Delta Chat

Secure decentralized messaging across all major platforms. Instant and reliable via fast chatmail relays, compatible with classic email providers. Features secure mini web apps for fun and collaboration, end-to-end encrypted and with P2P realtime channels. Security-audited multiple times.

Website: https://delta.chat
Download: https://get.delta.chat
Donate: https://delta.chat/en/donate
Support Forum: https://support.delta.chat

Public Key

npub17gpd02zrcswhzlwa7m9sz0tw76ylgncjy9xxa4ppkjzqyzhvygyqvynrxn

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs0yqkh4ppug8t30hwldjcp84h0dz05fufzznrw6ssmfpqzptkzyzqpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0ds6hw0w4

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub17gpd02zrcswhzlwa7m9sz0tw76ylgncjy9xxa4ppkjzqyzhvygyqvynrxn

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Last Notes

2026-04-21 13:42:40 GMT

This morning nine.testrun.org was briefly unavailable, some network problem. A good time to remind everyone to add a second relay to your #deltachat app:
1. Go to https://chatmail.at/relays randomly choose one of the listed relay pages and copy the invitation code to your clipboard
2. In delta chat settings go to advanced/relays and tap "add relay" and paste the invitation code
3. That's it.
If one relay is unavailable you still can receive and send messages.
https://delta.chat/en/2026-03-31-zero#maximizing-availability-and-resilience-through-multi-path-delivery

2026-01-16 09:55:17 GMT

If you want to do a fun thing this weekend, maybe write a little webxdc app for your family or friends chats? There are many to fork from, see https://webxdc.org/apps and for development docs https://webxdc.org/docs
And for development tooling
https://GitHub.com/webxdc/webxdc-dev which simulates a multi member chat environment to run your app, before you post the zip file to a chat of yours. Everyone can start it. No app stores. No logins. No gafam. With built-in end-to-end encryption. Cheers.

2026-01-14 21:15:59 GMT

#deltachat and #chatmail and #webxdc are in a unique "market" where few other cross-platform messengers can play. The unique and growing market is shaped by rising authoritarianism, internet shutdowns and restrictions.
We are building a "Minecraft world of messaging" where skilled people can rip apart, modify, replace, recombine and do modding, at every level. All #foss and featuring
Decent Usability and UI
Offline first
End-to-End encryption
Standards based
Resilient
Decentralized

2026-01-14 00:18:40 GMT

#deltachat does
- no bindings to public handles/numbers
- no address-book upload
- not do public contact or group discovery
- not have critical persistent server state (!)
Social identification is private, between people though ephemeral #P2P #E2EE messages.
Servers see messages with random sender and recipient addresses, but those can not be mapped to a phone number or public handle. Servers see IP addresses. But you can use Tor, or a VPN, if you want to hide that.
It' not all bad :)

2026-01-10 14:31:40 GMT

PSA We are happy about the wealth of privacy focused classic email providers (proton, tutanota, posteo, mailbox.org etc) but they are not geared for instant secure messaging. Do yourself, family and friends a favor and use delta with any of the many https://chatmail.at/relays
Or setup a relay of your own if you feel like it.
Or use a a dedicated chat email address on your own or any classic email server that has reliable service and no obnoxious rate limits or annoying spam handling.
Cheers.

2026-01-09 20:01:00 GMT

Our stance simplified: we want to make private communications available to anyone on the planet.
Problem: governments everywhere tend to want to control and contain private communications. While Iran and Russia might be contemporary poster examples trying to control private communication, almost all of the "Western" countries have similar control-tendencies, EU Chatcontrol, UK Online Safety Act, US KOSA etc.pp. And we often call those out. Without private communication, things are bleak.

2026-01-08 14:46:39 GMT

Abdanan, January 7th 2026. A 40K people city in Iranian mountains where people took over all police and government buildings, as far as we gather. Internet blockades are happening intermittently in various forms. There is a massive sense of uncertainty and panic, also from the government side.
We hear of many people succeeding in using #deltachat and #chatmail relays, and are trying, to the best of our abilities, to help people set up communications so families and friends can stay safe.
https://assets.chaos.social/media_attachments/files/115/859/998/956/687/288/original/6a48a745edb62a0f.png

2026-01-05 20:12:31 GMT

We are looking for an experienced Android UI developer for https://github.com/deltachat/deltachat-android. Native Java, close to the system, with minimal deps and fluff.
Networking/encryption/persistence is not part of the job as it happens in https://github.com/chatmail/core
Remote collab is fine and the default. We meet in person every few months in the black forest or other occasions/places. We can do 20-30 hours per week contracts with 4-5K EUR pay per month.
Drop us a DM if you are interested.
#FediHire

2026-01-05 12:17:38 GMT

Don't believe those who loudly claim email can not avoid metadata! They are ignorant of our continuous works on minimizing metadata:
DONE:
- no phone number other identifying data needed
- no cleartext "Subject"
- no cleartext "To"
- randomized "Date"
- no IP addresses
- group/avatar/attachment/etc metadata only contained in encrypted message parts
Upcoming:
- servers to never see cryptographic ID metadata
- remove "threading" and auxilliary headers
- experiment with Sealed Sender

2025-12-30 17:10:57 GMT

#39c3 .ending .. quite an enjoyable blast, and thanks to all the wonderful people just dropping by to say "thank you, it all works very nice for us"! 🥰 Certainly raised team spirits :)
This year around, apart from one #chatmail relay setup workshop we didn't do any registered events at congress. Pushing out releases, Illnesses and engagements in various other organizing prevented more public sessions. Next ones will be around #fosdem2026 where also several of us will be around. Cheers!
https://assets.chaos.social/media_attachments/files/115/809/623/640/344/924/original/8b1b2e45bd6d87b8.jpg

2025-12-30 13:16:53 GMT

Iran may be on the verge of Internet shutdowns again. If you have friends or family in #Iran, now is the time to let them onboard for example with https://tiiiz.ir -- because using in-country servers helps to stay connected. If you need support for setting up a relay in or for Iran, send us a DM and we'll see to connect you with other knowledgeable operators.
با آرزوی فردایی بهتر...

