AccessGram

An accessible Telegram client for Linux, designed to work well with screen readers like Orca.

Features

• Full keyboard navigation and screen reader support
• Private chats, groups, and channels
• Send and receive text messages
• Multi-line message composer with Enter to send and Shift+Enter for a new line
• Voice message recording and playback
• Keyboard shortcut flow for voice messages with optional review-before-send behaviour
• File uploads and downloads
• Search for users, groups, and channels
• View user profiles with keyboard-focusable, selectable profile fields
• Mute/unmute chats
• Message reply support with context display
• Read receipts (sent/seen status)
• Configurable sound effects with bundled Telegram-style defaults
• Current-chat typing / recording / uploading announcements for screen reader users
• Load older messages on demand instead of being limited to the first loaded page

Installation

System Dependencies

Gentoo:

emerge -av gtk:4 pygobject gst-plugins-base gst-plugins-good gst-plugins-bad

Debian/Ubuntu:

sudo apt install python3-gi python3-gi-cairo gir1.2-gtk-4.0 \
    gstreamer1.0-plugins-base gstreamer1.0-plugins-good gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad

Fedora:

sudo dnf install python3-gobject gtk4 gstreamer1-plugins-base \
    gstreamer1-plugins-good gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free

Arch:

sudo pacman -S python-gobject gtk4 gst-plugins-base gst-plugins-good gst-plugins-bad

Install AccessGram

pip install -e .

Setup

1. Get API credentials from https://my.telegram.org
2. Run python -m accessgram
3. Enter your API credentials on first run

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+N	Search
Ctrl+F	Filter chat list
Ctrl+Q	Quit
Ctrl+Shift+R	Start/stop voice recording in the current chat
Page Up	Load older messages in the current chat
Escape	Go back / cancel active voice recording
Enter	Send message / activate
Shift+Enter	Insert a new line in the message composer
Tab	Navigate between areas
Arrow Keys	Navigate within lists

Accessibility and Preferences Notes

• Typing activity announcements are limited to the currently open chat to avoid screen reader spam.
• Typing activity timeout can be adjusted in Preferences.
• Voice recording shortcut behaviour can be configured in Preferences:
  • stop and review before sending
  • stop and send immediately
• Sound effects can be previewed, customised per event, or reset back to the bundled defaults.
• Profile fields such as bio, phone number, and username are keyboard-focusable and selectable for easier review and copying.

License

MIT