How do messages and end-to-end encryption in DMs work?

A message sent via UpScrolled is encrypted from the start, and this happens locally on the device of origin.

The message is encrypted the whole way until it arrives at the receiver's device. It will be decrypted by the intended receiver's local device.

This means any messaging data will remain encrypted in transit and can only be viewed on a local device that's logged in with the correct DM passphrase.

Any device that shares a notification with a preview of the message will not be able to display the contents of the message.

UpScrolled's team cannot see the contents of messages.

No, the only messaging function on UpScrolled is end-to-end encrypted. In order to direct message other users through the platform, you will need to set up your passphrase.

When you open your messages for the first time, you'll be prompted to set up a secure passphrase. You have the option to allow the app to suggest a secure passphrase or manually input your own.

This is a distinct passphrase from your UpScrolled password, and we recommend that these two passphrases are different.

Your passphrase has to be more than 10 characters. If you choose a password that the app considers "too easy to guess," because it uses too many common words, you will have to choose a different password with more random characters to complete signing up.

This passphrase will never leave your device. UpScrolled does not have a copy of this password. It is only stored locally on your device and functions as the key that unlocks your DMs on your local device.

If you log out of your account or switch to another account on the app, you will be prompted to enter this passphrase again to access your chats. If you remain logged in without switching accounts, this passphrase does not need to be entered again.

The app will then display a recovery key. You will need to save this key somewhere safe and where you only have access to it, like a password manager.

If your device has the ability to use biometrics to unlock, you can use this function to store your recovery key locally on the device, and will only be accessible via biometrics.

From this point on, your chats are secured and you're able to start messaging other users.

Yes, if you want to change the passphrase login to your DMs, navigate to the settings within messages. Tap the gear on the top right to find a page called "Global chat settings."

Tap "Change recovery passphrase."

Your device may prompt you to use your login credentials to continue (password, biometrics, or passcode).

This will bring up the same passphrase setup as the first time you chose your login passphrase for your DMs.

If you lose access to your messages and don't have either your password or recovery key available, you are also able to log in through a separate device. This will only work if that second device is already logged in to your UpScrolled account and to your DMs.

To verify your login via a connected device you need to:

If you have no backup options to log in, UpScrolled cannot log you back in remotely — we do not have access to your password, nor recovery key, nor are we able to generate a new password for you or manually approve a login attempt.

You will have to delete all your previous messaging data in order to log in again and reset the secure messaging function. You will not be able to recover your chats in this scenario.

If you log out of your account fully, messages can still be synced upon logging in again.

If you uninstall the UpScrolled app across all devices, messages will have nowhere to sync and will become permanently locked, meaning anything sent while uninstalled will never get delivered to you. Other users may not see an error when this happens. When you reinstall the app and login again, newly received messages will start arriving again as normal.

If you log into your messages through a different device, they will be stored locally on that device, as well. This second device will have access to those messages no matter what happens to the first.

If your device is lost or stolen, you can protect your chats by logging in from a second device and changing the password for your UpScrolled account, which will log out all other devices. You can also change the recovery passphrase in your DMs to further protect them. If you do this while logged into your messages, you won't lose any chat history by changing the password.

If you clear your chat history, it will erase from all devices where you're logged in to your DMs. That means if you delete something and later want to recover it, you won't be able to find that message on a second device.

In UpScrolled messaging, you can block a user without having to navigate to their profile on-app.

If you block someone within the DMs, this will also block them on the platform as a whole.

You can later unblock someone in your normal UpScrolled settings (not the DMs settings), and this will unblock them on platform, but they'll remain blocked in your DMs. You will have to remove them in both places to restore their ability to write to you again.

A blocked user cannot see that you'd blocked them in the DMs, and no error message appears when they send you a message. That message will never be delivered to you — from their end, they can keep writing and you'll never see it.

If you unblock someone, the messages they sent while blocked will not then get retroactively delivered to you.

UpScrolled's team cannot see DMs, so when reporting another user for platform violations related to their behavior in messages, you may optionally provide a description of what went wrong.

You are effectively providing a report against a user, instead of a piece of content. This means that we can't moderate or delete messages themselves, since our team doesn't have access to them. Instead, moderation actions may be taken against the user if an investigation concludes that a violation took place.

Because messages are decrypted and stored locally, you may only be able to delete messages from your end—your replies will remain on the other user's device.

No, you cannot send a message to a user who hasn't set up their encrypted DMs. If you try, you'll see an error message that lets you know this user hasn't set up their secure chat yet.

Reply: you can tap and hold a message to reply to a specific message within the chat.

Edit: you can edit a message after sending.

Pin: you are able to pin a specific message to the top of the chat.

Marking chats read and unread: you can adjust this directly from your inbox.

Mute: you can turn off notifications for a particular user.

Archive: you can save the conversation outside the regular inbox view if you want to archive the chat.

Read receipts: you can edit whether each individual conversation can see read receipts. You can also set this function in the settings of your DMs by tapping the gear icon.

Search: if you tap the other user's name or profile photo, you'll bring up a profile view that include the option "search messages," allowing you to search your chat history with that user.

Online status: your chat can display when you are available by showing a small green icon below your profile photo. You can set this function in the settings of your DMs by tapping the gear icon.

Typing: you can edit whether each individual conversation displays a message to show when you are typing a message. You can also set this function in the settings of your DMs by tapping the gear icon.

Clear chat: each individual chat can be deleted.