2025-12-28 10:04:51 GMT

Relax 😎! GPG is not OpenPGP!
Yesterday, vulnerabilities were published https://gpg.fail but they don't affect #deltachat or any other #chatmail client because
A) We never used #gnupg for anything; we use the modern #rustlang #openpgp implementation @npub1f5g…3gr2, security audited multiple times.
B) #openpgp is fine, as modernized in #RFC9580, which already warns against several #gpgfail issues (gpg has not implemented that spec)
Please spread the word that #gpg is not #openpgp ... Thanks!

2025-12-26 10:11:38 GMT

Quite a few of #deltachat #chatmail and #webxdc folks are already and will be around #39c3 -- on-site you can join a group chat (or send us a DM upfront) where we announce dynamically scheduled sessions. You'll find us mostly around Komona but also other places ... for more info:
https://delta.chat/39c3.html
PSA: Influenza is spreading heavily currently, and 30% of people are infectious without symptoms. Please maintain hygiene and at best test yourself before entering premises. Thanks!

2025-12-20 13:43:29 GMT

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#XMPP is still a thriving ecosystem with lots of good FOSS developers doing interesting things.
XMPP is also used under the hood in tons of products needing instant messaging even if they are not advertised as XMPP clients, or do not federate. But look at #Matrix, only 25% of matrix servers federate.
Anyway, all three share a strong focus on protocols, but there is a big difference: https://chatmail.at does not expose protocols to client developers, just a Rust SDK.

2025-12-13 11:02:29 GMT

On this day, two years ago, we published the first chatmail relay, https://delta.chat/en/2023-12-13-chatmail along with templates to replicate the setup, without needing any permission. Two weeks ago we thought there are 60 relays when a hacker handed in a 100+ list 😂
A bunch of knowledgeable folks are now maintaining track of health of the evolving global network, and supporting new operators. 💜💥🖤
thx also for all the support here on the fediverse! its been a wild year and #39c3 is in 13 days to top it off 😅

2025-12-12 18:57:29 GMT

Your chat profile/identity: a tar file.
Your social web app: a zip file.
https://chatmail.at and https://webxdc.org are spearheading ever new and more fun ways to deny power to servers and platform billionaires.
Unlike classic email servers, #chatmail relays do not store user identities which solely live on end-user devices.There also is no encrypted value on the server like with Proton Mail or Signal. There are only relays, endless federating networks of relays to onboard safely :)
https://assets.chaos.social/media_attachments/files/115/708/102/402/471/759/original/0386ea7f29fdc703.png

2025-12-11 10:28:01 GMT

#chatmail relays really are the dumbest messaging servers in town, but having fun with each other 😂 https://chatmail.at/doc/relay
https://assets.chaos.social/media_attachments/files/115/700/404/397/926/405/original/1bc3759f3807063e.png

2025-12-07 19:06:35 GMT

RE: https://chaos.social/@thefinalstrawradio/115679804496870004
Another nice surprise! A careful discussion and appreciation of our almost 8-year long running efforts, and its #deltachat and #chatmail artifacts. The "Signal contingency plan" comes complete with podcast, website and zine!
#note1l0g…n24l

2025-12-07 08:38:50 GMT

A few things #deltachat apps are doing positively different from #Signal apps
- easiest onboarding ever; not depending on phone numbers or other private data
- support for multiple chat profiles/identities
- decentralized servers, not depending on US-based GAFAM etc.
- migration from one app/platform to any other
- easy multi-device support for any chat profile
- developers have chances to get their PRs merged :)
- mini-apps support via https://webxdc.org
anything missing?

2025-12-03 21:55:34 GMT

On the occasion of SimpleX and Session getting cryptocoin-donations/funding ... we won't hide that most delta contributors are pretty skeptical of cryptocoin-circles. Exhibit 1: #Webxdc apps - mini apps that anyone can whip up -- and the declared motto still on the https://webxdc.org web page since inception mid 2022:
No logins, no coins, no platforms ...
and this year, January 23rd, we added "no billionaires" to the growing list of things deserving a "no" :)
https://delta.chat/en/2025-01-23-webxdc-no-billionaires
https://assets.chaos.social/media_attachments/files/115/657/796/222/488/696/original/87b285cf597f099c.png

2025-11-21 16:48:35 GMT

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sorry, we just wanted to refer to the top-level post ("Well, maybe ...") not some larger threat. Anyways, there are multiple interactions going on, so easy to get mixed up on our side as well.

