Telegram alerts

MacWatcher can send capture alerts and photos to a private Telegram chat through a bot that you create and control. Amrah Studio does not receive your bot token, alert messages, or photos.

Set it up

1. In Telegram, open @BotFather.
2. Send /newbot and follow BotFather’s prompts.
3. Copy the bot token BotFather gives you.
4. In MacWatcher, open Settings → Delivery → Telegram.
5. Paste the bot token and click Generate QR.
6. Scan the QR code with your phone, or click Open Telegram on your Mac.
7. Tap Start in Telegram.
8. Wait for MacWatcher to show that Telegram is paired, then send a test message.

MacWatcher accepts only a private one-to-one bot chat during pairing. Groups, channels, and supergroups are ignored.

Harden the bot

For best privacy:

• Create a bot only for MacWatcher.
• Do not share the bot token, QR code, or pairing link.
• In BotFather, use /setjoingroups and disable adding the bot to groups.
• Keep privacy mode enabled.
• Do not enable inline mode for this bot.
• If the token is exposed, rotate it in BotFather and reconnect MacWatcher.

Telegram bot chats are private Telegram chats, but they are not end-to-end encrypted secret chats.

Delayed alerts

If your Mac is offline, MacWatcher keeps captures locally and queues Telegram delivery. When the Mac comes back online, delayed Telegram messages are labeled as delayed and include the original capture time.

The default behavior sends a summary first, then recent queued alerts. In advanced settings, you can send all queued alerts, review before sending, never send delayed alerts, limit how old queued alerts can be, limit how many are sent per reconnect, send selected queued alerts, or clear the Telegram queue.

Advanced manual setup

Use manual setup only for troubleshooting. It requires both a bot token and a private chat ID. The standard QR setup is safer because MacWatcher verifies the one-time pairing code for you.