Umbra alpha

Protocol for the Sovereign

No servers. No accounts. No one in the middle.

Umbra is a private, peer-to-peer messenger and community app. Your phone is the server. Your identity is a phrase only you hold.

Download for Android See what works today

Alpha. Direct APK from us, not from an app store.

Private because there is nowhere for your data to go.

no central servers

Nothing to harvest.

Messages travel between devices, not through a company. There is no phone number or email on file, because there is no file.

forward secrecy per message

Encryption that keeps moving.

Every message is sealed with a fresh key, Signal-class ratcheting. If one key is ever exposed, earlier messages stay closed.

12-word recovery phrase

You hold the keys. Literally.

Your identity is a 12-word recovery phrase. Back up everything, encrypted with a password you choose. Lose the phone, keep who you are.

What works today

Alpha means alpha. This is the honest list of what you get on Android right now, and what is still being tested.

  • Private messagesEnd-to-end encrypted 1:1 chats. Delivery and read receipts and typing indicators, all of which you can switch off.
  • Verified contactsCompare a short emoji sequence with the other person. Verified contacts carry a mark.
  • Voice and video callsA minimizable call bar keeps the call going while you chat. Call waiting when someone else rings.
  • Go Live screen sharingShare your screen with quality presets up to 1080p60. Viewers choose to watch.
  • RealmsCommunities with text and voice channels, custom roles and permissions, moderation and an audit log.
  • Group DMsReplies, reactions and file sharing with a few people at once.
  • Add contacts offlineSigned QR codes scanned with the camera, no connection needed. Or share an invite code.
  • Backup and restoreEncrypted full backup protected by a password you choose, restored from your 12-word phrase.
  • PalomarStore-and-forward delivery carried by nearby devices when there is no internet. In field testing.
  • Cyberpunk interfaceA FUI-style interface with theme presets and shader effects.
  • Bug reports you send on purposeNo passive telemetry, no ads, no tracking. A report leaves your phone only when you choose to send it.

Experimental, in field testing

When the internet is gone, the pigeons fly.

Palomar keeps your messages on your device and hops them between nearby phones over local network, Bluetooth or Wi-Fi Direct until they reach their destination. No tower, no cable, no permission.

Delivery depends on which devices are nearby and on how the network between them behaves, so do not count on it everywhere yet. Palomar is being tested in the field and improves with every build.

you nearby them no internet

Realms

Communities you run, not rent.

Text and voice channels. Custom roles and permissions. Kick, ban, mute and timeout, with an audit log that remembers who did what.

Invite codes bring people in. History sharing lets newcomers read what happened before they arrived, if the realm allows it.

Download

Umbra ships from here, as an APK you install yourself. No app store between us and you.

Not released yet

The Android alpha is not public yet. This page reads the release state live and will switch on the moment there is a build to install.

Linux desktop exists internally and is not offered for download yet.

Install on Android

  1. Download the APK to your phone.
  2. Open it. Android will ask you to allow installs from your browser. Allow it once, for this file.
  3. Install, open Umbra and write down your 12-word recovery phrase somewhere safe. It is the only way back in.

Verify before you install: the SHA-256 of the file you downloaded must match the one shown on this page.