PyriteChat
Work in progress. PyriteChat is in early testing on Android. Features, and this site, will change. Do not rely on it for anything important yet.
PyriteChat
PyriteChat sends one-to-one, end-to-end encrypted messages between phones over Bluetooth. It needs no internet, no message servers and no account: no phone number or email address to sign up with.
What you can do
- Message people near you with no internet. Messages go straight from phone to phone.
- Pair in person. Stand next to someone and both tap Start. Each phone shows six digits; pair if they match.
- Reach people further away. Other phones running PyriteChat pass your message along, or carry it until they meet your contact. They cannot read it.
- Stay hard to spot. Your phone does not advertise your identity. Phones nearby see a code that changes every 15 minutes, which only people you paired with can recognise. This does not hide everything; the privacy page lists what it does not protect.
Status
Works now, in Android test builds
- An identity on your phone, backed up and restored with a 12-word recovery phrase
- Pairing in person, and a list of your Bluetooth contacts where you can remove someone
- Messages, replies and reactions over Bluetooth, on encrypted links
- Relaying through other phones, including phones that are not your contacts
- Signed message order, so a device in the middle cannot reorder or change messages unnoticed
In progress
- Testing relaying across three or more real phones (so far tested only in a simulator)
- An iPhone app
Updating from an older test build
Phones on older test builds cannot see phones on the current one. Update, then pair again in person with each contact. Your chats and their history stay.
Known limits
- Android only, and test builds only. There is no store release yet.
- Bluetooth range is short, and delivery is not guaranteed.
- People you paired with, and people you removed until you change your discovery key, can recognise your phone nearby. The privacy page has the full list of limits.
- One phone per identity.
- Updates may need a reinstall, or pairing again in person.
Install
- Google Play: not yet available
- App Store: not yet available