Quick answers, and a person if you need one.

No. You sign up with just a username. Adding a phone number is optional: it lets you sign in with it and, only if you turn it on, lets people who already have your number find you.

Yes, if you ask it to. In the Android app, switch on Find people from my contacts (Settings > Privacy, or New chat > My contacts). Hushpiper checks your contacts' numbers against people who chose to be found by their number, forgets them straight away, and checks again about once a day. Contacts who aren't on Hushpiper yet can be invited with your own WhatsApp, text messages or email.

No. Messages are encrypted on your device and can only be opened on the devices of the people in the chat. See Security for how.

GIF search is by KLIPY. When you open GIFs or search for one, the app asks KLIPY directly, so KLIPY sees what you type, but not your username, your number or your messages. We don't see your searches. The GIF you pick is sent end-to-end encrypted, like a photo. To turn GIF search off: Settings > Chats > GIF search. More in our privacy policy.

When you sign up you get a 12-word recovery phrase: write it down and keep it safe. With it you can get back into your account on a new device. Your other signed-in devices keep working, and you can sign the lost phone out from any of them. Chats you want to keep can be saved as an encrypted backup file.

Android phones, Windows computers and any web browser, up to 10 devices on one account. iPhone is coming.

For now the app and this website are in English only.

Yes, in the Android app: press and hold a message and pick Translate from its options. The translation is made on your phone, so the message and its translation are never sent to us or to Google. The first time you translate a language, the app asks before downloading that language from Google (about 30 MB, once, and only on Wi-Fi unless you change that); after that it works offline.

In Settings > Chats > Translate you can choose the language to translate into and delete languages you've downloaded. Google's translation engine on your phone sends Google some technical details, never your messages: see the privacy policy. Translate needs a 64-bit Android phone; the Windows app, the browser and 32-bit Android phones don't offer it yet.

Yes, but never secretly. When someone records a call, everyone in it sees Recording and hears a tone. In a one-to-one call either of you can record; in a group, recording is off until its admins turn it on. For now recording works on Android phones. The recording stays on the phone of the person who made it, encrypted, never on our server. Some places need everyone's permission to record a call: check the law where you live before you record.

Yes. There are no ads and there never will be, not even in GIF search, and we don't sell your data or share it with advertisers.

A username is exact: check the spelling. If it's right, the other person may only accept chats through their contact link or PIN, or, if they're under 18, they can't be found by people they don't know. Either way, they can start the chat with you, or send you their contact link.

Yes, once you've been in touch. In the Android app, switch on Find people from my contacts to see which of your contacts are on Hushpiper (those who chose to be found by their number), and start a chat with any of them. Once they accept, they can message and call you like anyone else. You can also send them your contact link, or invite them. What they can't do is look you up by your number first: under 18, only people you know can find you, and we never keep anyone's contacts.

Block them from their profile or the chat menu: they can't message or call you. Report them with Report in the chat menu, which sends our moderators the message you report and the 4 before it, so we can see what happened and act. You can also set a contact PIN so strangers need it before they can message you. See Bullying or harassment below for how to keep evidence.

Press Record and your phone records audio in small encrypted pieces, sending each one as it goes to your other devices and your trusted contacts, who are alerted. A recording can't be deleted for 24 hours, so someone who grabs your phone can't wipe it at once. In an emergency, always call the emergency services first.

A community brings several groups together. Only its admins post its announcements, and everyone in it can see its other groups and join them. To start one, go to New chat > New community, give it a name and pick groups you run. Its admins can add more groups later.

A business whose channel has Hushpiper's verified tick can add its opening hours, an address, an away message and a catalogue of products in Settings > Account > Business profile.

When you chat one-to-one with a business, open the chat's info to see whether it's open now, its hours for the week, its address and its catalogue. On a product, Ask about this puts its name and price in your message box, ready for your question. If the business is closed and has an away message, it shows above the box.

Nothing is paid or sold in Hushpiper: a price is only what the business writes. What a business adds is public to everyone on Hushpiper, and your questions are ordinary end-to-end encrypted messages.

