Getting started
You need a Telegram account and a channel you can add administrators to. The whole setup takes a few minutes.
Step 1. Sign in
Bloggram has no passwords. Telegram confirms who you are. You can start from the website or from Telegram, and both take you to the same dashboard.
From the website
- Open https://app.bloggram.lol/. The sign-in page shows a link to open Telegram.
- In Telegram, open @bloggygram_bot and send
/start. - The bot answers with an Open Bloggram button. Tap it.
- Bloggram shows "You are signing in as the Telegram account of" followed by your first name. Press Continue as and you're in.
The Open Bloggram button works once and expires after 10 minutes. The sign-in page itself stays valid for 5 minutes. If you see "That link has expired", send /start to the bot again.
From Telegram
Send any message to @bloggygram_bot. The bot replies with the same Open Bloggram button. You do not need to start on the website.
On Telegram Desktop
The sign-in page also has a Sign in with Telegram link. Open it, press Start in Telegram, then press Sign in. The bot message shows a short code. It must match the code on the website page. The page moves on by itself a few seconds later.
Your session lasts 30 days. To protect accounts, the bot sends at most 5 sign-in links per hour, and one Telegram account can confirm at most 10 sign-ins per hour.
Step 2. Add the bot to your channel
It has to be a channel. Bloggram ignores groups. How to tell them apart.
- Open your channel in Telegram and open Manage channel. Where that button is depends on your app and its version, so look in the channel's info page or its three-dot menu.
- Choose Administrators, then Add administrator.
- Search for @bloggygram_bot and select it.
- Keep Post messages and Edit messages of others switched on, then confirm.
On Telegram Desktop you can take a shortcut: the Choose a channel in Telegram link in the dashboard opens the channel picker with the bot and both permissions already set.
The person who adds the bot becomes the owner of the blog.
Step 3. See your blog
Bloggram creates the blog as soon as the bot becomes an administrator. Its address comes from your channel title, for example cafe-notes.bloggram.lol. If you've started the bot before, it also messages you the address and a link to the dashboard.
- A public channel, one with an @username, has its history imported in the background. The dashboard shows the import as queued, importing, imported or failed.
- A private channel has no public history to read, so the blog starts with the next post you publish.
- New posts appear within seconds.
- The blog is public. Posts from a private channel are visible to everyone who knows the address.
You can change the address at any time. See Your blog's address.
Limits
One account can own 3 blogs. There is also a cap of 50 new blogs a day across all of Bloggram. If that cap is reached, the bot tells you to add it again the next day.
Starting over
When you delete a blog in the dashboard, the bot leaves your channel. Add it as an administrator again to start a new blog. If it is still listed as an administrator, remove it first, because adding it while it is there does nothing. See Reconnecting.