Where CHANNEL is

Status as of 16 October 2026. Last verified 22 October 2026: the counts of working and not-yet features, and the price and family-plan facts; the other items were last checked on 16 October.

CHANNEL is feature complete on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Android, and in final testing, internal and external. What remains before release is testing, fixing what testing finds, and polish.

We need more beta testers, on iPhone and on Android. To join, write to support@channelmessenger.net.

What works today

• WorkingMessages sealed end to end: only the devices of the person they are sent to can open them.
• WorkingDelivery over the internet when no radio reaches, with a letter on each message showing the path it took.
• WorkingDelivery over the local network when both devices share the same Wi-Fi.
• WorkingBluetooth between two iPhones or two Android phones, with no network at all. Between an iPhone and an Android phone, 20 of 20 messages arrived in each direction in our own tests; results vary by phone model, and from a Mac to an Android phone it does not yet get through reliably.
• WorkingVoice calls between iPhone, Android and Mac, sealed end to end.
• WorkingA push wakes the phone the moment a message lands for it.
• WorkingPairing by code: show yours or type theirs.
• WorkingA Safety Number on each contact’s page, for comparing in person or on a call. Optional: nothing asks for it.
• WorkingUp to 10 profiles on one phone, each with its own keys, contacts and conversations.
• WorkingDisappearing messages, and view-once photos, videos and voice messages. View-once photos and videos are hidden from screenshots.
• WorkingPhotos, sealed like any other message.
• WorkingSending your location, or sharing it live for a set time.
• WorkingVerifying your number by text message.
• WorkingAI features: on the device itself (Apple Intelligence on iPhone and Mac, Gemini Nano on Android phones that support it), or on your own AI account.
• WorkingEverything stored on the phone is encrypted under a key that never leaves it.
• WorkingHelp pages inside the app.
• WorkingCHANNEL on a Mac with Apple silicon.
• WorkingVideo calls, and group calls of up to 8 people, with video for up to 4.
• WorkingInformal groups of up to 8 people. Everyone is invited and joins by accepting.
• WorkingOptional connection sharing: a nearby phone carries your sealed messages, or collects them for you when you have no internet. It cannot read them.
• WorkingOptional slow sending: a big file goes in parts that blend into normal message traffic.
• WorkingVoice messages up to 4 minutes with Auto Send off: at the limit the recording stops and waits for you to send it or delete it.
• WorkingHands-free voice on iPhone and Android: with Auto Send on, the microphone keeps listening, sends what you said each time you pause for about a second, and carries on recording, for up to 5 minutes a session.
• WorkingVoice messages from one person play one after another, and on iPhone so do video messages.
• WorkingVideos and files up to 5 GB.
• WorkingForward secrecy, between phones that carry it: in one-to-one conversations the keys change with every message. Post-quantum key agreement when a conversation begins, and a post-quantum secret mixed in once per ratchet session.
• WorkingMake a Picture: AI draws a picture from your description, on your own OpenAI or xAI account.
• WorkingRead aloud.
• WorkingOptional: waking the phone on a clock, so the timing of a wake says nothing about your messages, or registering no push at all.
• WorkingVerifying your number by phone call.
• WorkingWrite to someone new: your first message is the invitation.
• WorkingA map inside the app, with distance and a compass arrow.
• WorkingBackup and restore, and moving a profile to a new phone or a Mac.
• WorkingAn app PIN with a distress code, plus a separate PIN for any profile or any single conversation.
• WorkingShare a profile across up to 10 devices: phones, iPads and Macs. History copies across with progress on both sides, read status and badges match everywhere, and contacts never have to accept anything.
• WorkingHandles: people can reach you by name without knowing your number.
• WorkingErase everything, or erase only your messages and keep your contacts.
• WorkingReactions with any emoji.
• WorkingArchiving conversations.
• WorkingThe app and help in English, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Italian, following your phone's language.
• WorkingTwo columns on a wide screen.
• WorkingDates above each day's messages, and no duplicate messages.
• WorkingHelp pages that update without a new app version.
• WorkingDirect Wi-Fi, phone to phone with no network, between two iPhones, or two Android phones that support Wi-Fi Aware.
• WorkingA short setup on first run: your name, then your card, where you add how people can find you.
• WorkingYour own AI server (Ollama, LM Studio and others) instead of an AI company, so your words go only to a machine you run.
• WorkingFormal groups with admins, joining by invitation or request, and a choice of who may post.
• WorkingYour handle as an email address: write to and hear from people outside CHANNEL by ordinary email.
• WorkingShare from other apps straight into a conversation.
• WorkingChoose which network the internet routes use: Wi-Fi and cellular, Wi-Fi only, Cellular only or Off.
• WorkingEditing a text message for 15 minutes after sending it.
• WorkingBold, italic, underline, strikethrough and fixed-width text.
• WorkingPolls in groups.
• WorkingPhoto editing before you send: crop, draw, write and blur, with Undo, Redo and Reset to Original, and a copy of the edited picture can be saved without touching your original.
• Working@mentions in informal groups.
• WorkingPay links for PayPal, Revolut, Mercado Pago, Pix and Mexico's SPEI, shown to a contact in the conversation. CHANNEL never touches the money.
• WorkingAn AI as a contact in your Messages list: ChatGPT, Claude, Grok or a model on your own server.
• WorkingOn a Mac, an AI you use can run one of your profiles through CHANNEL’s API: it reads and writes in that profile, runs its groups, and reaches nothing else. Every call it makes is logged.
• WorkingBroadcast lists: one message to up to 256 contacts, each receiving it as an ordinary one-to-one message.
• WorkingSend Later: a text message waits on your device and goes at the time you choose.
• WorkingTyping indicators, sent only directly between the two devices, never through our server.
• WorkingDelete for everyone, on your own message before anyone has read it.
• WorkingNotifications on an Apple Watch, with replies sent through your iPhone.
• WorkingThe local network path announces on that Wi-Fi that a device is there, under a random name that changes. Settings turns that one path off.
• WorkingEmail with people outside CHANNEL is not end-to-end encrypted, and on the email backup route the mail services see who writes to whom, though not what. Turning on Secure Mode turns both off.
• WorkingText messages to people without CHANNEL are not end-to-end encrypted. They go from your own Messages app and never pass through our server.
• WorkingWaking the phone: with Push, Apple or Google learn roughly when your phone is woken, never by whom or about what. On iPhone a call wakes the phone the way Apple requires for calls, which tells Apple that a call arrived. Fetch or On Demand keep the timing of a wake apart from your messages.
• WorkingThe mailbox server holds sealed messages it cannot read when no radio reaches, and has no account to attach you to.

Not yet

Designed, but no user can reach any of them. Nothing here carries a date, and nothing here should be read as a promise.

• Not yetA Windows app.