making telegram bot without HTTPS

Question

I'm trying to make a bot to connect to my web host and access database and interact with PHP. But I searched a lot and find out that I need to have SSL certificate .Is there any way to set up a bot without Having SSl ?

Answer 1

GetUpdates method is for debugging. You need to use Telegram Webhook and yes you must have an SSL certificate. But if you don't want to buy a paid certificate, you can use the Cloud Flare for free. In Cloud Flare 'Flexible SSL' service you do not need to install any certificate on the server side and simply (with changing name servers) make your website as SSL that telegram accepts.

Answer 2

Yes. You can use long polling with getUpdates. https://core.telegram.org/bots/api#getupdates