2025-11-21 16:38:46 GMT

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This is not about a full technical comparison of security aspects. Our post was more about UX goals here in this thread. That being said, email metadata in #chatmail messaging is pretty minimal, and we are working on reducing it further: https://delta.chat/en/help#message-metadata

2025-11-21 15:31:14 GMT

Well, maybe we need to be more clear what we are trying to do: #deltachat apps are a cross-platform private messenger suite, that aims to provide a consistent UX/UI for users with lots of experience using WhatsApp and Signal.
Telegram has good fast UX but is hardly a private messenger (it has a central cleartext database of everyone and everything).
Matrix and XMPP are well-esteemed fellows in federated messaging, but so far didn't grow a WA/Signal-level cross-platform messaging UX.
YMMV

2025-11-21 14:02:12 GMT

For those who used all three of Whatsapp, Signal and Delta Chat in multi-device mode:
Which messenger provides the best multi-device setup and handling for users (UX)?
(question spans setting up a second/linked device, as well as migrating to new device, as well as quality of multi-device synchronizing/bugfree-ness -- all subjectively weighted by each voter according to their subjective experiences)

2025-11-19 13:50:30 GMT

Signal just released a "poll" feature with great fanfare, while all #deltachat apps already integrated a full suite of chat-shared apps, checklists, polls, shopping lists, calendar, editor + tons of games.
Better, anyone can create new apps, eg as github/codeberg forks from existing apps, and post it to their chats for instant deployment. No need to ask for permission, register an account, and no hosting or DNS: actually "server-less" and fully end-to-end encrypted :)
https://webxdc.org/apps
https://assets.chaos.social/media_attachments/files/115/576/623/736/174/730/original/0b36237dbcb091fe.png
https://assets.chaos.social/media_attachments/files/115/576/631/783/090/217/original/ed7799445a693d19.png

2025-11-19 10:51:08 GMT

Any data that is collected on servers will eventually leak or be abused otherwise.
By design, no one can enumerate #deltachat profiles which are private and not published on any server. Conversely, #chatmail relays do not see or collect private data or metadata.
But wait, there is more :)
We are currently evolving end-to-end security protocols and UX to **survive an attacker fully taking over a server**. The attacker shall not even be able to message users, let alone impersonate anyone.
https://assets.chaos.social/media_attachments/files/115/575/819/018/944/603/original/2506f1aeeb711464.png

2025-11-18 12:50:06 GMT

While #cloudflare US-east1 is busy fixing a good part of the Internet, parts of Matrix/Element, X etc down, good old decentralized #chatmail mostly continues nicely and without any degradation :)
In other news, there is a new #freebsd community maintained ❤️ #deltachat desktop install:
pkg install deltachat-desktop
thanks @npub1swc…y2dn and others!

2025-11-18 08:39:27 GMT

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recently delta chat introduced metadata protection regarding the "Date" header that is visible to providers but it seems some providers don't like the variance. So we will reduce the variance in the next releases. Note that chatmail relays (https://chatmail.at/relays) do not have this issue.

2025-11-13 09:00:19 GMT

Denmark and other EU governments still pursue #chatcontrol.
They still want to permanently legalize client-side scanning but postponed making it mandatory.
They also want to increase age-verification controls which risk to ruin what little is left of privacy in current digital spaces, taken hostage already by US corps.
Ourselves? We double down on providing the most private, reliable and fun messaging experience, with a growing federating #chatmail relay network across the globe.
https://assets.chaos.social/media_attachments/files/115/541/398/765/002/774/original/2ab84e6cefc1d3e0.png

2025-11-02 09:28:14 GMT

We hereby challenge _all_ other messaging apps, FOSS or not, to provide a more convenient private onboarding experience than #deltachat
1. Install app
2. "Create new profile"
3. Enter nick name, tap "Agree and continue"
4. Tap "+" and "new contact" and provide/scan qr code/link
Voila! A secure private chat, familiar to those coming from Whatsapp or Telegram (without "AI", with #a11y).
Note: chat identities are private and can not be queried or discovered. Servers keep no track or metadata
https://assets.chaos.social/media_attachments/files/115/479/377/839/759/550/original/4a63adedc9d15141.png
https://assets.chaos.social/media_attachments/files/115/479/377/003/169/743/original/d413f70a02fc3184.png
https://assets.chaos.social/media_attachments/files/115/479/379/555/442/326/original/23a3acfd802eedba.png

2025-10-31 08:50:21 GMT

It's done! #chatcontrol is officially of the table after the danish EU council presidency drops it for good. It's a small but important victory!
Thanks again to @npub14rv…y6tq for coordinating grassroots interventions, and everyone else, especially on the fediverse, for joining efforts to fundamentally preserve end-to-end encryption 💜 Also to [@Mer__edith](https://mastodon.world/@Mer__edith ) and @npub1rkw…5q62 for their strong end-to-end encryption work and stances.
Of course, vigilance remains important.
https://www.euractiv.com/news/danish-presidency-backs-away-from-chat-control/

2025-10-28 22:16:28 GMT

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Gmail is leaking the IP address of the sender in the headers when you are using SMTP. Chatmail relays don't.

2025-10-28 22:01:00 GMT

Signal's president claimed it takes billions to replicate the availability and reliability of "hyperscalers" (AWS/Google/Microsoft/Cloudfare) that Signal uses.
#chatmail and #deltachat are about disproving this claim by
1) making relays super cheap (DONE)
2) enabling chat profiles to use multiple relays redundantly (WIP)
3) distributing relay knowledge among chatters (TBD).
Fat servers, corporate overlords and billionaires: not needed and better to not exist for a convivial e2ee future :)

2025-10-25 09:30:10 GMT

Our project is one of constant exit planning and circumvention considerations ... as times and tech are getting more shitty.
We don't bet on a single basket, and not a single state or jurisdiction, and certainly not AWS/Google/Microsoft US clouds which run #Signal servers.
No single hoster, platform or language (we do a lot of Rust, granted) and no single device or vendor. At #chatmail protocol levels we regard nothing as holy, and look for simplicity and robustness, and convivial community 🖤
https://assets.chaos.social/media_attachments/files/115/434/052/532/331/689/original/61cb83e8cc512a29.jpg

2025-10-25 08:27:15 GMT

We are aware of roskomnadzor just having ramped up their blocking efforts in #russia against #deltachat 's default onboarding chatmail relay. Signal, Whatsapp are degraded/blocked for a longer time already.
1) Delta Chat has first class shadow-socks proxy support (try ss:// links you can find ... Delta has management-proxy UX)
2) many other chatmail relays work fine and inter-chatmail/email server traffic continues unimpeded
3) if you can help with analyzing please drop into our DMs.

