Viber and Telegram limits on messaging new contacts — how to write first without losing numbers

Outbound campaigns in messengers run on rules the platforms never publish. A number works for a week, brings in enquiries, then abruptly stops sending — and the rep only finds out when a customer never gets a reply. This article collects the practical limits Viber and Telegram apply to conversations with new contacts, drawn from the hundreds of thousands of messages that pass through E-chat every day. Here are the figures, the mechanics behind the restrictions, and the setups that keep numbers alive for months.

Key takeaways:

• On Viber a fresh number risks a ban as early as the 5th message to a stranger in a day, while the safe ceiling for a warmed-up number is around 20 new conversations per day

• On Telegram the sensible boundary is 20 new contacts a day for fresh numbers and up to 40 for numbers with history and steady messaging

• A reply removes the limits — once someone has answered you, conversations with them are unrestricted on both platforms

• Recipient complaints trigger bans faster than volume does, so list quality matters more than sending volume

• Telegram penalises in stages: first a pause of minutes, then hours, and only systematic violations cost the number permanently

• Starting a Telegram conversation by username is safer than by phone number and carries a higher daily allowance

Why messengers restrict messages to new contacts at all

Viber and Telegram share the same headache: bulk messages from strangers annoy users and make them delete the app. Both platforms therefore built anti-spam systems that watch behaviour more than volume. Message people you have known for years and hundreds of messages a day are fine. Start dozens of conversations with people who do not know you and the algorithm takes notice.

For a business that creates an awkward fork. On one hand, messaging first is necessary — confirming an order, reminding someone about an appointment, winning back a lapsed customer. On the other, the platform examines every such conversation closely. Knowing the limits turns that lottery into a manageable process.

There is good news too. The restrictions apply only to starting conversations. Once a person replies, the number earns a credit of trust for that contact and the rest of the exchange runs freely.

How anti-spam algorithms assess a number

Platforms assign every number an internal trust score. It is shaped by the number’s age in the system, the regularity of activity, the share of conversations that got replies and, above all, how recipients react. A single tap on “Report spam” weighs more than a dozen messages above the unwritten norm.

Uniformity counts as well. If 30 identical texts leave a number in a row at exactly 10-second intervals, the algorithm sees a robot. A real person writes unevenly, varies wording and takes pauses. The more natural the behaviour, the larger the margin of safety.

Freshness is a separate factor. A number registered yesterday is under heightened observation for its first weeks, and any active outreach from it almost guarantees a restriction.

Restriction versus ban

Two scenarios need to be kept apart. A restriction is temporary. Telegram, for example, simply forbids starting new conversations for anything from a few minutes to a couple of days, while inbound messages and existing conversations keep working. A ban means losing the number outright, and on Viber it arrives noticeably faster.

The practical conclusion is simple. A first restriction is a warning, not a verdict. Slow down, let the number rest, and it will keep working. Ignore the signal and continue at the same pace, and the next sanction will be harsher, possibly permanent.

Viber limits — figures and mechanics

Viber is stricter than Telegram about conversations with strangers, and mistakes cost more here. The platform publishes no exact thresholds, but the picture from the E-chat team’s observations is consistent. A fresh number can be banned as early as its 5th message to new people in a day. A number with history withstands more, but even for it the sensible ceiling is no more than 20 new conversations a day.

With customers who have replied at least once there are no limits at all. Long exchanges are fine, as are files up to 200 MB and messages up to 4,096 characters — Viber treats those conversations as wanted communication.

One more quirk. If a number was banned on Viber previously, a restored or new number on the same device starts with reduced trust. It has to operate under fresh-number rules or the second ban arrives quickly.

How many new conversations a Viber number can handle per day

The benchmarks look like this. A number under 2 weeks old: no more than 3–5 new conversations a day, ideally with breaks of an hour or so. A number over a month old with regular inbound activity: 10–15 conversations. A proven number that customers reliably reply to: up to 20, and that is the ceiling even with a perfect list.

The figures sound modest against sales ambitions, but the arithmetic of reliability applies. A number sending 15 first messages a day and surviving six months delivers 2,700 new conversations. A number that sent 100 messages and died on day 2 delivers 200, plus the cost of replacement and the conversations lost with it.

