How to add a bot to a Telegram Group? - bots

Question

I've been trying to add a bot to my Telegram group in Android Device but I am not able to do so. I tried #bot_name, /bot_name, but it doesn't work.
Is it possible to add a bot to the group or should I create a new bot using Telegram API (not bot API) so that I can add the contact number to the group?

Answer 1

Edit: now there is yet an easier way to do this - when creating your group, just mention the full bot name (eg. #UniversalAgent1Bot) and it will list it as you type. Then you can just tap on it to add it.
Old answer:
Create a new group from the menu. Don't add any bots yet
Find the bot (for instance you can go to Contacts and search for it)
Tap to open
Tap the bot name on the top bar. Your page becomes like this:
Now, tap the triple ... and you will get the Add to Group button:
Now select your group and add the bot - and confirm the addition

Answer 2

You have to use #BotFather, send it command: /setjoingroups
There will be dialog like this:
YOU: /setjoingroups
BotFather: Choose a bot to change group membership
settings.
YOU: #YourBot
BotFather: 'Enable' - bot can be added to groups. 'Disable' - block
group invitations, the bot can't be added to groups. Current status
is: DISABLED
YOU: Enable
BotFather: Success! The new status is: ENABLED.
After this you will see button "Add to Group" in your bot's profile.

Answer 3

Another way :
change BOT_USER_NAME before use
https://telegram.me/BOT_USER_NAME?startgroup=true

Answer 4

In my case the 2 steps worked:
Added bot to a group as a regular member
Made Bot an admin.
The second step was needed to let Bot respond and sent messages to Group chat.
The response event.postData.contents looked like this:
{
"ok":true,
"result":{
"message_id":31,
"from":{
"id":1234567890,
"is_bot":true,
"first_name":"bot for custom alerts",
"username":"mybotname1_bot"
},
"chat":{
"id":-1234567890,
"title":"group name",
"type":"group",
"all_members_are_administrators":true
},
"date":1624860599,
"text":"hi"
}
}
I needed to receive the chat id (negative number from response) to send messages to the group by Bot.