Direct Messages: Your Private Conversations

DMs let you chat one-on-one. Learn how to start a conversation, send media, and use the close friends feature.

Direct Messages: Your Private Conversations

Direct Messages (DMs) let you have private one-on-one conversations with other CipherChat users. This guide covers everything you need to know.

Starting a DM

There are several ways to start a direct message:

  1. From a profile — Visit any user's profile and tap the message icon
  2. From the People tab — Find a user and tap their name, then tap "Message"
  3. From a chat mention — Tap someone's @username in any chat to go to their profile

Sending Messages

In a DM, you can send:

Your messages appear on the right, and the other person's messages appear on the left.

New devices sync your messages

When you sign in on a new browser device, CipherChat loads your existing DM and private-group message history — just like WhatsApp's "Syncing messages" flow. Your account, contacts, group memberships, and prior conversations all appear on the new device, whether you use a password, Google, or Account Protection.

Returning devices keep their history

Messages created before or after a device's first sign-in are visible on later visits, subject to retention. Logging out and back in or changing login method does not reset your history. Previously registered devices keep their existing history. Clearing browser storage, using a different browser profile, or using private browsing can make you appear as a new device, but all messages still sync.

Account Protection and device approval

Account Protection may still require trusted-device approval or an existing account passcode for password sign-ins. Those controls authorize account access. Once approved, the device receives your full message history. Google sign-in can bypass device approval.

Message retention

The cleanup policy is 14 days for DMs, 21 days for private-group messages, and 7 days for Global Chat, measured from message creation. Pins do not extend the period. Cleanup runs hourly when the scheduled service is deployed; outages and backlogs can delay deletion. Other public groups have no automatic retention period currently. The production cron service must be deployed to activate scheduled cleanup.

Privacy and encryption limits

This is a server-enforced history-access rule, not end-to-end encryption or deletion of the conversation for everyone. CipherChat currently processes and stores readable messages. HTTPS protects transport on secure connections; database encryption at rest depends on deployment settings. Cleanup removes message records, not moderation reports, notifications, already-shared media URLs, recipient copies, or provider backups. Keep sensitive secrets off chat.

Message Requests

If someone you don't follow sends you a DM, you may receive a message request. You can accept or decline it. Once accepted, future messages from that user come through directly.

Close Friends

The Close Friends feature lets you mark certain users as close friends. This gives them special privileges like:

To manage close friends, go to the Close Friends tab in the navigation.

Voice and Video Calls

DMs support voice and video calls. Tap the phone or camera icon in the DM header to start a call. The other person will see an incoming call notification.

Read Receipts

Messages you've received are marked as read automatically when you open the conversation. You can see when your sent messages have been read.

Deleting Messages

You can delete your own messages in a DM. Deleted messages show as "message deleted" but the conversation continues.

Email Notifications

If you've set a notification email in your profile, you'll receive an email when someone sends you a DM. This helps you stay on top of conversations even when you're not actively using the app.

Tips for Great DMs