The basics
Is Aurora really free?+
Yes, permanently. No subscriptions, no in-app purchases, no ads, and no data selling. It isn't a product — it's a tool.
Do I need a phone number, email, or account?+
None. Your identity is a cryptographic key pair generated on your device the first time you open the app. There's nothing to sign up for and nothing that ties the app to who you are.
Is there an iPhone version?+
Not yet. Aurora is Android-only for now (Android 10+), installed by sideloading the APK — see
Install.
What does "pre-alpha" mean — is it safe to use?+
It's an early, experimental build. The cryptography, pairing, messaging, media, and calls all work, but it isn't performance-optimized, the database format can still change between versions, and it hasn't had an independent security audit. Use it to try things and give feedback — don't yet rely on it for life-and-death situations.
Why build this when Signal, Threema, or Briar already exist?+
A fair question — and one that came up a lot. Aurora isn't trying to replace Signal for everyone. The difference is architectural: most "encrypted" apps still route every message through a company's server (the content is encrypted, but the server is always in the path — metadata, legal exposure, and trust delegated to a corporation). Aurora keeps no server in the path at all — messages go directly phone-to-phone, with no account, no phone number, and hybrid post-quantum encryption. It's a focused, person-to-person tool from a solo open-source developer. Honestly, it's also pre-alpha and unaudited where Signal is mature and audited — so use whatever fits your threat model.
Who is Aurora for? Couples? Can a group use it?+
Anyone who wants a conversation to stay strictly between two people — partners, family, close friends. It's deliberately one-to-one, which is part of what keeps it simple and private; you can't run a large group on it. (A mesh / onion-routing layer is on the roadmap, but the core will stay person-to-person.)
What's the catch — how can it be free?+
No catch. Aurora is open source (AGPL-3.0) and there's nothing to monetize — no ads, no data selling, no premium tier. It was built solo with AI assistance, which is what made a one-person project of this size feasible. The code is on GitHub for anyone to read and verify.
Privacy & security
Can you — the developer — read my messages?+
No, and not by policy but by design. Messages are end-to-end encrypted on your device and travel directly to the recipient. No server, including ours, is ever in the path of a message, so there is nothing for us to read or hand over.
Then what can your server see?+
Only that a device is reachable. To wake your phone when a message is waiting, the rendezvous server keeps a 15-minute record of your anonymous Node ID and IP address and no logs. It never sees your messages, your media, or who you talk to. Full detail on the
Security page.
What is "post-quantum" and why should I care?+
A future quantum computer could break the encryption most apps use today — and an attacker can record your traffic now to decrypt it later ("harvest now, decrypt later"). Aurora pairs today's proven algorithms with new post-quantum ones (Kyber-1024, Dilithium-3), so an attacker must defeat both.
Has it been independently audited?+
Not yet. It's fully open source and built from standard primitives, and the full
threat model and crypto spec are public for review. Until a third-party audit happens, treat it accordingly.
What happens if you get a court order?+
We can only provide what exists: anonymous Node IDs and temporarily cached IP addresses that expire automatically. There is no message content, no identity, and no history to surrender, because none of it exists on our side.
Is it really end-to-end? Can't my ISP or DNS still see things?+
Message content is encrypted on your device and decrypted only on the recipient's — no server, ISP, or DNS provider ever sees the plaintext. What your ISP
can see is ordinary network metadata: that your phone connects to the rendezvous server, and the IP/timing of a connection — never what's inside. Aurora minimizes metadata (no account, 15-minute no-log IP records, decoy lookups), but it doesn't claim to hide from your ISP that you're online. Full picture in the
threat model.
How are the encryption keys generated, and where's the technical detail?+
Your keys are generated on your device the first time you open Aurora — a hybrid post-quantum key pair (Kyber-1024 + X25519 for key exchange, Dilithium-3 + Ed25519 for signatures) — and held in the hardware-backed Keystore. For the verbose version (exact primitives, byte formats, KDF labels, the PQXDH handshake and ratchet) see the
cryptographic specification and the
Security page.
Using Aurora
How do I add someone?+
One of you shows a QR code and the other scans it; you each then confirm a short code shown on the other's screen. Scanning in person is strongest, but the code can also be shared as an image. Step-by-step on the
Install page.
Can I connect with someone who isn't next to me?+
Yes — send your QR code image to them and they scan it. The pairing handshake travels through the shared rendezvous server, so it works across networks. Both phones need to be online, and both should grant notifications and background permission so the request comes through. (An in-person scan is still the most tamper-proof option.)
What if I lose my phone?+
Your data is encrypted with a key held in the phone's hardware Keystore. You can set a decoy PIN that opens an empty-looking app, or an optional duress wipe that destroys the keys instantly. An encrypted, passphrase-protected backup lets you move to a new phone — only you hold the passphrase.
Are there group chats? Can I use multiple devices?+
Not currently — Aurora is strictly two-party, with one device per identity. Group messaging and multi-device are possible future work, not today's scope.
A message wouldn't send, or pairing seems stuck.+
How do two phones find each other — and what if my IP changes?+
A small rendezvous server keeps a temporary map of your anonymous Node ID to your current IP address (15 minutes, no logs). To reach someone, your phone looks up their current address there and then connects directly. If your IP changes, your device just checks in again and the other side re-looks-up the new address — the conversation continues without you noticing.
Is the rendezvous server like a WebRTC signaling server?+
Close. For video calls Aurora uses WebRTC, and the rendezvous handles the signaling side. For messages it's simpler — it only maps Node ID to IP so two phones can find each other, then steps out of the way while they connect directly.
Open & verifiable
Is it open source?+
Yes — the app and the rendezvous server are licensed under the GNU AGPL-3.0. Read, audit, and run it yourself on
GitHub.
Can I run my own server?+
Yes. The rendezvous server is a small, dependency-free Node.js program in the repo (rendezvous-server/). Because of the AGPL, anyone running a modified server must publish their changes, and each server exposes a source link.
What is ShadowMesh?+
An optional relay network you can opt into for extra metadata privacy — it routes your traffic through a peer hop, and your device helps relay encrypted fragments for others (which it can never read). It's off by default, and Aurora works fully without it.