// no identity collection
Username and password. That's it. No email verification. No phone number. No SMS code. Nothing tying your account to a real-world identity.
SEC.01
// what makes it different
Built around what other apps forgot.
Most chat platforms demand your phone number, harvest your contacts, and store every message on servers you'll never see. NOX takes the opposite approach. Sign up with a username. Recover your account with a phrase only you know.
// self-recoverable account
Lose your password? Use the six-word phrase you saved at signup. No support tickets. No identity proofs. No data held hostage.
// no ads, no data sales
The platform isn't bankrolled by selling your attention. No ads injected into the chat. No "recommended" channels. No data brokered to third parties. The product is the chat — not you.
SEC.02
// how it compares
Side-by-side with the apps you already know.
Honest comparison. Where NOX wins, where it draws even, where the others have a head start. The dimensions that mattered when picking what to build.
| Criterion | NOX | Discord | Signal | Slack | Telegram | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phone number at signup | no | no | required | required | no | required |
| Email at signup | no | required | no | no | required | no |
| Username-only signup | yes | phone-keyed | phone-keyed | phone-keyed | ||
| Servers / community channels | yes | yes | groups only | groups only | workspaces | groups |
| Voice channels (drop-in rooms) | yes | yes | no | no | huddles | voice chat |
| E2EE direct messages | yes (Signal Protocol) | no | yes | yes | no | opt-in only |
| Self-hostable | Phase 2 | no | no | no | no | no |
| Tracking SDKs / behavioural ads | none | analytics | Meta metadata | none | analytics | some ads |
| Free, no premium tier | free | Nitro upsell | free | free | paid plans | Premium tier |
| Account recovery model | 6-word phrase | email reset | phone-bound | phone-bound | email reset | phone-bound |
// Researched against publicly documented behaviour as of 2026-05-19. If anything's out of date, ping [email protected] and we'll fix it.
SEC.03
// frequently asked
Quick answers.
The questions everyone asks before signing up. If yours isn't here, email [email protected].
Is it free?
Yes. No subscription, no premium tier, no feature gates. The privacy story doesn't work if the product is the user — so it can't be ad-supported either, ever.
Where does my data live?
On the server hardware of whoever is running the NOX instance you signed up to. There is no NOX cloud aggregating users across deployments. The operator can read messages they host (except encrypted DMs), so pick your operator carefully — same model as Mastodon or Matrix.
How is this different from Signal?
Signal is the gold standard for 1-on-1 and small-group encrypted chat. NOX is community-shaped — servers with named channels, voice rooms, and member roles — built for ongoing communities, not just direct conversations. Signal Protocol crypto is borrowed for direct messages, but the server-room experience is what NOX adds on top.
What if I lose my recovery phrase?
Your account is unrecoverable. By design — there's no third channel that could be social-engineered. Save the six words in a password manager (1Password, Bitwarden, KeePass) the moment you sign up. You can rotate the phrase later from Settings → My Account → Recovery.
Why no email or phone signup?
Because email + phone are the two strongest cross-app identifiers — they tie your chat account to every other service that knows you. Removing them is the single biggest privacy win available, and it's what makes account recovery untraceable too.
Is voice / video end-to-end encrypted?
Yes — WebRTC media is DTLS-SRTP encrypted between the call participants. The server only routes signaling. Direct call media is peer-to-peer; through a TURN relay, your IP is hidden from the other side. Details in Privacy §4.
Can I host my own NOX server?
Soon. Self-hosting is the centrepiece of Phase 2. The whole codebase is deliberately portable for it — Postgres + Redis + Node, no proprietary cloud APIs, single-machine friendly.
Is there a mobile app?
Yes. Android is in Google Play Internal Testing (invite-only — email [email protected] to join). iOS is on the list once we have access to a Mac. Both load the same React frontend that the web and desktop builds use, so feature parity is automatic.
SEC.04
// access
Three ways in.
Same interface, same features, three surfaces. Pick whichever fits your workflow.
// web
Open NOX in any modern browser. No install. Works on any device with a screen.
// desktop
Native window for Windows. System tray, auto-start, native notifications, auto-updates.
// linux
AppImage (universal) or .deb (Debian / Ubuntu). Same app, same auto-updates.
// android · closed beta
Push notifications. Photo upload. Swipe gestures. Designed for the small screen.
// apple
macOS desktop + iOS phone, one card. Both arrive together once the Apple developer paperwork (and a Mac to build them on) lands.
SEC.05
// roadmap
Where it's headed.
Three phases. One promise: the NOX cloud stays free for personal use and ad-free. Dates are targets, not contracts — this roadmap gets edited in public.
// phase 01 — stable
Polish the app until it's a daily driver on Windows, Linux, Android, and the browser. Apple platforms ride the PWA until funded. Exit criteria are in the public roadmap.
// phase 02 — self-host
Run your own NOX community server on a PC or a Raspberry Pi for up to 50 members. Same NOX app, same account, messages never touch our cloud. End-to-end encrypted with Signal Protocol + MLS.
// phase 03 — host for others
Self-hosters can optionally rent spare capacity — bandwidth, voice relay, storage — to people who want lower-latency hosting nearby. NOX takes a small cut; the rest flows to the host.