New
Two codes, one each way.One code, through Tor. Nothing is stored: when either of you leaves, the chat is gone. You can have up to 16 chats and rooms open at once. Got a code from someone? Use ⌗ Code at the top.
Links open in Safari, not in this installed app. Scan codes with the in-app scanner, or paste them.
Invite someone
Creates an invite code. Show it as a QR code, or send the link.
Add a contact
From their contact card, or share yours. Contacts are people you can come back to: connect through Tor without a codetheir key and name are pinned, a chat still needs an invite.
Or open a room
Up to 16 people, each connected directlythrough Tor to every other one. You own the room: you invite members (or read-only observers) and can remove them. When you leave, the room is gone.
Add a contact
Add someone
Paste or scan their contact card (a link with #k=).
Share yours
A contact card needs a saved identity:
Anyone with this card can add you as a contact without chatting first. In Tor mode they can also connect to you once with it; you are asked before the chat starts.In direct mode a card only pins your key and nickname: a chat still needs an invite.
Verify
Compare this number with , in person or on a call you trust. It is the same on both devices and stays the same in every chat.
Remove
Removes the name and key from your key file. You can undo it for a few seconds.
Settings
Tor
Connecting to Tor through Snowflake…
Your peers see an onion address, never your IP address. The Snowflake volunteer proxy and broker see your IP address and that you use Tor, not whom you talk to. Messages take 0.5–2 s. Keep this tab open, and visible in Safari, to stay reachable. For faster starts, the public Tor directory is kept on this device (no chats, peers or keys).
Switch to direct mode (ends this Tor session).
Hide your IP address
In direct mode your peer sees your IP address. Tor mode connects you through Tor instead: slower, text only, and your peer must use Tor mode too.
Switch to Tor modeYour identity
Backup out of date: your contacts or nickname changed since you downloaded the key file.
Resetting makes every card you shared unusable for a first contact. Contacts you already have are not affected. Share your card from Chats → ＋ New → Add a contact.
Saving gives you the same identity every time, so peers can recognise you, and can link your sessions. The file is encrypted with your passphrase (Argon2id). The label is not secret.
Saved. Keep the file (or this text) safe: a lost file or passphrase cannot be recovered.
Connection and privacy
STUN servers: Google and Cloudflare. They learn your public IP address, as does your peer. No relay is ever used.
Tor connection
Only snowflake bridge lines work in a web page: obfs4, WebTunnel and meek need connections a page cannot open. Get lines from whoever runs the bridge, or from bridges.torproject.org (choose snowflake). Signed in, they are kept in your encrypted key file; with a temporary identity, only in this tab.
About
New to Ephem? The user guide explains chats, contacts, channels and boards, and what each one protects (opens in a new tab, so your chats stay open).
Security depends on the codes reaching the right person and on the code this site serves. In direct mode your peer can see your IP address; Tor mode and channels go through Tor.
Performance (debug)
Display details (for bug reports)
Ephem is free for noncommercial use under the PolyForm Noncommercial License 1.0.0. Source.
Channels
Channels are read and served through Tor. In direct mode Ephem loads its Tor part for them (about 2 MB, once): your chats stay direct.
Starting Tor…
Follow a channel or board
Paste a channel link (#c=…) or a board link (#B=…), or scan its QR code. It is read through Tor and verified here: signed by its key, never older than what you saw.
Channel
Without Tor the channel is fetched from a public IPFS gateway (trustless-gateway.link), which sees your IP address. It works only if a follower mirrors this channel to public IPFS; what you get is still verified here.
Mirror to public IPFS (optional)
Your IP address will be visible as a host of this channel. The owner's stays hidden.
Download the channel and its signed record, then run, with your own Kubo node:
New channel
A public channel: only you post, anyone with the link reads. It is served from this tab through Tor, so your IP address stays hidden; it is online while this tab (or a follower's mirror) is open. Desktop browsers.
Sign in
A channel's keys are derived from a saved identity.
Create a channel
- Everything you post is public and permanent: followers may keep copies, even of posts you delete later.
- Your writing style and posting times can identify you.
- The channel has no owner field; you are known only if you say so. Its keys are derived from your identity, but nobody can link the two without your key file.
▦ New board
A board like 4chan's: anyone with its link posts anonymously, threads bump and fall off. It is hosted from this tab through Tor and is writable while this tab is open; readers can read from mirrors. Desktop browsers. Up to 4 boards per identity.
- You publish whatever your board accepts. You are responsible for it where you live.
- Anyone with the link can post. Spam and illegal content will arrive; only you can remove it, and only while this tab is online.
- Deleting removes a post from your board and tells mirrors and readers to drop it. Copies made by others before that may survive.
- The board is hosted in this tab, beside your chats and channels: their onions go online and offline together, which can link them. To keep them apart, host the board from another browser profile.
- This tab's IP address is visible to the volunteer Snowflake proxy it uses, and anyone can make it send traffic by posting. For stronger protection use bridges you trust (Settings → Tor bridges).
- Your writing style and posting times can identify you; a separate identity for boards is recommended.
Hosting a board needs desktop Chrome or Firefox: phones, Safari and the installed app stop background tabs.
One device hosts a board at a time. Hosting it here moves it from your other device, with its posts, bans and switches if that device or a mirror is online; the other device stops within a minute and says so.
Not online yet.
Without Ephem: in Tor Browser (read only, no scripts).
Held for approval
Board
Mass delete: every post from No. on
Moderation log
Settings
switches, proof of work, mirrors, links
Proof of work per post (solutions): reply new thread
Board
Rules
One device writes your channels at a time: it hosts them and posts. Taking over here moves that to this device (with the newest version, if your other device is online); the other device stops within minutes and says so.
Not online yet.
Without Ephem, anyone can read it in Tor Browser at , a plain page with no scripts; the onion address itself vouches that it is your channel.
Optional: make the channel's name resolvable on the public IPFS network (useful only if a follower mirrors it there with Kubo). The record goes to delegated-ipfs.dev through a Tor exit, so your IP stays hidden.