Using the Telegram Bot

Run movie night polls inside Telegram groups, with the poll setup handled privately in your DM with the bot. Voting is free for everyone in the group; hosting polls requires a Pro account.

Adding the bot to a group

Go to the Telegram integration page and tap Add to a Telegram group. Telegram opens a group picker — choose the group you want the bot in. The bot arrives with a quiet welcome message DM'd only to you.

You can also start by tapping Open DM with bot to try the bot before adding it to a group — you can run /newpoll directly in the DM and the poll will post in the DM (handy for testing).

Linking your account

Hosting polls requires a Movie Night Polls Pro account linked to your Telegram identity. Open the bot's DM and run /link. The bot replies with a one-time URL valid for 15 minutes — tap it, sign in to Movie Night Polls, and your accounts are linked. Linking only works in DM; running /link in a group quietly redirects you to open a DM.

Not on Pro yet? See Pro features and upgrade before linking.

Creating a poll

In a group with the bot, send /newpoll. The bot DMs you to set the poll up privately so the back-and- forth doesn't clutter the group, then posts the finished poll back into the group when you submit.

The wizard walks you through four steps in DM:

1. Send a title.
2. Send a description, or type skip.
3. Send your film titles, one per line (up to 25 for Pro).
4. Toggle poll options (unlisted, anonymous, dark mode, votes per person) using inline-keyboard buttons, then hit Create poll.

You can also run /newpoll directly in the bot's DM — the finished poll posts in the DM rather than a group.

Preview before publish

The options/settings step doubles as a preview: it shows you the full list of matched films and any titles TMDB couldn't resolve before you publish. Hit Cancel and run /newpoll again with corrected spellings if you want to retry — year hints like Heat 1995 help nail down ambiguous titles.

Voting

Voters tap a movie button in the poll message to cast a vote. No account or linking required — anyone in the group can vote. The poll message updates in place with new tallies, and voters get a brief toast confirmation with their vote progress.

Closing a poll

When you're ready to announce the winner, open the bot's DM and send /close. The bot shows your open polls as a picker — tap one. The bot posts a celebration message in the original group with the winning movie's poster. Tied polls show a private tie resolver: tap to crown a movie or accept the tie.

You can also run /close from a group — the bot quietly redirects you to its DM so the picker buttons stay private.

Sharing a poll

Run /share in the chat you want to share a poll into. The bot DMs you a picker with your recent polls — tap one and the bot posts that poll back into the original chat. Vote tallies stay in sync across every chat and every platform the poll appears in, and closing once announces the result everywhere.

Cancelling a wizard

If you started a /newpoll wizard and want to abandon it, send /cancel in the DM. Wizards auto-expire after 30 minutes of inactivity.

Unlinking

Run /unlink in the bot's DM to disconnect your Telegram identity from your Movie Night Polls account. You can re-link any time.

Troubleshooting

The bot didn't respond to /newpoll in my group. Check that the bot is still a member (Telegram sometimes shows removed bots in autocomplete briefly). Also confirm you're linked — open the bot DM and run /link if not.

The bot can't DM me. If you've never DM'd the bot, Telegram blocks the bot from initiating the conversation. Tap the Open DM with bot button from the group nudge, send any message (or /start), then try the group flow again.

The bot couldn't find one of my titles. TMDB doesn't recognize every spelling. Add a year hint or try a more canonical title.