2025-10-24 22:09:24 GMT

Believe it or not: #deltachat is growing audio/video calls starting with the currently rolling 2.22 releases ... A few people already had two hour long stable calls :)
Calls are an experimental option while we continue to work on reliability, UX/UI revisions, and configuration of TURN servers on #chatmail relays and in clients.
We want calls to reliably work across all major platforms, networks and phones, including #UbuntuTouch
Feedback and debugging happens at https://support.delta.chat/t/help-testing-upcoming-delta-chat-release-with-calls/4220/17

2025-10-23 21:05:35 GMT

Good news! It's getting harder to keep track of new #chatmail relays :)
Recently several public relays were added to the https://chatmail.at/relays list, in Warsaw, Helsinki, Romania and Barcelona.🧡
If you have #deltachat installed on mobile, you can go to any chatmail relay website in the list and click on a link there to create a chat profile.
It's wonderful to hear about collectives setting up chat infrastructure like the recent https://xat.fedi.cat from @npub1hme…pmuk and @npub1pdc…a7av

2025-10-21 16:11:35 GMT

Not taking Venture Capital money means:
- No pressure to maximize monetization of usage (for every million of VC funding you need to find ~100+ Million in value later).
- No prioritization of growing fast with PR campaigns that promise the moon and stumble on the ground
- No billionaire who ultimately profits
Instead, we seek public funding and private contributions for #chatmail #deltachat and #webxdc developments.
Thanks to everyone who is helping and already test-driving things :)
https://assets.chaos.social/media_attachments/files/115/412/903/765/725/101/original/c805ddda41270a14.png

2025-10-20 09:55:23 GMT

There is no single central #Signal server. Signal uses #AWS cloud, plus Google Cloud, Microsoft Cloud and Cloudflare, all under US legislation. If any of these clouds goes down or becomes otherwise problematic, chatting degrades or fails.
With #deltachat you can choose #chatmail relays ( https://chatmail.at/relays ) which distributes the risk across a wider network. We are currently working on the multi-transport feature to finally remove any central point of chat failure https://chaos.social/@delta/115362144863345662

2025-10-16 19:05:25 GMT

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quick heads up. Our impressions: #matrix is going strong with public sector entities, and it's where most dynamics happened at the conf.
We are rather focused on private and resilient messaging where servers don't play a big role; as we want #chatmail relays to be dirt cheap to operate, no pro version needed. Our focus is on informal usage, groups, family, friends, affinity or interest groups, whereas matrix is increasingly focusing on corporate/ organizational use cases. YMMV

2025-10-15 06:32:53 GMT

A few of us are going to visit our neighboring project in federated messaging, the @npub1m9z…whzq conference in Strasbourg today. The two projects are rather different architecturally, funding-wise etc but we remain ready and interested for discussions around common concerns and general exchange of what's happening :) For those curious, here is a panel discussion from the Elevate festival in Graz 2018 https://vimeo.com/273876820
And a later discussion with @npub1jmd…k8fz
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xJ2Tjc1Aj0A&t=1624s&pp=ygUidGVjaCB3aWxsIHNhdmUgdXMgbWF0cml4IGRlbHRhY2hhdA%3D%3D

2025-10-12 16:30:34 GMT

#deltachat has reliable and audited end-to-end encryption but reliable message delivery is equally crucial in times of shutdowns and increasing Internet fragmentation. #chatmail relays are more reliable and faster than classic email servers but they may still fail, leaving users stranded. The recent rollout of V2 releases not only hardened end-to-end encryption but aims for chat profiles to use multiple relays in the future, removing a common point of failure in decentralized private messaging.

2025-10-10 16:28:53 GMT

What an announcement from #Telegram owner Pawel Durov! To provide just a few critical notes, he
- makes believe he is just a commoner, and not the billionaire owner of one of the largest message, media and metadata *cleartext* databases on earth
- skips over Global Warming
- refers to "fathers and forefathers" of the Internet ... apparently never heard of Radia Perlman, Margaret Hamilton or Ada Lovelace?
- conveniently excludes Russia and its authoritarian politics from his critique
etc.
https://assets.chaos.social/media_attachments/files/115/350/619/626/120/365/original/fd697993e29d2bbd.jpg

2025-10-08 15:01:53 GMT

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it's not so much about efficiency as much as about easy access to democratic reps and institutions. The question to the EU is then maybe rather "do you want to help democratic participation and discourse?" Or are you content mostly talking to big industrial lobby groups and billionaire-funded think tanks or campaigns and take clues from there?

2025-10-08 14:51:52 GMT

After dropping the #chatcontrol proposals EU governors could next ask themselves why they have, in all of the EU's history, never provided such a pleasant and informative, adaptive and fast user interface to access democratic representatives and governments of EU member countries ... as the one https://fightchatcontrol.eu provides -- done mostly by a single person on personal funding. Go figure.

