Chat and message basics

Direct messages on Seldeo are the private layer of the network. They are end-to-end encrypted between paired devices — for the design of that model, see the news post End-to-end encryption for Seldeo direct messages. This article covers the day-to-day mechanics.

Start a conversation

Tap the compose button on the Messages tab.
Search for a friend by display name or handle.
Tap New group to start a group chat with up to 500 members.

You can only start a conversation with someone you follow. If you want to message someone who isn't already a friend, send a friend request first, then compose once they accept.

Message types

Text with rich formatting — bold, italics, code blocks, and quote blocks.
Voice notes up to 5 minutes each. Long-press the microphone icon to record, slide to cancel, tap to send.
Photos and short videos up to 60 seconds each. Tap the paperclip icon to attach from your library, or the camera icon to shoot inline.
Reactions — long-press any message to react with an emoji.
Reply — swipe right on a message to quote-reply.
Location — pin a spot on a map for a friend to meet you at. Location is shared as a single pin, not a live stream, unless you explicitly enable Live Location.

Disappearing messages

Under the ⋮ menu of any conversation, tap Disappearing messages and pick a window:

24 hours — for a quick, disposable exchange.
7 days — for a running conversation you don't want to archive.
90 days — for a working conversation that should clean itself up eventually.

New messages sent after you enable disappearing messages disappear from every participant's device after the chosen window. Messages sent before you enabled the setting are unaffected.

The window is set per-conversation and both sides see the same window. If someone else changes the window, a system message logs the change in the conversation for everyone's context.

Screenshot detection. If a participant screenshots a disappearing message on iOS or Android, we surface a subtle notification in the conversation. This is a best-effort signal, not a security guarantee — someone determined to preserve a message can always photograph the screen with a second device.

Message translation

If a message arrives in a language different from your device language, tap Translate on the message. The translation appears inline underneath the original.

Translations are cached locally per language pair for 24 hours to save quota.
You can enable Auto-translate incoming messages per-conversation from the ⋮ menu.
Translation is powered by our translation partner. Message plaintext is sent to the translation service on your behalf; the plaintext is not retained by the translator, and no other party (including Seldeo) reads the plaintext in the process.
Voice notes are not currently translated. They can be transcribed (see below), and the transcript can then be translated.

For the specifics of what leaves your device during translation, see our Privacy Policy.

Voice-note transcription

Voice notes can be transcribed to text on-device (on supported OS versions) or via a cloud transcription service (if you opt in per-conversation). The transcript:

Appears below the voice note.
Is searchable via the conversation search bar.
Is stored locally on your device only; the cloud transcript is not persisted beyond the immediate request.

Auto-transcription is off by default and enables per-conversation. Turn it on in the ⋮ menu when you want it.

Search a conversation

Pull down on a conversation to reveal the search bar. Search matches:

Text content of messages.
Voice-note transcripts (if transcription is enabled for the conversation).
Attached file names.

Search runs locally on your device against the plaintext you have; no query text leaves your phone.

Delete a message

Long-press a message → Delete. Choose:

Delete for me — removes the message from your device only. Other participants still see it.
Delete for everyone — removes the message from all participants' devices. Available within one hour of sending.

Delete for everyone does the best it can — we replace the message with a "This message was deleted" placeholder on every device. It cannot un-do a message someone already read; the participant may still remember the content.

Report a message

Long-press a message → Report. Choose a category and add optional context.

When you report a message, your device uploads the plaintext of that specific message and its immediate context to a review-only decryption channel. No other messages in the thread are exposed by a report. See Reporting content, messages, or accounts for the full flow and The trust and safety model for the review process.

Presence and last-seen

You can turn presence indicators (online / offline / last-seen) on or off under Settings → Privacy → Presence. Presence is per-friend at its most granular — you can be visible to close friends and invisible to everyone else.

Restricting a friend (see Blocking and restricting people) also hides your presence from them.

Message previews on the lock screen

By default, incoming message notifications show a preview of the sender and the first few words of the message body. The preview is generated on your device after decrypting the message — the preview text is not composed by our servers or by Apple/Google's push services.

You can turn previews off entirely in Settings → Notifications → Message previews. Doing so sends a "New message" notification without the sender or content, which is the safest option if your phone is often unlocked in front of other people.

Group chats

Up to 500 members per group.
Admins can add and remove members, change the group name and photo, and pin messages.
Message history is bounded to membership. Members added to a group cannot see messages from before they joined. Members removed from a group can no longer read future messages, but their devices retain the history they had access to during their membership.
Admin transfer is required to leave a group as admin — you must promote another member first.