Anyone on Hushpiper who has a call link can join its call. Nobody is rung: the call waits for people to join. A call from a link goes through our relay, so the people in it see your name but not your network address.

• Make one: Calls > Create call link. Give it a name, choose voice or video, then share the link.
• Join one: New chat > Join with a link and paste it, or scan its QR code with New chat > QR code.
• Turn it off: if you made it, open the call's chat, then the menu, Call link > Turn off this link. Nobody new can join; people already in the call's chat stay.

Yes. In a chat, press + beside where you type and choose Scheduled call, then pick voice or video, the day and the time. It shows in the chat like an event, and a Join button appears 15 minutes before it starts.

A voice call in a group that people drop into when they like. It rings nobody. In the group, open the menu and choose Voice room. It stays open until the last person leaves.

Yes, in any video call: one to one, or a group video call of up to 8 people, so up to 7 others can watch. Press Share screen during the call, and Stop sharing when you're done. In a group, one person shares at a time. It works in the Android and Windows apps, and in the web app on a computer. Voice calls and voice rooms don't share screens. On Android, a video call keeps going in a small window when you leave the app.

Yes. A call that rings while the app lock is on shows over the lock: you can answer it, decline it and talk without typing your PIN. Your chats stay locked underneath the whole time, and when the call ends the lock is still there.

If the lock's time runs out during a call, your chats lock straight away and the call stays on top. Tapping a message notification during the call shows the lock, with Back to the call to go straight back.

Yes, in the Android app. In a call, tap Speaker: with a Bluetooth headset or headphones connected, it asks where to play the call (Phone, Speaker, Bluetooth or Headphones). The first time, choose Use a Bluetooth headset and allow Nearby devices, then close and open Hushpiper again. On a computer, calls use the speakers or headset your computer is set to.

Not yet. Hushpiper needs an internet connection (Wi-Fi or mobile data) to send messages and make calls. Messaging people nearby with no internet, over Bluetooth, is on our list for after launch.

Up to an hour of recording (pauses don't count). At an hour the recording stops by itself, ready for you to listen back to and send. You can play voice notes at 1x, 1.5x or 2x speed.

On Android, recording carries on with the screen off or while you use another app (a Recording a voice message notification shows), and a voice note you're playing carries on in the background too.

Yes, on your own device: press Transcribe under a voice note. Nothing is sent anywhere to write it out, and the text stays on that device. The first time, the app downloads the speech model it needs (about 75 MB, once). It works in the Android app; the Windows app can write out only some voice notes, and the browser can't.

Yes, in the Android and Windows apps, once the app lock is on (Settings > Safety & panic > App lock): Hushpiper backs up your messages every hour while it's open, and photos and videos once a day. They're kept in a Hushpiper folder in your Documents, so uninstalling the app doesn't delete them, and they open only with your app lock pattern or PIN plus signing in to your account. For an extra copy locked with a backup password, use Settings > Chat backup > Back up by itself, every day or every week.

On Android, yes: photos and videos people send you are also saved to your phone's gallery (Pictures/Hushpiper and Movies/Hushpiper) once they download, like WhatsApp. Never saved: chats in your Vault, message requests, view-once and disappearing messages, video notes, and chats set to Saving media: Not allowed. Moving a chat into the Vault takes its saved copies back out of the gallery.

Other apps that can see your photos can see these copies too. To keep them only in Hushpiper, turn off Settings > Storage and data > Save to the phone's gallery.

In a chat, tap Attach > Location. Send your current location sends one pin, just once. Share my location shares it live for as long as you pick: 15 minutes, 1 hour, 8 hours, 1 day, 1 week or until you stop (in a family group, until you pause or stop it).

While you share, an Android phone shows a Sharing your live location notification and keeps sending where you are with the app in the background. For the longer shares Android asks you to choose Allow all the time. You can pause or stop sharing at any time. Your location is sealed like a message: we never see it.

Up to 200 MB goes like any photo. Bigger files go straight from device to device in the background and never touch our server; both ends need the Android or Windows app.