What we are building

This page says what is finished, what is being built right now and what comes next. Last updated: 20 September 2026.

Why this page exists. Almost every piece of software promises things that do not exist yet. We do it the other way around: here is what really works today — and next to it, what is missing. You can then decide for yourself whether that is enough for you.

You will find no dates here. A date in a roadmap is a promise nobody can keep without guessing. So we name the order, not the day.

What works today

The messenger

Encrypted from the first word. Your messages are encrypted on your device and only become readable again on the recipient's. We do not have the key — not even if someone demands it from us.
Sign in with an e-mail address. No phone number, no matching of your address book against our servers.
Our own apps for iPhone, for Android, for the browser and for Windows. No third-party app needed. Note: one feature is still missing from the Android app — profile pictures. It can do everything else; what that means in detail is set out below.
Pictures, films, documents — encrypted like every message.
Voice messages and video messages recorded and sent straight from the iPhone app.
28 languages — in both apps and in the browser, selectable in the settings. Not just the interface: the error messages too.
You can see how far a file has got. A bar runs from 0 to 100 % while it sends. If an attachment gets stuck, the app gives up after five minutes and says so — instead of quietly holding back every message behind it.
Files up to 90 MB. Anything larger is refused before the upload starts, with a reason — you do not wait for a transfer that cannot work.
Feedback straight from the app. A fault, an improvement or a wish: in the settings, without signing in, with a ticket number for your own notes. It works even for someone who cannot sign in right now.
Reply, react, edit, delete. Editing works for 15 minutes and not after that — the other person should be able to rely on the text they read.
The app tells you when something arrives: a window, a sound and a number. Adjustable for everything at once and for each conversation on its own.
Sort your conversations — by most recent, by name, or dragged into your own order.
Profile pictures for you and for a conversation. Please note: a profile picture is the only thing that is not encrypted. Why that is so is explained in our privacy policy.
Report and block right inside a conversation. You can unblock anyone again at any time.
Inviting without an address book: you send a link, and as soon as someone uses it, your conversation appears by itself.
Recovery after losing a device. Your devices confirm each other, and there is a recovery key. If your phone is gone, that key gets you back to your old messages. What you need to know: if all your devices are gone and the key is lost, nobody can help you — we cannot either. That is precisely the price for the fact that we cannot read along.

The Android app — what it can do today, and what it cannot

It has existed since 19 August 2026, and has been on Google Play since 15 September. It is not a stripped-down version: both apps are built from the same blueprint, and every change applies to both. We still say plainly what is missing — and what nobody has verified yet.

It can: create an account, sign in, stay signed in, read and write, pictures, films and files, voice messages, replies, reactions, editing and deleting, notifications, encrypted calls. In 28 languages. It tells you itself when a newer version is out.
Still missing: profile pictures — for you and for a chat. That is the one feature the iPhone app has and Android does not.
And what we do not claim: much of this is built and has not been clicked through on a real Android phone — our test devices are iPhones. If something strikes you, tell us; that is exactly what a beginning is for.
On Google Play since 15 September 2026 — and still available directly from us as a file. The fingerprint of that file is printed on the download page so you can check that you received our app and not an altered one.

The AI workspace

An assistant that works with your documents, handles tasks and remembers what you told it.
Your e-mail account can be connected.
Connect your own services — every access only after you confirm it.

You can try it today. The messenger is open — for iPhone and for Android. The first 3 days are free, with no payment details; after that € 8.99 a month, cancellable monthly.