What gets a Viber number banned fastest

Roughly 90 % of bans come from starting too many conversations with people who have never messaged you. Recipient complaints come second. A handful of spam reports in a short window is enough to restrict even a warmed-up number.

Complaints are usually provoked by 3 things. A message with no introduction, so the person cannot tell who is writing or where their number came from. A pushy sales pitch in the opening line. And messaging people who have never interacted with the company at all — a list assembled from purchased data kills numbers faster than any volume limit.

Getting unbanned on Viber is close to hopeless. You can write to platform support, but in practice connecting a new number is easier than recovering the old one. So the entire strategy rests on prevention.

Personal number versus Viber business account

Viber offers official business accounts, and their rules only permit starting a conversation with people who have your contact saved in their address book. A fair use policy also applies, capped at around 10,000 messages a month for a small business account. Messaging a cold list first through a business account is prohibited outright, and a violation risks the entire account.

Working through an ordinary number connected to a CRM via a service such as E-chat allows you to start conversations within the limits described above. That is more flexible for sales but demands discipline, because the platform treats such a number as personal and applies its behavioural filters in full.

Telegram limits — figures and mechanics

Telegram is more tolerant of first messages and its penalty system is gentler and staged. The platform starts by imposing a pause during which you cannot message new people. At first that is minutes; with repeat violations it becomes hours and days; only sustained disregard ends in a permanent ban.

Based on E-chat’s experience the working benchmarks are these. For numbers without substantial history, up to 20 new contacts a day. For numbers that have been in the system a long time and carry consistently high conversation volume, up to 40. When you exceed the allowance, Telegram states in the delivery status how many seconds must pass before you can write again, which is convenient because the pause length is explicit.

The method of initiation affects the daily allowance. The platform treats conversations started by username more calmly than those started by phone number, and the limit is noticeably higher when working through usernames. Bulk initiation by phone number, by contrast, can add a separate restriction on sending through the API, where messaging a contact works from the mobile app but temporarily fails through a third-party service. The optimal break in that case is 4 to 24 hours.

What determines a number’s personal limit on Telegram

The platform weighs at least 4 factors. The number’s age in the system — the longer it has lived and communicated, the more it is allowed. The sending method — usernames carry a larger allowance than phone numbers. Recipient reaction — replies raise trust, while complaints and blocks destroy it immediately. And the evenness of activity — a steady daily rhythm is valued above a burst after a long silence.

Hence the warm-up practice. A new number benefits from 2–3 weeks of ordinary life: joining a few groups, messaging known contacts, sending media. Only then should it be eased into outbound campaigns, starting at 5–10 conversations a day and growing volume over weeks rather than days.

What to do under a restriction and how to check a number’s status

The first action is to stop sending. Pushing through a restriction extends it. You can check a number’s status with the official @SpamBot, which reports whether a restriction is active and until when, and offers an appeal if you believe it was applied in error.

If the restriction is confirmed, rest the number for 24–48 hours, but do not abandon it entirely — light natural activity such as reading channels and answering inbound messages speeds up the recovery of trust. Once the restriction lifts, resume outreach at half your previous volume and build back gradually.

If the platform’s objections are serious, an appeal may fail. Then you either wait out the term or connect a backup number. In E-chat, replacing a number does not disrupt the sales team, because the entire conversation history stays in the CRM customer card regardless of which number carried it.

Expensive myths about Telegram limits

Myth 1: “Telegram does not restrict first messages at all.” It does, just more gently than Viber and without instant bans, which is why the problem is noticed late. Myth 2: “the limit is the same for everyone.” It is not; it is personal and it floats, so figures quoted on forums are a reference point rather than a guarantee. Myth 3: “you can get around everything with 20 numbers.” Formally yes, but in practice the platform links numbers by device and behaviour, so one falling takes its neighbours with it. It is also a direct route to violating the platform’s terms, and the reputational risk to a business outweighs the time saved.

The healthy alternative is less cold volume and more precision. A warm list, a personalised opening message and a controlled pace produce higher conversion from the same number of sends.

