How to Use Telegram Without Sharing Your Contacts Khamosh Pathak While Telegram has a phone number-based authentication system, you can easily use the app without sharing any of your contacts. Telegram will still let you add users, and others can find you using your username. By default, Telegram syncs your contacts to its servers. When a new contact joins, you get a notification about it. Your contact will also come to know that you’re using Telegram. If you want to keep your identity private, you can stop the Contact Sync feature. Telegram will still continue to work as it normally does. You can add users using their username, or you can create a separate contact in the Telegram app.