2025-10-07 18:57:42 GMT

Many thanks to @npub14rv…y6tq for helping so much to coordinate and support efforts against chatcontrol! It was exactly the right initiative at the right time. 💜

2025-10-04 19:13:55 GMT

Forget warn apps and mobiles: when it comes to neighborhoods there are many non-digital ways to help each other. Without needing permission from billionaires.
Whistles!
https://blockclubchicago.org/2025/09/17/in-little-village-residents-are-blowing-actual-whistles-to-warn-neighbors-about-ice/

2025-10-04 09:08:34 GMT

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well, we appreciate Signal trying to make a difference with its public weight ahead of the oct14 chat control vote. Yes, Signal is centralized and running on gafam servers but it also was a key leading effort to make e2ee UX widely available ... and that is fundamentally threatened by #chatcontrol. Federated #xmpp or #email servers do not help against legislation that aims at apps and clients. This is a time to put all of our joint weight against chatcontrol, not gamble for exceptions.

2025-10-01 11:38:41 GMT

While #chatcontrol poses an existential threat to the Freiburg merlinux GmbH and distributing #deltachat apps from within the EU to all stores worldwide, it would resist any chatcontrol legislation up to the German constitutional and EuGH courts.
If the EU based company would need to fold in a few years, there would likely be forks distributed outside the EU that will *seamlessly* continue to function. Our architecture and FOSS licensing makes sure of it. See also https://chaos.social/@delta/113417740762852318

2025-09-22 17:34:32 GMT

#chatcontrol is a giant legal-technical quagmire and would erode privacy in times where we most need it. But let's talk about protecting children ... what chatcontrol claims to be about:
First, it's unproven that chatcontrol would help lower actual abuses.
Second, why not spend the many EU millions that go into busying politicians, developers, lawyers and orgs into hiring social workers? They could directly act on the huge backlog of _reported known_ child abuse cases. That definitely helps.

2025-09-21 14:38:33 GMT

There now is a recording of the ad-hoc #datenspuren "usable end-to-end" talk from friday evening, german audio only https://app.media.ccc.de/v/ds25-603-usable-end-to-end-security-with-delta-chat-and-chatmail

2025-09-17 07:55:17 GMT

The problem with #chatcontrol is deep and extremely significant. It would be a paradigm shift that implies state and corporate control of app developers and users, i.e. what you can install on "your" devices. It would empower Google, Apple and Microsoft to increase enclosure even more.
Just as with the p2p wealth of good tools two decades ago, e2e tooling would remain available only to small specialist circles.
Given authoritarian threats everywhere, #chatcontrol is an exceptionally bad idea.

2025-09-14 12:24:08 GMT

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yes, maybe have a look here https://github.com/chatmail/core?tab=readme-ov-file#using-the-cli-client

2025-09-13 08:04:17 GMT

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we believe that signal is run in good faith and has excellent cryptography but it falls way short on resilience and federation. It would struggle to resist takedown requests from the US government. For more details see https://delta.chat/en/2025-08-04-encryption-v2#ps-the-chatmail-ecosystem-is-moving

2025-09-13 07:52:29 GMT

What if a state tries to mandate us as #deltachat app devs/distributors to shut down a chat profile?
Nothing. It can't be done.
We have no list of chat identities, have no handle or data about them, and don't mediate the message transfer.
However, EU #Chatcontrol politicians and Russian authorities would want us to insert backdoors into our FOSS code. But that is nothing than can happen overnight, and we are fine with friendly forks already. Resilient private internet communication ftw :)

2025-09-09 22:02:16 GMT

Woah! Only now did we discover a great blog post from @npub12hx…n282 who discusses the progression from hosting a #Matrix , a #Snikket and a #SimpleX server, to now running a #chatmail relay https://runtimeterror.dev/self-hosted-chatmail-relay-for-delta-chat/
It's an excellent read, with lots of good advise, including having a public "hello" profile and another unpublished chat profile for private chatting. #deltachat apps have pervasive multi-profile support (and multi-device support) so it's pretty easy to establish such a two-profile setup.

2025-09-08 21:34:32 GMT

#deltachat is being used in virtually all world regions where one or more other messengers fail to work. We recently released a major milestone (V2 security hardening releases) that prepared the ground for chat profiles to have multiple #chatmail relays at once ... failure or blocking of a single relay would not disrupt chatting anymore. But multi transport also helps with the "centralization problem in decentralized systems" ... https://delta.chat/en/2025-06-04-surge-donations#funding-for-a-globally-scaled-chatmail-relay-network
(Funding is looking good currently btw!)

2025-09-05 14:10:33 GMT

Sometimes we are surprised ourselves how well everything works :)
- cross-platform #deltachat releases every 2-3 months, with a focus on never breaking the world despite significant underlying changes
- many #chatmail relays humming along, including the default onboarding one serving 230K monthly users with ~0 admin hours needed
-lively and sometimes controversial discussions among the diverse dozen core contributors, with an evolving shared vision, both short and long term
Toi Toi Toi

2025-09-02 15:32:53 GMT

#Whatsapp on #iOS had a severe 0day that was exploited in the wild for some months, and is fixed with august 20th releases https://hackread.com/whatsapp-0-day-exploit-attack-targeted-ios-macos-users/
Last year #signal also had its multi-device functionality exploited in the wild. https://thehackernews.com/2025/02/hackers-exploit-signals-linked-devices.html
FWIW #deltachat has a dumber multi-device sync model, no device linking, depends on being in the same WiFI for setup (therefore no easy remote exploits), and #OpenPGP signatures and verification for ongoing usage (like all other E2EE messages).

2025-09-02 10:15:13 GMT

While most of the feedback on the #deltachat V2 releases has been positive, some users sense a de-prioritization of "classic unencrypted email" usage.
Indeed the current dozen or so contributors aim to evolve an exceptionally resilient and versatile private messenger app suite, with end-to-end encryption the primary focus and design foundation.
However, we would support friendly forkers to develop a classic e-mail focused app suite -- say "deltamail" (work title).
What do you think?