Building an outbound campaign that keeps numbers alive

Number stability is not about tricks; it is about the architecture of the process. Companies whose numbers survive for months do roughly the same things. They segment their list and write first to people who gave their contact details voluntarily. They spread the load across several legitimate working numbers, each kept inside its comfort zone. They write to people in their own time zone during working hours. And they watch reply rates, because a drop in engagement signals a problem before the platform does.

The text of the first message decides half the outcome. Introduce yourself, name the company, give the context — where you got the contact and why you are writing. Ask 1 clear question instead of pasting a price list. Messages like that get replies, and replies, as established above, remove limits and build the platform’s trust in the number.

Expert note. From the E-chat team: “Over 6 years our platform has grown to more than 400,000 messages a day, and the statistics are unambiguous. Numbers are lost not by companies that write a lot but by companies that write blind. When a rep sends the first message from a CRM card showing the customer’s history, the source of the contact and past orders, the text comes out relevant — and the person replies. To a messenger, a conversation that got a reply is a sign that the number is having normal exchanges. So our main piece of advice is only paradoxical at first glance: if you want to get around the limits, make sure people answer you.”

The role of CRM integration in staying inside the limits

When messaging happens on reps’ personal phones, controlling the pace is impossible — nobody knows how many new conversations each number started today. Integrating messengers with a CRM through E-chat solves that structurally. Every conversation runs through the system, history is stored in customer cards, and managers can see the load on each connected number and redistribute it before the platform applies a restriction.

There is a data protection effect too. If a number does get sanctioned and has to be replaced, the conversations do not vanish — they remain in the CRM, and the new number continues from the same place. The customer never drops out of the pipeline and the rep never has to rebuild context from memory.

Connecting takes minutes: registration, activating the number in Viber or Telegram, synchronisation and linking to the CRM using the step-by-step guide. The first 7 days are free, so the approach can be tested on your own campaigns at no cost.

A safety checklist for messaging new contacts

Before launching a campaign, run through the list. The list is built from your own sources — enquiries, purchases, business cards, subscriptions. The number has been warmed up for at least 2 weeks with natural activity. The daily plan stays under 20 new conversations per number on Viber and Telegram, and 2 to 3 times lower for fresh numbers. Texts vary rather than being copied verbatim. Pauses between sends are uneven, from 1 to 5 minutes. The first message answers the recipient’s question of who you are and why you are writing. Sending happens during the audience’s daytime hours. Replies are handled quickly, because a live conversation is the best insurance a number has.

And the final rule is monitoring. Once a day, review delivery statuses and reply rates for each number. Falling engagement or growing delivery delays are a reason to pause for a day rather than push harder. A number treated carefully repays the care many times over.

FAQ:

Question: How does a customer’s reply technically affect the limit?

Answer: Once the customer replies, the messenger reclassifies the conversation as mutual communication. That contact stops counting against the daily quota for new conversations, and the exchange is no longer limited by volume or frequency.

Question: Do undelivered messages count towards the daily limit?

Answer: Yes. The platform counts the attempt to start a conversation. Sending to numbers with no messenger account also consumes quota and damages the behavioural profile, so the list should be validated before launch.

Question: Does attaching images or files to a first message increase the risk?

Answer: It does. Algorithms treat a first message that is an attachment with no text more suspiciously than a short text greeting. Send media and documents as the second message, once the conversation is under way.

Question: Can an established set of conversations be moved to another number without loss?

Answer: The conversations inside the messenger do not transfer — to the recipients it will be a new sender. But when you work through E-chat, the full history is stored in CRM customer cards, so changing the number does not erase the context and reps continue without gaps.

Question: Do the limits differ by recipient country?

Answer: Officially no, the mechanics are the same everywhere. In practice, list quality in a given country and local audience habits matter — where users report unfamiliar messages more often, numbers hit restrictions at lower volumes.

Question: Should outreach be spread across the day or sent in one batch?

Answer: Even distribution with uneven intervals is safer. Sending a batch in 10 minutes looks like automation and raises the risk of a pause even within the daily allowance. Spreading the daily volume across 4–6 hours of your audience’s working time is optimal.