Simple X Chat is a private messaging app that assigns no user identifiers of any kind, so contacts connect through one-time invite links or QR codes instead of phone numbers or usernames.
Simple X Chat is an open-source messaging platform built around a simple idea: conversations should not require a user account. Instead of registering a phone number or username, you create a local profile and share a one-time invitation link or QR code. Each connection establishes its own pair of message queues, and the app discards the invitation address once the contact is added. Messages travel end-to-end encrypted with a double ratchet, and every conversation is stored on your device rather than in a server database. From there you can exchange text, files, and voice notes, or place audio and video calls.
Because there is no central account directory, contacts are the only people who know how to reach you, and relay servers see encrypted traffic passing through without learning who is talking to whom. You can run several chat profiles side by side, keeping a work identity separate from personal conversations, and switch between them in a tap. The app also supports self-hosted relay servers, Tor or VPN routing, and desktop builds for Linux, macOS, and Windows alongside mobile clients. People who maintain support documentation often pair utilities such as the OneNote Client Diagnostics Tool with their setup notes, but Simple X Chat itself remains a standalone messenger that never depends on a third-party account.
The main benefit is that there is simply nothing to leak. Since Simple X Chat never asks for a phone number, email address, or username, there is no identifier to harvest, correlate across services, or hand over in a data request. Metadata protection is equally deliberate: messages are padded and relayed so that servers cannot tell who is speaking to whom, while continuous post-quantum key exchange keeps long conversations protected against future decryption. Groups work without exposing a membership list to anyone who was not invited, and inviting people through a link lets you share a community publicly without revealing your own profile. Everything stays on your device, so you decide what to back up. Combined with Tor support, self-hosted servers, and reproducible builds, the result is a messenger that fits journalists, activists, and privacy-conscious teams as comfortably as it fits everyday chatting.
Key capabilities and highlights.
Simple X Chat assigns no account, phone number, email address, or username to anyone who installs it. Your identity exists only as a profile stored on your own device, so there is no directory entry to look up, no identifier to correlate across services, and nothing a service provider could hand over in response to a data request.
New contacts are established by sharing a short invitation link or scanning a QR code rather than searching for a name in a global directory. The address is consumed once the connection is created, so a link that leaks later from an old message or a screenshot cannot be reused to reach you again.
Keep separate profiles for work, community, and personal life inside a single installation, each with its own display name, picture, and connection addresses. Switching between profiles changes which contacts and invitation links are visible, so someone who knows one of your profiles has no way to discover that the others exist.
Every message is protected with end-to-end encryption and a continuous key exchange that includes post-quantum algorithms, so each conversation is re-keyed as it progresses. Traffic captured today is designed to remain unreadable even if future quantum computers eventually break the conventional key exchange used by older messengers.
Start encrypted voice or video calls directly from inside a conversation, without scheduling them through an external service. Calls inherit the same identifier-free connection model as ordinary messages, so you never need to register a separate calling account or reveal a telephone number to the person on the other end.
Create group chats and broadcast channels that do not publish a member list to every participant. Owners invite people with a shareable link, which makes it practical to run a public community or announcement channel while keeping the personal contacts inside it private from one another and from observers.
Run your own message and file relays, or route traffic through Tor, so that delivery does not depend on infrastructure you have not chosen to trust. Teams that need full control over availability, logging, and jurisdiction can operate the network themselves and audit the code that runs on it.
Use desktop applications on Linux, macOS, and Windows, mobile builds on iOS and Android, or the terminal client for headless machines. A documented API and bot toolkit let developers send automated notifications, build support desks, and integrate private messaging into existing internal tools and workflows.
Browse historical releases and previous builds.
Common questions about Simple X Chat.
No. There is no registration step and no account of any kind. You install the app, create a local profile, and start connecting through invitation links or QR codes, so no personal detail is ever handed to a service provider.
You generate a one-time invitation link or QR code from your app and send it over any channel you already trust. Once the other person opens it, the connection is created and the invitation address is discarded so it cannot be reused.
Yes. The clients and server software are open source, the mobile and desktop apps are free to download, and independent security reviews of the code have been published. The project is funded by donations, user investment, and paid hosting for large channels and businesses.
Conversations live in a local database on your device rather than on a central server. Relay servers only hold messages temporarily until they are delivered, then remove them, which is why backups are your own responsibility.
Yes. Audio and video calls are available from within a conversation and use the same encrypted, identifier-free connections as text messaging, without requiring a phone number or a separate calling account.
It is designed to. There is no global user directory, and messages on the network are padded and relayed so that server operators cannot easily determine who is communicating with whom. Running your own relay or using Tor adds another layer.
Yes, though very large communities are expected to pay for the relay capacity they consume, which is how the project plans to stay independent. Membership is not published to everyone in a group, so only invited participants can see the participant list.
Because data is stored locally, an unbacked-up installation cannot be recovered by the developer. The app lets you export an encrypted copy of your chat database, so keeping that backup file and its passphrase safe is the practical way to plan for a lost phone.
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