Does Flashback see groups and channels?

No. The bot gets only the private chats you chose; Telegram does not pass groups or channels to it.

How can I find out who deleted a message in a group?

Only an admin can see it, in the Recent Actions log, which keeps actions for the last 48 hours. An ordinary member has no such view.

Can I see a deleted channel post?

An admin can try to find it in the channel’s action log while it is still recent. Others cannot, and a bot will not help.

Deleted messages in Telegram channels and groups

Updated October 27, 2026

An ordinary member cannot see messages deleted in a group or channel, and the Flashback bot will not help: it works only with the private chats you connected. Admins are the exception: Telegram keeps deleted supergroup messages and the original versions of edited messages for 48 hours and shows them to admins in the Recent Actions log. After two days they disappear from there too.

Open in Telegram

Telegram opens. No Premium needed, and the bot will see only the private chats you choose.

Why a bot does not see groups and channels

Flashback connects through Chat Automation, and that passes only private chats to the bot. On top of that, in the list of Bot API updates a deletion notice exists only for connected accounts: Telegram does not tell a bot that a message was deleted in a group or channel. So a bot that shows such messages after the fact is not possible, and an app that promises it should not get your login code.

What an admin sees

In 2017 Telegram added a Recent Actions log to the admins section: it keeps the service actions in the group for the last 48 hours and is visible to admins only. For supergroups it includes the messages deleted in those 48 hours and the original versions of edited messages. Telegram’s privacy policy confirms this: deleted supergroup messages and the original versions of edits are kept for 48 hours so they can be shown to admins.

What the log does not show

Anything older than 48 hours: it drops out. The log is visible to admins only, and an ordinary member cannot open it. For channels Telegram describes an action log, but the documentation does not state how long the content of deleted posts is kept, and for ordinary (non-super) groups the 48-hour storage is not described at all. What exactly your app shows, check on your own device.

What an ordinary member can do

You delete your own message in a group for everyone, as Telegram’s FAQ says. Other people’s messages in a group are deleted only by admins. If a message vanished and you need to know why, ask an admin to open Recent Actions before two days pass. A member cannot get deleted messages back on their own.

If you are an admin

Open the log as soon as you notice a deletion: the retention is short. Take a screenshot of the entry if you will need it later. The log shows the earlier content, but it does not put it back into the chat.

What about private chats?

For private conversations there is a way: a bot connected through Chat Automation saves messages from the moment you connect and sends a card when the other person deletes a message for both. More on the page about seeing deleted messages.

Past deletions are gone. The next ones you can see

Connect Flashback before something important gets erased. The bot walks you through connecting step by step, and you can disconnect it at any time.