Nyra
Nyra

See what our server sees.

Private messaging. No phone number, no email, nothing to hand over. The demo on this page shows both sides: your conversation, and the sealed envelopes that are the most our server ever sees of what you said.

Join the waitlist See the app
iOS, in development Android, in development

Free at launch. One email when it ships, nothing else.

Live demo, runs on this page

One chat, two views

The same conversation, seen from your phone and from our side of the wire. Flip the switch and read what actually reaches us.

Demo: a chat conversation. In your view the messages are readable. In the server view the usernames stay visible, because the server can see those, but every message is an unreadable encrypted envelope.

Your view. A normal conversation, encrypted end-to-end before it leaves the phone.

01The short version

What is Nyra?

Nyra is an anonymous, end-to-end encrypted messenger. Your identity is a username and a recovery phrase, not a phone number or an email, so there is nothing personal to hand over. Every message is sealed on your device before it leaves, and every conversation disappears by default after 7 days. It is in development for iOS and Android, and you can read more about the project or dig into the security design.

No phone numbersA username is enough
No emailNothing to hand over
Disappearing by default7 day timer on every chat
Forward secrecyKeys ratchet with every message
No ads, no trackersNot now, not ever
Honest about metadataWe publish what we see

02Inside the app

The app is the proof

Every screen below is a real screenshot from the development build, framed but untouched. This is the actual app, not a mockup. Nyra works like the messengers you already know: replies, reactions, edits, groups with mentions and roles, voice messages, view-once photos. What changes is everything underneath.

02.1Identity

Say hello without a number

Your identity is a username and a pair of keys, nothing more. We never ask for a phone number or an email, so we can never leak what we never had.

  • Constellations instead of photos. Every account gets its own constellation, drawn from its keys. No profile photos to leak.
  • Be five people, or none. Up to 5 accounts on one device, fully isolated: separate keys, separate chats, separate locks. Switch without logging out, and nothing crosses over.
  • Message requests stay outside. Strangers wait in a request pill until you let them in.
Fig. 01Development build
Nyra chat list with constellation avatars, a message requests pill and unread counters

The chat list. Every account is a sky of its own, drawn from its keys.

Fig. 02Development build
An end to end encrypted Nyra conversation with disappearing message timers on every bubble

Chats feel familiar. The ember ring on each message quietly burns down toward its 7 day expiry.

02.2Ephemerality

Every message is already disappearing

Every conversation starts with a 7 day timer already running. Messages fade out on their own unless you choose to keep them longer.

  • Sealed media too. Photos, files and voice messages are sealed with a fresh key on your device before upload. Our server stores and relays only ciphertext; the key travels inside the encrypted message, so we could not open your photo if we wanted to.
  • View-once, then gone. Photos and voice messages can be sent to be seen a single time.
  • Groups without a member list on the server. Up to 100 people, with mentions, roles and invite links.

02.3Verification

Verify with the sky

Instead of reading hex strings aloud, you and your contact compare a small constellation. Same sky on both screens means the connection is secure. Prefer numbers? The classic safety number and a QR code are right there too.

Try it yourself

Lowercase letters, numbers and underscores. Up to 20 characters.

In the app, your constellation is derived from your cryptographic identity key, not from your name. This preview derives one from the name you type, just to show the idea.

The name never leaves this page. Your constellation is drawn locally, right here.

Fig. 03Development build
Nyra verification screen showing a shared constellation, a safety number and a QR code

Verification is a shared sky. Same constellation on both screens means the connection is secure.

All four screenshots are taken from the iOS build in active development. Details may change before launch.

Fig. 04Development build
Nyra privacy screen listing exactly what the service can and cannot see

The privacy screen in the app. Not trust us, see for yourself.

03Metadata, honestly

What our server can and cannot see

We will not promise zero metadata, because no relay can. Here is the honest list instead, the same one the app will show on its privacy screen.

The server can see

  • Your username and public keys. That is what an account is.
  • When your device connects. The IP address at connection time, kept briefly for rate limiting.
  • That an envelope moved. An encrypted blob, and roughly how big it was, went from one account to another.
  • Your queue depth. How many envelopes are waiting for you to come online.

The server cannot see

  • Message content. Not one word, ever. Media and voice notes included.
  • Who you are. No phone number, no email. We never ask.
  • Your contact list. It never leaves your device.
  • Group member lists. We store none; group messages are sealed envelopes like any other.
  • Anything after delivery. Envelopes are deleted when delivered, or after 7 days in the queue.

