telegramdesktop/tdesktop

This repository holds the complete source code and build instructions for the official Telegram messenger desktop client, a native application built on the Telegram API and the MTProto secure protocol rather than a web wrapper telegramdesktop/tdesktop README. It matters most to two groups: people who want the official desktop messaging app, and developers or distributors who need to build, package or inspect it themselves.

What you get

Users get the Telegram account and messaging experience in a dedicated desktop program. Prebuilt downloads are provided for Windows 7 and later (32- and 64-bit, with portable variants), macOS 10.13 and later, and a 64-bit static Linux build; Snap and Flatpak packages exist for Linux as well supported systems. Those packages are the ordinary route for someone who just wants the app.

Using the source

Building it yourself follows three separate documented paths — Windows, macOS, and GNU/Linux via Docker build instructions. The codebase is C++ and pulls in a substantial third-party stack: patched Qt 6 or Qt 5.15, OpenSSL, WebRTC, FFmpeg, Crashpad, CMake and Ninja, among others third-party list. That list is a meaningful practical constraint: a self-built client is not a small, dependency-free compile, and each path has its own environment assumptions rather than one shared recipe.

A concrete workflow is therefore: choose the target platform, install the toolchain its build document calls for, compile, then point the resulting client at a Telegram account. End users can skip all of this and use the published binaries instead download page.

Supported systems and older hardware

Support for old systems is pinned to explicit last-supported releases rather than current builds. Version 4.9.9 was the final build for macOS 10.12 and Linux with glibc older than 2.28; 2.4.4 was the final release for OS X 10.10/10.11 and the 64-bit? no — 32-bit Linux static build; and 1.8.15 was the last for Windows XP/Vista and OS X 10.6–10.9 old system versions. Anyone on those systems must use the archived installer for their version and cannot expect the latest client or its fixes.

Licensing

The source is published under GPLv3 with an OpenSSL exception README. That governs redistribution and derived builds, so anyone planning to ship a modified client should read the licence text rather than assume the app is freely relicensable. The README does not describe client-side encryption guarantees beyond referencing the MTProto protocol, so this overview makes no broader privacy claim.

HotRepo's take

The project was observed once on the GitHub daily board on 2026-10-31 at 33,411 stars, a +15 daily gain [HotRepo history]. Single observation is recorded, so it does not establish a trend in either direction. The relevance is simply that this is the maintained official source behind a widely used desktop client, not an alternative implementation.