Chats
Text, photos, videos, voice notes and round video messages, with replies, forwarding and edits. Send files of up to 2 GB, and open PDF, Word and Excel documents right in the chat.
End-to-end encrypted
Messages and calls that stay between you.
Relay is a private messenger for chats, voice and video calls, groups and status updates — on your phone and on your computer. Only the people in a chat can read it. Not even Relay can.
Encrypted on your phone before it's sent
Phone and computer with the same chats
Made by Jatelo Technologies
Everything you use every day
The way you already talk to people — with your privacy built in, not added on.
Voice and video calls
Calls ring like phone calls, even on a locked phone, and keep going with the screen off or in another app. Switch to video, flip the camera, share your screen, record, or add more people.
Groups
Group chats and group calls, with admins who can manage members, the group's name and photo, and remove messages for everyone. Broadcast lists for sending to many people at once.
Status
Share photos, videos and text with your contacts. Updates disappear after 24 hours, and you choose who sees them.
Your privacy, your way
Hide your last seen, online status, blue ticks or typing. Choose who sees your photo and status, who can call you and who can add you to groups. Turn on disappearing messages in any chat.
Phone and computer
Use Relay in your computer's browser alongside your phone, with the same chats on both. See and log out your linked devices at any time.
Share what matters
Your location, or your live location for a while. Contacts from your phone. Paper documents, scanned into a clean PDF with the built-in scanner.
A @username
Pick a username so people can find you on Relay without your phone number. Add an About line and a cover photo to your profile.
Ticks you can trust
One tick when it's sent, two when it reaches their phone — even if Relay is closed — and blue when it's read.
A look inside
Private by design
Your messages are locked on your phone before they leave it, and unlocked only on the phones and computers of the people in the chat.
- End-to-end encryption. Messages, photos, videos, voice notes and files are encrypted with Olm and Megolm — the Double Ratchet cryptography used by Matrix and Element. The keys live on your devices, never on Relay's servers.
- The server can't open them. Relay's servers only ever hold your messages in encrypted form — enough to deliver them and keep your devices in sync, never to read them.
- Quiet notifications. A notification says who wrote, never what they wrote — so Google, which delivers it, never sees your messages either.
- Encrypted calls. Voice and video calls are encrypted as they travel.
- You decide what others see. Last seen, online, read receipts, typing, your photo and your status — each one is your choice, and Relay's servers enforce it.
Get Relay for Android
Download the APKRelay is in private beta: a new account needs an invite code. Once you've signed in, you never need one again.
Installing it
- Download the app on your Android phone. If your browser asks whether to keep the file, choose Download anyway.
- Open the downloaded Relay file. The first time, Android asks you to allow installing apps from your browser: tap Settings, turn on Allow from this source, and go back.
- Install. If Google Play Protect says it doesn't recognise the app (it isn't on the Play Store yet), tap More details → Install anyway.
- Sign in with your phone number and the code we send you — plus your invite code the first time. Allow notifications so calls and messages reach you.
Updating? Download the new version and install it over the one you have. Don't uninstall Relay first: that removes your chats and encryption keys from the phone.
Questions
Why isn't Relay on the Google Play Store?
Relay is in private beta, so for now it's installed straight from this page. It's the same app either way, and you'll be able to update it here.
Is it safe to install an app from a website?
Only install apps from places you trust — for Relay, that's this page. Android warns about any app that isn't from the Play Store, which is why you see the extra steps.
Do I need an invite?
To create a new account during the beta, yes. Someone from the Relay team gives you an invite code, which you enter once when you first sign in.
Is there an iPhone app?
Not yet. Relay is on Android and in your computer's browser — open Relay on your computer.
Which phones does it work on?
Any Android phone running Android 7.0 or newer, including foldables, whose cover and inner screens each get their own layout.
Can I use Relay on my computer?
Yes. Open Relay in your computer's browser and sign in; your chats are the same on your phone and your computer, still end-to-end encrypted. You can see and log out your linked devices in Settings.
Can Relay read my messages?
No. They're encrypted on your device and only the devices of the people in the chat have the keys. Relay's servers only ever hold them in encrypted form.
How do I update?
Come back to this page, download the latest version and install it over the one you have. Your chats stay where they are.