2025-08-15 19:13:24 GMT

As with the demise of windows10, various meta happenings around Whatsapp open possibilities to welcome refugees. Instead of blaming them for not having had whatever insights earlier, there are often just very practical questions where a helping hand does wonders. Offering help instead of trying to convince.
Currently many companies are giving win11-incompatible laptops away, often powerful systems that deserve upgrading to Linux, and then donating then. It also helps to counter hardware waste.

2025-08-13 14:13:57 GMT

What are the main obstacles for you to adopt usage of #deltachat apps with your families, friends or communities?
if you have other issues than the poll options please add to the replies. Oh, and those who are also living through heat waves: stay hydrated, and remind everyone else :)

2025-08-13 07:22:35 GMT

The UK's national drought group is falling ridiculously short when recommending to delete old emails. How about
- stop building any new data centers, progressively tax on their size and resource consumption, no free riding
- legislatively focus on software to become more resource efficient (hint: AI hurts not helps with that)
In any case, #chatmail relays unconditionally remove emails, no user action needed. Everything interesting happens on end devices see https://en.reset.org/decentralised-efficient-without-being-addictive-delta-chat-is-our-favourite-instant-messenger/

2025-08-11 10:29:12 GMT

We are impressed with the new https://fightchatcontrol.eu/ website, and the way it provides all the info needed to engage in distributed diverse action to prevent the EU from preparing the ground for, or sliding into, authoritarianism by breaking end-to-end encryption for everyone. Germany and France are particularly important to engage with and we'll see what we can do from our circles. We don't know the people behind https://mastodon.social/@chatcontrol but big kudos!
#chatcontrol

2025-08-11 07:33:37 GMT

We do not aim for #deltachat to be another social media app. No #ai summaries or suggestions. No public directory of contacts. No discovery via outside identifiers (mobile phone or email). Just you and your contacts privately messaging, in a solid simple user interface on all platforms. End-to-End encryption enforced on two layers. #chatmail relays know and retain nothing, no content or metadata. #webxdc apps allow for custom interactions on top of chats.
Contributors and donations welcome!

2025-08-09 09:41:01 GMT

Prediction: most messenger projects will move to a single core implementation model, probably #Rust based, in the next few years. The gains both for the development process are just too big. It's all about UI and UX agility, implementation quality and delivery to users.
Funding and money? We had/have to make do with ~1/50th of what other cross platform messenger app efforts had available. It forced and forces us to economic choices which is not a bad thing in an overall bloated IT industry.

2025-08-07 08:02:49 GMT

Signal and Matrix were founded in popular opposition to the email system but End-to-End encrypted instant messaging via emails works now, and reliably, with #deltachat V2 app releases, and with #chatmail relays forming a growing secure email network that minimizes metadata and enforces TLS and E2EE messaging.
You can't really argue with working code, can you?
Contrary to popular belief SMTP and DKIM and IMAP are no holy ingredients and can be improved upon btw. See eg https://github.com/chatmail/relay/issues/487
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2025-08-04 14:02:04 GMT

V2 #deltachat is rolling out after weeks of internal testing, a major milestone revising how end-to-end encryption works and bringing more beautiful contact and group profiles, direct access to chat-shared apps in the title bar and a "new email" action with setting a subject for those using a classic server.
Best of all, users and developers don't need to co-ordinate anything for upgrading to V2 despite the massive security rework behind the scenes :)
https://delta.chat/en/2025-08-04-encryption-v2

2025-07-25 11:22:07 GMT

Amount of hours spent to keep a default #chatmail onboarding relay with 500k active addresses running: near zero.
Glancing at stats sometimes: two million messages per day. CPU and IO load at 20% max. 500gb raid1 ssd meandering around 60 percent full. There is room for various optimizations but no big need currently.
end-to-end encryption with metadata minimization is best if servers are boring. No clustering or enterprise license needed, no "SRE team" either.
https://github.com/chatmail/relay/

2025-07-11 18:10:45 GMT

Good news! Our developments are back into full swing with major new releases expected throughout 2025 🥳
After the shock February dry-up of funding grants we recently secured substantial private donations, wonderfully helping to hit the ground running 🧡
#deltachat #chatmail and #webxdc developments currently use ~600k EUR per year to support a dozen experts and contributors, to in turn help the wider contributor communities, as well as to realize major new features.
https://delta.chat/en/donate

2025-07-09 21:24:48 GMT

For refining #deltachat UIs and UX we are looking at many other messengers regularly. But we are curious. Which messenger UX/UI do you like most and suggest we take cues from?

2025-07-04 08:47:31 GMT

Two of our teams just gave talks at the @npub1uk4…z2gq 2025 conference in Lille:
@npub1uqe…za0f tells the story of "federated messaging" waves and her usable security research, emphasizing "availability" as a key issue
https://passthesalt.ubicast.tv/videos/always-more-secure-analyzing-user-migrations-to-federated-e2ee-messaging-apps-trimmed/ --
@npub1y6p…pcc3 starts off with prioritizing usable security and walks through #chatmail transport layer security goals and #deltachat end-point security status, upcoming releases and prospective work on improving metadata and other goals
https://passthesalt.ubicast.tv/videos/usable-end-to-end-security-with-delta-chat-and-chatmail/
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2025-06-28 08:11:07 GMT

Internet fragmentation is real in many countries and regions today but did you know that this "Sometimes-Internet" was the reality of the 1980ties when #email evolved?
#chatmail relays are cheap, secure, fast, ephemeral and resilient server setups for the growing Sometimes-Internet, using cryptography for planetary-scale interop:
- E2EE-only, strict TLS+DKIM
- no spam-check magic
- delay/cut-off tolerant
- messages removed after download
- addresses removed if stale
- push notifications
https://assets.chaos.social/media_attachments/files/114/760/161/760/326/905/original/2d316b35d67ed3f0.png

2025-06-27 09:57:24 GMT

#DeltaChat evolved according to needs of people under repression and continues to do so. The more ignorant and exchangeable we make #chatmail relays, the less their operators have to worry. Having metadata-less, fast and cheap instant messaging relays, that can also operate when 99% of the Internet vanishes in a region, is a key goal. Some way to go still but, already now, is there any other real-world solution that provides better service in internet-repressed regions in 2025?

