Make a sticker from a video right in the chat: @vidsticker_bot guest mode

Updated October 12, 2026 · 7 min read

A friend sent a funny video, and you want to reply with a sticker made from it. You no longer need to download it or forward it to a bot: reply to the video with “@vidsticker_bot”, and a few seconds later the sticker shows up right in the chat — and in your own pack. That's Telegram's guest mode; here's everything it can do.

What guest mode is

Since May 2026, Telegram bots can be summoned where they aren't members: into a private chat with a friend or into a group, without adding the bot. Just mention it in a message — the bot receives that message and the one you replied to, and answers once in the chat under its own name. Telegram labels the answer with the name of whoever summoned the bot.

In guest mode, @vidsticker_bot turns a video, GIF, round video or a link to a clip into a video sticker — exactly as in a private chat with the bot, except everyone in the chat sees the result at once.

How to make a sticker in a chat

1. Open @vidsticker_bot once and tap “Start”. Without it the bot can't create a pack for you: Telegram doesn't let bots message people who never started them.
2. In a chat with a friend or in a group, pick a message with a video, GIF, round video or a link to YouTube, TikTok, X or Reddit — it doesn't matter who sent it. Tap “Reply”.
3. Type “@vidsticker_bot” in the reply and send it. Add your wishes after the name and a space, like “@vidsticker_bot no bg circle”; the mention can also go at the end. Your ready stickers will pop up above the field — that's inline mode (more on it below): don't pick them, just finish typing and send the message.
4. In 10–30 seconds the bot replies in the chat with a sticker. Under it there's a 🎬 Make your own sticker button that opens the bot, so friends can make their own.
5. The sticker is already in your current pack — send it from the sticker panel like any other.

What you can add next to the mention

Everything the bot understands in a video caption in a private chat works here too. Combine the words in any order: “no bg circle from 0:03 🔥 @vidsticker_bot”.

• “no bg” (or “remove background”) — AI cuts out the background and keeps only the hero: a person, an animal or an object. For drawn characters add “anime”, “cartoon” or “drawing” to switch to a separate model. How background removal works
• “from 0:05” — where the clip starts, “5–8” — an exact segment. A sticker lasts up to 3 seconds. If a YouTube link already has a time (?t=90), the bot uses it.
• “circle”, “square” or “rounded” — the sticker's shape. A round video from the chat becomes a round sticker by itself.
• “boomerang”, “loop”, “reverse” — an effect: back and forth, a seamless loop or played backwards.
• “x2” or “x3” — speed up, so more video fits into the sticker; “slow” — the opposite.
• An emoji, like 🔥 or 😂 — the sticker is linked to it in the pack, and Telegram suggests the sticker when you type that emoji.

The bot also understands Russian words, and writes hints and errors in the language of your Telegram app.

Where it works

• Works: private chats with people and groups — including ones the bot isn't in.
• Doesn't work: Saved Messages, chats with other bots, channels, secret chats and groups that restrict saving content. These are Telegram's own limits: in such chats the mention is simply sent as text.
• Update Telegram. Guest mode arrived in May 2026 — if nothing happens, update the app.
• Big videos. Telegram bots can download files up to 20 MB. If a video is bigger, the bot takes a smaller copy of it — Telegram keeps those for big videos, and 480p is plenty for a sticker. No copy — save the video and upload it on the website, up to 200 MB there.

What the bot can see

Only two messages: the one that mentions it and the one you replied to. The bot can't see the chat history, the member list or any later messages — until it's summoned again. It answers once, with one sticker.

As with any other sticker, we keep the video and the finished sticker for up to 30 days to improve quality, then delete them. More in our Privacy page.

If it didn't work

• The bot replied “open @vidsticker_bot and tap “Start””. You haven't started the bot yet. Tap the button under the reply, then “Start” — and reply to the video again.
• The bot sent a hint “Reply to a video… with “@vidsticker_bot””. The message you replied to has no video, GIF, round video or link — or you mentioned the bot without replying to anything.
• “The video is over 20 MB and Telegram has no smaller copy”. Save the video and upload it on the website or send a link to the clip.
• Nothing happens. Make sure it's a chat with a person or a group, not Saved Messages or a channel, and update Telegram.

Guest mode or a chat with the bot

In someone else's chat the bot answers once, with one sticker, and you can't tweak it there. To shift the moment, change the background model, effect or shape, or make an emoji or a round video from the same clip, forward the video to the bot in a private chat: every sticker there has buttons, and the sticker in your pack gets replaced. The most precise option is the editor on the website: crop, text and a frame strip.

How to send your own stickers

Guest mode is for making a new sticker. Ready ones are easier to send like any other:

• From the sticker panel. Add the pack the bot puts stickers into once: open its link from the bot's message (t.me/addstickers/…) and tap “Add Stickers”. A new sticker shows up in the panel with a delay, as the app shows packs from its cache. Don't see it? Restart Telegram: on a phone, close it completely and open it again; on a computer, quit it and start it again; in a browser, reload the page. /packs in the bot sends links to all your packs.
• By emoji. Type the emoji a sticker is linked to, like 🔥, and Telegram suggests stickers with it.
• With “@vidsticker_bot” in any chat. Type “@vidsticker_bot” and a space in the message field — without the space nothing shows up. Your stickers appear above the field, newest first, and an emoji after the space filters them. Tap a sticker to send it with a “via @vidsticker_bot” label. That's inline mode: it works with people, in groups, in Saved Messages and in channels.
• Share a pack with its link. Anyone who gets a sticker from you can open the whole pack, so keep personal ones in a separate pack: /newpack Name in the bot or “＋ Pack” in “My stickers” on the website.

Questions and answers