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 (NOX is not end-to-end encrypted yet), 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?

Unless you added an optional recovery email or phone number (Settings → My Account), 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?

Encrypted in transit, yes — WebRTC media is DTLS-SRTP encrypted. Direct calls and group voice are peer-to-peer between participants; group video and screen share are relayed through NOX media infrastructure and never recorded. 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 beta (email [email protected] for access). iOS is live on the App Store. Both load the same React frontend that the web and desktop builds use, so feature parity is automatic.