This is the same list the app shows on its privacy screen. If the two ever disagree, that is a bug, and we want to hear about it.

04Underneath

The parts you never see

The familiar surface sits on top of a locked room. These are the pieces doing the quiet work.

Sealed on your device

X3DH key agreement and the Double Ratchet, built on independently audited cryptographic primitives. Your private keys are made and kept on your device, never on our servers.

Lock a chat, or lose it from sight

Any chat can require the app lock to open, with no preview on the list. Go further and hide it entirely: hidden chats live in a separate area that only appears behind the lock.

Carry your account in your pocket

Export your whole account as a single encrypted file, sealed with a passphrase only you know. Restore it on a new phone by importing it. The wrong passphrase opens nothing.

05Duress

The dead switch

Nyra's app lock accepts two PINs. One is yours. The other is the dead switch.

Enter the dead switch PIN and Nyra erases itself on the spot. Your keys are destroyed on the device, your account and anything waiting in your queue are deleted from the server, and what is left in your hand is an app with nothing in it. No warning screen, no confirmation, no trace that a wipe just happened.

It exists for the moment someone makes you open your phone. You comply, you type a PIN, and there is nothing to show them.

The lock also fights back on its own. You can set Nyra to erase the account after a number of failed unlock attempts you choose, with the wait between attempts doubling each time. A guessed PIN gets slower with every try, and then it gets nothing.

WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram have app locks. None of them will die for you. And because our server only ever held sealed envelopes, a username and public keys, never your message content or your real identity, what the wipe erases up there was already almost nothing. The dead switch is in the current app build; the app itself is still unreleased.

06Status

In the build today

Nyra is unreleased, so here is the actual state of the app, kept current as we build. Everything below is implemented and tested in the current build, not on a roadmap.

Dead switch PINWipes the app on the spot
Auto-eraseAfter failed unlock attempts, with backoff
Locked and hidden chatsBehind the app lock
Encrypted local backupPassphrase-sealed export and restore
Encrypted media relayServer holds ciphertext only
Hardened at restKeys wrapped in the device keychain
Groups to 100Mentions, roles, invite links
5 accounts, one deviceFully isolated
Disappearing timers7 days by default, per chat
Verified safety numbersEmoji or numeric
View-once photos and voice messagesSealed like everything else
One-time location and wallpapersA snapshot, never live tracking

In development right now, and only in development: sealed sender, so a seized server cannot map who talks to whom, and voice and video calls.

Your keys, your account

Nyra has no password reset. There is no email on file, so there is nothing to send a reset link to.

Your account is a recovery phrase. It generates your keys, and it is the only way back in. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe.

If you lose the phrase, the account is gone forever. Nobody can restore it, including us.

That is not a gap we plan to fix. It is what actually holding your own keys means.

Never ads.Never trackers.Never a phone number.

That is how Nyra is built. It is free, it never sells data, and a sustainability model will be announced before launch, in the open like everything else here.

07Questions

Questions, answered plainly

How is Nyra different from Signal?
Signal is excellent, and it requires your phone number. Nyra does not. Your identity is a username and keys derived from a recovery phrase, so there is nothing personal to hand over on day one.
Is Nyra free?
Yes.
Is Nyra audited?
The cryptographic primitives Nyra is built on are independently audited. Nyra itself is not audited yet. An independent audit of the app is planned before launch, and we will publish the results.
What happens if I lose my recovery phrase?
The account is gone forever. Nobody can restore it, including us. There is no email or phone number on file, so there is nothing to reset. Write the phrase down when you create your account.
What is the dead switch?
A second PIN for the app lock, built into the current app build. Your real PIN opens Nyra. The dead switch PIN erases it: keys destroyed on the device, account and queue deleted from the server, leaving an empty app. It is built for the moment someone forces you to open your phone.
When does Nyra launch?
Nyra is in development for iOS and Android. Join the waitlist and you will get one email at launch.
How does Nyra make money?
It does not yet. There are no ads and no selling of data, and there never will be. We will announce a sustainability model before launch, in the open, like everything else here.

08The launch

Be there at launch

Leave an email and we will send exactly one message when Nyra ships. Yes, we see the irony of asking for an email. It is for the launch note only, and it never touches your future account.

You are on the list. One email at launch, nothing else.

One email when Nyra launches. Nothing else. Reply delete to any mail and you are gone.