Guide

Chats

A chat is a conversation and everything shared in it. Every member keeps a copy on their own devices, and the copies stay in sync whenever members can reach each other.

Chat types

• Solo chat: a private space for notes, plans and records. New Chat › Solo Chat, name it, and tap Create.
• One-to-one chat: you and one other person. Start one with a Start a Chat invite, a chat request or Nearby Users. This is the only kind of chat with voice calls.
• Group chat: three or more people. Any chat becomes a group when you invite another member.

The timeline

Messages are grouped by day. Yours sit on the right; other people's show their name and the time. Besides text, a chat can hold photos and videos, files, voice clips and songs, locations, events, plans and activity records. Notices such as "Alice left the chat" appear in the middle.

Send a message

1. Type in the Message field (up to 4,000 characters).
2. Tap + to add a photo, file, location, event, plan, activity or route. Swipe up on + to open the camera.
3. Tap Send. On a Mac, press Return to send and Shift-Return for a new line.

React, edit and delete

Touch and hold a message to open its actions.

• React with ❤️ 👍 😂 😮 😢 or 🙏. Tap a reaction under a message to add or remove yours.
• Edit your own messages with Edit Message, or Add Caption for media. Everyone sees the message marked Edited.
• Delete your own messages. This removes them from the chat for everyone.

Unread messages

A New messages divider marks where you left off, and the composer shows how many are unread with a Jump link and Mark all as read. Messages count as read once they've been on screen. Your read position is private: other members don't see when you've read something.

Chat sections

Tap the chat's name at the top to open its sections. A row of tabs sits under the header. A tab appears once the chat has something for it.

Chat settings

The gear at the top right of a chat opens Chat Settings.

• Delivery and notifications: Notify me mutes or unmutes this chat on this device. Offline delivery turns on Courier for the chat. See Offline delivery.
• Connection Diagnostics: measures the round-trip time to each member, useful when messages seem slow.
• Chat: the chat's code, Rename, Choose Image and Remove Image.
• Leave Chat: stops new messages. Other members see that you left, and the history stays readable on your devices.
• Delete Chat: removes the chat and its history from your account on all your devices. If you're still a member, you leave first. This can't be undone.

Presence

Presence shows who's around right now. In a one-to-one chat, the header shows Online, typing… or when they were last seen. In a group, it shows how many people are online and who's typing. Online members have a green dot.

Presence is never stored in the chat. It's sent live between devices and forgotten. To stop sharing it, open Persona Settings and turn off Share online status. It works both ways: with it off, you won't see other people's status either.

Notifications

Notification settings live in two places:

• For this device: Device Settings › Notifications has Allow notifications and Show message previews. With previews off, alerts just say "New message".
• For one chat: Notify me in Chat Settings. Muting stops alerts, but messages still arrive.

While Whispurr is open, notifications come straight from the app. To be notified while it's closed, the chat needs Offline delivery turned on. Previews are decrypted on your device, never by a server. See How notifications arrive.

Voice calls

One-to-one chats have voice calls. Calls are audio only and end-to-end encrypted. On iPhone and iPad they use the system call screen, so you can answer from the lock screen even when Whispurr is closed. Calls aren't added to the Phone app's Recents.

1. In a one-to-one chat, tap Call (the phone icon) under the gear.
2. The screen shows Calling…, then Ringing…, then Connected with a timer.
3. Use Mute, Speaker (iPhone) and End.