2025-06-27 07:03:13 GMT

We used to look closely at #whatsapp Usability/UX. Not anymore.
Meta is enshittifying WA to become a social media app, charging companies for access to followers, showing ads, and pushing AI slop down the throat of billions of people.
#deltachat remains all about pleasing private messaging UX. Resilient, secure and decentralized. Its trivial to get started as a family, group or little org. Its trivial to migrate between android, iphone, desktop, Ubuntu touch.
#Privacy and #RightToExit
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2025-06-22 20:18:35 GMT

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should be fine if it can run debian 12

2025-06-22 18:35:17 GMT

We'd like to remind everyone that a self-hosted #chatmail relay is best shared in some wider than family circles. In crisis situations everbody does better when helping others.
A typical 1gb RAM chatmail relay VPS for 5-10 eur per month supports 50k+ daily users.
chatmail VPSes are stateless. You can wipe all disk state, reinstall and chatting will resume. Conversely, #deltachat does not keep or depend on any server state .Operators under pressure do not need to feel bad to hand over data.

2025-06-22 12:41:24 GMT

Overheard last night from two users in #Cuba
user1: "the people are currently in need not only to save data plan but also to have more security in their conversations"
user2: "also stability. Right now the whole of Guantanamo is in blackout with problems in several radio-bases/cell-towers due to the lack of power/electricity and here I am talking like nothing / without breaking a sweat"
user2: "while WhatsApp doesn't even manage to connect"
#DeltaChat is for when centralization hits the fan
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2025-06-21 12:18:04 GMT

Some people in #Iran successfully use delta with national email providers when outside Internet is cut.
#deltachat designs are #OfflineFirst using delay tolerant protocols. Messages are queued when a path is blocked. email servers are made for this and run at planetary scale.
Messages crossing the border may arrive three days later but they arrive.
Peoples can stay in private touch across time and space, to the extent possible in current breakdown times. Which is what delta is about.

2025-06-20 23:49:16 GMT

We don't see, or plan, a place for AI in our software stacks. A few notes.
Some attempts to use AI tooling provided nothing of value in the chatmail-core-UI stacks that produce the #deltachat store releases on all platforms.
Some in the community AI-generated a base #webxdc app and fixed bugs afterwards.That kind of worked and was borderline useful.
AI is pretty boring. We have more interesting work to do: evolve private resilient messaging by improving UX, networking, encryption, etc

2025-06-19 15:21:41 GMT

We are basically doing what #signal and in particular moxie refuses to do or declares impossible: federation.
Both #email and #activitypub ecosystems are all about federation.
However, #deltachat is vertically centralized in that all UIs use the same #rust core which implements all networking, encryption, chat/group/message logic in a single centralized place. The now 40+ #chatmail mail relay network is driven from centralized code.
At each level replication and federation is built in.

2025-06-18 06:39:22 GMT

Everyone returns to email in the end. We are there already. #whatsapp wants you to add your email to secure your account ... despite all the nay sayers and numerous well funded attempts and claims to kill #email not even WA can do it. #deltachat #chatmail and #webxdc are about deep collab between people, projects and operators to evolve email from within. It is not just about SMTP and IMAP and MIME and OpenPGP which are all exchangeable and can be improved ... Which we set out to do. Cheers.
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2025-06-16 07:43:14 GMT

You may setup "burner" phones for specific activities which may face repression including device seizure and forced unlocking. #deltachat does not require a sim card/number and works #OfflineFirst. Seek out wifi or mobile hotspots to connect. At best form or join affinity groups and pre-establish ephemeral chats so everyone can help each other stay safe. Group onboarding is trivial with delta. Note: Digital tools are only ever supplementary to the security coming from caring for each other.

2025-06-12 18:04:17 GMT

#deltachat is secure against server-side group membership changes but for a very different reason than #signal which keeps encrypted group membership data in a central store.
Delta Chat has _no_ central store but implements a rigidly tested #p2p group membership model where servers play no role https://github.com/chatmail/models/tree/main/group-membership
Both signal and delta chat are safe against recently published attacks against #whatsapp that can add members to chats, breaking end to end encryption. https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/05/whatsapp-provides-no-cryptographic-management-for-group-messages

2025-06-07 06:55:31 GMT

#whatsapp claims end to end security of content but:
- ties your identity to a phone number
- owns your identity
- can see who messages whom and who is in which group etc
- forces you to send local search in your private chats to Meta AI
- does not allow to disable Meta AI on the main screen
None of these problems exist with #deltachat devs and distributors. We have arguably the world's easiest onboarding process for a messenger that offers a Whatsapp style interface on all platforms.
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2025-06-04 12:01:57 GMT

Since June 1st there is a big sudden surge of new Delta Chat users and so far things are going pretty smooth. We are happy that our #chatmail infrastructure is holding up and that there is growing recognition that #deltachat is a ready-to-use and resilient chat solution. Some stats from the last days, a brief discussion of centralization risks and what we plan to do about it, also introducing a brand-new chatmail OpenCollective with a european fiscal host.
https://delta.chat/en/2025-06-04-surge-donations