To the messenger

What we are building right now

Whatever you tell us after launch. The basic messenger is done: messages, pictures, files, voice notes, calls. What comes next is not ours to decide alone — first we improve what gets in the way day to day, and only then do new features follow. That is the order we commit to.
The Android app keeps catching up. It has been on Google Play since 15 September and writes, sends and calls like the iPhone app. A few conveniences are still missing — which ones is listed above under "The Android app".
Inviting and finding people. Today that takes too many steps. We are reducing it to one button and one field, with a QR code for meeting in person — and still without sending your address book to us.
The browser is catching up. Recording voice messages, profile pictures and sorting exist only on the iPhone so far.
Creating an account and resetting a password in the browser. Today that path runs through the iPhone app.
Delete a chat. Swipe left in the list. The app asks first and tells you both things: the chat disappears from your device, and the others see that you have left.
The password e-mail again. If the e-mail does not arrive, one button sends it again. The note about the spam folder is right next to it.
How many pictures at once. You decide how many attachments you can pick at the same time: 10, 20 or 50. The setting stays on your device.
Your membership number. If you joined early, you see your number in the chat — for example #47. It says how many people were there before you.
Chat backgrounds. Orbit pictures, calm gradients or your own picture, which stays on your phone — for all chats or for a single one. Arrives with iPhone 0.8.8 and Android 0.9.0, which are in review right now.
Profile pictures on Android too. The Android app can now set a picture for you and for a chat as well. Both apps can do the same now. Note: a profile picture is the only thing that is not encrypted — everyone in the chat can see it.

Both apps are in their stores. The iPhone app since 2 September 2026, the Android app since 15 September on Google Play — and still available directly from us as a file, without any store. New versions follow continuously; when one of them is released is Apple's and Google's decision, not ours — submitted is not approved.

Notifications while the app is closed — and who finds out about them. For a phone to tell you a message has arrived while the app is shut, there is no way around the delivery services of Apple and Google. We decided to use them, and we are saying what that means.

What Apple and Google learn: that your device is being woken, and when. Not by whom, and not what.

The reason lies in how it is built: the wake-up call carries no content, only an identifier. Your device fetches the text itself and decrypts it there. We could not send it along even if we wanted to — we never hold it in readable form. Calls work the same way: Apple and Google learn that your phone is ringing, never who you are talking to.

The security pass has been done. On 18 August 2026 both apps were read line by line — 21 findings, the most serious ones fixed, the rest written down and worked through. That replaces no external audit: we checked ourselves. A commissioned attack by outsiders is still outstanding, and it belongs done before anyone entrusts us professionally with what they must keep quiet.

What comes after that

Status — pictures and films visible for a day. We will only build it if it stays encrypted.
Calls with sound and picture. The buttons are deliberately off until the technology behind them holds. Planned for when enough people use Orbit to carry it.
Download and delete your own data — at the press of a button in the app. Your rights to access, erasure and portability exist from today (Articles 15, 17 and 20 GDPR); what is still missing is the self-service. Until then we do it on request, within one month: [email protected].
An examination from outside. Our security pass is an internal review — thorough, but done by ourselves. A commissioned attempt to break in by outsiders is something else, and it belongs here before anyone entrusts us professionally with what they must keep quiet.
A vault. Chats that need an extra password of their own before they open. Planned for when enough people use Orbit to carry it.
Share your location — without Google. Share your location in a chat, live for a while if you like. The map is to come from our own server in Germany, not from Google or any other map service. Planned for when enough people use Orbit to carry it.

What we deliberately never build

This is not a backlog, it is the product:

No matching of your address book against our servers.
No advertising and no passing your data to advertisers.
No tracking of your behaviour, neither in the app nor on this website.
No back door. Not on request either. We cannot read your messages, and therefore we cannot hand them to anyone. That holds for content. The fact that two accounts write to each other is something every server has to know in order to deliver — such traffic data arises with us too. What happens to it is stated in our privacy policy, and we would rather say it ourselves than explain it later.

How honest this page is

The three lists above come straight out of our own admin: whoever moves an item there changes this page. There is no second list that someone would have to keep in step and could forget. What is listed under “works today” is built and delivered — not planned. If something is missing or wrong, tell us: in the app under Settings → Feedback (you get a ticket number), or by mail to [email protected].

To the messenger

The hard questions · To the messenger · Technical measures · To the privacy policy