Your number never shows
It signs you in and that is the whole job. It is not on your profile, not in a group's member list, and there is no screen anywhere that will reveal it to someone you chat with.
Private messaging
Chat without giving out your number.
Foch uses your phone number once, to prove the phone is yours. After that it goes away: the people you talk to see a username you picked, and nobody reaches you until you have said yes.
Runs in your browser. Add it to your home screen and it behaves like any other app — notifications included.
“Your phone number is used only to sign you in. Nobody you chat with can see it, and it is not in your profile.”
That sentence is printed inside the app, on your own profile screen. Everything else here follows from it.
Three steps, then you are in
No email, no password, no profile to fill in.
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Verify your phone
A code arrives on WhatsApp. Type it in. That is the last thing your number is asked to do.
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Pick a username
Whatever you like, if it is free. It is what everyone in Foch will know you by — and all they will ever see.
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Scan to connect
Show your code or scan theirs. One of you accepts, and the conversation opens.
What you get
A messenger that does the ordinary things well and refuses one thing on purpose.
Nobody messages you uninvited
A conversation begins when you scan someone's code, or they scan yours, and one of you accepts. There is no directory to be found in and no stranger to block afterwards.
Voice notes, photos, video
Hold the mic and talk, let go to send, slide away to cancel. Send a photo or a clip the same way — and delete any of it for yourself, or for everyone.
Voice and video calls
Ring one person, or a group of up to five. The call goes phone to phone — the server introduces you and then gets out of the way of what you are saying.
Groups with a door
Start a group and hand out an invite. People join through it rather than being dropped in, and the group never exposes anyone's number to anyone else.
Installs like an app
Add to home screen on iPhone or Android. Push notifications, an unread count on the icon, and no app store in the way of an update.
What it looks like
Soft, quiet, and out of the way of what you are saying.
Your chats
Unread counts, who is around, and what was said last.
A conversation
Text, photos, voice notes, and ticks when they have read it.
Your code
The only way to reach you. It rotates every 24 hours.
Ready when you are
A number to sign in with and a name to be known by. That is the account.
Open Foch