tap Choose your channel and pick your channel.

Telegram adds the AgeWallet bot to your channel as an admin for you, so you do not need to add it yourself. The bot replies Done to confirm. If it cannot connect the channel, its reply states the reason.

4. Share the right link

In the same group, choose Add Members and search for:

@AgeWalletVerifyBot

5. Make the bot an administrator

Go to Administrators, then Add Admin, and select the bot. Switch on Add Users and leave the other permissions off. Save.

What someone joining a paid channel will see

What someone joining a free channel will see

If the bot refuses

"Only an owner or administrator of this channel can connect it to AgeWallet"
The channel was chosen from an account that is not an owner or admin of it. Open the connect link on the phone with your channel’s owner or admin account.

"I'm not an admin of that channel with the Add Subscribers right"
Telegram did not give the bot the permission it needs. In the channel’s Administrators, give AgeWalletVerifyBot the Add Subscribers permission (it may be called Invite Users), then open the connect link again.

"That connect link has expired" or "That choice has timed out"
A connect link works for seven days after the client page showed it, and the choice must be made within fifteen minutes of tapping Start. Reload the client page in AgeWallet and open the new link.

"That connect link isn't valid"
The link was cut short when it was copied. Copy it again in full from the client page.

"That link is for a Telegram group client"
The client was created for a group, not a channel. Create a new client and choose A private Telegram channel.

Your channel isn't in the list when you tap Choose your channel
The list only shows private channels where you can add admins. Make sure the channel has no public link, and that you are its owner or an admin allowed to add admins.

Worth knowing

Subscriptions are monthly. Telegram only offers monthly subscriptions for channels. The price can be from 1 to 10,000 Stars.

The price in AgeWallet is what new subscribers pay. If you change it, links given out after the change use the new price. Someone who was already given a link keeps that link’s price until they verify again.

Your Stars go to your channel, exactly as with a subscription link you make yourself.

People already in your channel are not asked to verify again. If they open your AgeWallet link, the bot tells them they’re already a subscriber.

A subscriber who leaves can come back without verifying again while their subscription is still active, from Settings, Telegram Stars, My subscriptions in Telegram. If they use your AgeWallet link instead, they are asked to verify again, and Telegram lets them back in on the subscription they already have without charging them again.

Existing subscribers are not verified. Verification applies to people who subscribe or join after the channel is connected.

The connection does not expire, and each client connects one channel. Opening a client’s connect link and choosing a different channel connects that channel instead, and the first one stops being age-gated.

If the bot is removed from the channel, open the connect link from the client page again and choose the channel. Telegram adds the bot back.

Adding someone to the channel yourself bypasses verification, as does sharing any invite link other than the one described in step 4.