2025-05-29 08:51:53 GMT

our friends over at @npub1f5g…3gr2 just published a monster milestone, humbly tagged 0.16 😍 with
- streaming decryption and encryption
- post-quantum-cryptography
- API streamlining.
#rPGP is a full Rust implementation of #openpgp which counts among the fastest and most compliant implementations today, and includes security audits. Note: #deltachat uses a restricted subset of OpenPGP, and follows best practices (eg using the same ed25519 keys implementation as #signal) https://github.com/rpgp/rpgp/

2025-05-28 08:47:42 GMT

#whatsapp has been feverishly copying #telegram features the last year. Both are now in a battle who enshittifies faster. Mr. Durov announced that #Telegram, sitting on the biggest cleartext data and metadata pile second only to #Meta, is to integrate "AI" the next days, see https://youtu.be/JBCY3ZE9Rz0?t=10135s ...
Let them fight. We stubbornly continue to focus on resilient private messaging for families, groups and communities, with end-to-encrypted #webxdc apps and decentralized agency at all levels.

2025-05-27 19:04:37 GMT

By design, end-to-end-encrypting #deltachat and #webxdc apps only need ephemeral transport. It's a big deal. Let's compare:
- #matrix home servers maintain a cryptographic forever-chain of cleartext social-graph metadata.
- #WhatsApp servers maintain cleartext metadata visible to Meta.
- #Signal keeps encrypted metadata, hosted at GAFAM
#chatmail relays do not persist any social graph state, also not in encrypted form. A key goal of our designs: chatmail operators can sleep well at night :)

2025-05-25 09:29:03 GMT

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verification takes place between cryptographic identities. https://securejoin.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

2025-05-24 18:23:31 GMT

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would you mind saying explicitly what you think could go wrong with this setup?

2025-05-22 13:39:49 GMT

#deltachat Desktop can now run on Firefox and Safari, entirely avoiding Electron and Chromium! It's an intended side-effect of the "porting Desktop to Tauri" effort led by @npub1t0n…7d8g which aims to provide a non-Electron packaged version of the Desktop. Here is a video and deep dive into what's working on regular browsers now, and what's missing for a full Web version: https://delta.chat/en/2025-05-22-browser-edition

2025-05-22 10:06:24 GMT

For those wondering about Microsoft Recall because of #Signal's blog post about an option to block screenshots on Windows: #deltachat Desktop on Windows and MacOS have an option to disable screenshots in "Advanced" settings since beginning 2025. It's not enabled by default because we first need to work hard on drafting a big blog post about it .... just kidding :) We'll see if we change the default. We certainly agree that Microsoft needs to change their AI-grabbing and privacy violations.

2025-05-20 08:26:40 GMT

Transparency report: #deltachat gave out data for the following number of users in the last years: 0, nada, zilch.
granted, it helps to not have data to begin with :)
#Telegram is the exact opposite: they have _all_ the data about users, message histories, contacts, group and channel memberships, phone numbers, media files, bot interactions etc .... all in the clear on their central server, ready to be grabbed.
https://www.404media.co/telegram-gave-authorities-data-on-more-than-20-000-users/

2025-05-16 11:05:10 GMT

It had to happen: in-chat multi-player #Quake III Arena #webxdc app, running over @npub1pez…6yrq and using the fine work of https://ioquake3.org/ folks. Quake3 app is 1.2MB but you need to download once a game file of ~50 MB. It's only one level.
Realtime-P2P-networked multiplayer gaming with games arranged in securely end-to-end encrypted email. Both Quake3's in-game chat as well as gameplay messages have forward-secrecy. What a weird future, eh? :)
https://webxdc.org/apps/#wofwca-quake3
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2025-05-14 20:18:30 GMT

Russian authorities continue to demand the impossible, namely that we give them user data we don't have. Today the Moscow City Court rejected our objections and sided with the communication surveillance authority Roskomnadzor and the Federal Security Buereau (FSB). Not too surprising. Many more details and next step considerations you can find in this press release
https://merlinux.eu/press/2025-05-14-russia-deltachat.pdf
#deltachat #russia #e2ee #chatcontrol

2025-05-12 09:28:25 GMT

In the bottom left corner of Germany, we are staging a cross-community gathering called "DIFF" during June 7-17th. See our invitation video and blog post. It's probably the best opportunity so far to become part of what is happening behind the scenes ;)
https://delta.chat/en/2025-05-12-diff-invitation

2025-05-09 18:45:11 GMT

We increasingly hear about China travellers who use #deltachat successfully where Whatsapp and Signal fail to work. Recently a family onboarded including a 85 old mother, to prepare for China travel. Everbody succeeded, no troubles!
#deltachat is all about resiliency and "just works" user experiences. Despite ongoing and prospective network blocking attempts, our apps manage to mitigate and remain working everywhere. Meanwhile we are preparing some next level resiliency/security features ;)

2025-05-04 13:48:34 GMT

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nobody needs a pre existing email address. You can just hit "create profile" and get (a random) #chatmail address. If you create a first group, then in the members list there is an "invite" you can show for qr scanning or give as a link, and receivers then join this group.
You can also use a pre existing email address but we strongly recommend to use a dedicated E-Mail address then and not share it with regular classic email usage.

2025-05-04 07:24:14 GMT

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if you need any advise or support let us know :) We particular recommend onboarding with a pre-existing group because then the biggest roadblock, "who can I chat with", is mitigated. Many families, little orgs and ad-hoc groups like attendees in a conference talk, successfully started using #deltachat this way and particularly appreciated #webxdc apps that provide an in-chat interactive experience.