Questions and answers

No. me3 has no accounts. Your phone makes its own keys, and you add friends directly with a one-time invite.

Yes — messages are encrypted on your device and can only be decrypted on your friend’s device. It follows Signal’s published X3DH and Double Ratchet designs using the libsodium library. But it has not been independently audited yet, so please read the limits before relying on it.

Your conversations are gone. Keys never leave your device and there is no backup or recovery email, because anything that could restore your keys could also be used to steal them. Re-install, then add your friends again in person.

Not with the same identity yet. Each device is separate: you can set up me3 on a laptop too, but friends need to add it as a separate contact.

It shows each contact as a rotating 8-character code instead of the name you gave them. The code changes every 30 seconds and is different for every pair of friends. Turn it on in Settings.

The code is worked out from a secret only your two phones share, plus the time. That’s why it matches on both phones and means nothing anywhere else. If the codes don’t match, check both phones’ clocks are right.

A 60-digit number made from both phones’ identity keys. If it’s the same on both phones, nobody intercepted your first contact. Compare it in person, then tap “Mark as verified”.

They are deleted from both phones when the timer runs out, and from our server as soon as they’re collected (or after seven days at most). Nothing stops someone taking a screenshot or photographing the screen first.

No. We only ever receive encrypted data. The only time we see message text is if you choose to include it in a report.

Not your name, number, contacts or messages. It does see IP addresses, timing and approximate message sizes while it handles requests. The security page explains exactly what and how we reduce it.

Not yet. me3 checks for messages while it’s open. Push notifications would mean involving Apple’s or Google’s servers, which we’re weighing up.

Not in this first version — text only, up to 4,000 characters per message.

Open the conversation, tap the menu and choose Block or Report. A report includes only the messages you tick. See Safety and reporting.

It’s free, and there are no ads, trackers or analytics anywhere on me3 — not on these pages and not in the app.

me3 is owned by Steven Smith and run from the UK. Contact hello@me3.org.uk.