Direct Only

With Direct Only on, what you say, write and show goes only directly between your two phones. Never through our relay server, and no messages are left on our server.

Where: Settings → Privacy → Direct Only. It is off from the start and works as soon as you turn it on or off.

What changes

You can only write while you're connected. Without Direct Only, a message to someone who isn't connected waits for them on our server, encrypted, until their phone has it (at most 7 days). With Direct Only, it can't be sent.
Sometimes you can't connect. On some mobile networks, phones can't reach each other directly. Without Direct Only, the conversation then goes through our relay server in Switzerland, still encrypted. With Direct Only, there is no connection. Try again on Wi‑Fi, or turn Direct Only off.
It works both ways. If you or the other person has it on, your connection with each other never uses the relay, and neither of you can leave messages on our server. The app tells you when the other person has it on.

What stays the same

Your conversation is end‑to‑end encrypted, with or without Direct Only. We can't read, hear or see it, not even on the relay.
Translation happens on your phone.
Without Direct Only, everything also goes directly whenever the phones can reach each other. The relay is only used when they can't.
Our server still helps the two phones find each other, with encrypted connection details we can't read, kept in memory for at most 10 minutes. It also passes on calls, so the other phone rings.

The details are in our Privacy Policy.