Encrypted Messaging
1:1 and group DMs with Double Ratchet encryption. Edits, reactions, file attachments, threads. All E2EE.
Invite-only beta
Your community, actually private.
Servers, DMs, voice, video, screen sharing. Everything you'd use Discord for, except every message is end-to-end encrypted. We can't read your stuff even if we wanted to.
You'll need an invite code to sign up during beta. Windows 10+ required.
Features
All the stuff you'd expect, and then some.
If you've used Discord, you'll feel right at home. The difference is everything here is encrypted by default.
Servers & Channels
Roles, permissions, categories, channels, invite links, moderation tools, audit logs. The works.
Voice & Video
Hop into voice channels, start video calls, or share your screen. Calls use encrypted key exchange so nobody's listening in.
Zero-Knowledge Design
The server never sees your messages in plaintext. Passwords are hashed on your device before they leave it. We hold no keys to your content.
Multi-Device
Use Islands on multiple devices and your crypto keys just work. Each device gets its own key bundle, plus TOTP 2FA and backup codes.
Self-Host Option
Want full control? Run your own Private Island on your own hardware. Or just use our cloud. Either way, everything stays encrypted.
The problem
Discord is great. Except for privacy.
Discord can read every text message you send. Every DM, every channel message, every file. They've recently added E2EE for voice and video, which is genuinely good. But your text conversations? Still fully readable on their servers.
Signal fixes the privacy problem but it's just DMs. No servers, no channels, no community tools.
Islands gives you both. Community features like Discord, privacy like Signal.
Text DMs encrypted
Channel messages encrypted
Voice & video encrypted
Servers, roles, moderation
Self-hostable
Metadata actively minimized
Comparison
Side by side.
| Text DM E2EE | Channel E2EE | Voice E2EE | Server plaintext? | Community tools | Self-host | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Islands | ✓ X3DH + Double Ratchet | ✓ Sender Key envelopes | ✓ Per-session key exchange | ✓ No, ciphertext only | ✓ Servers, roles, voice, video | ✓ Private Islands |
| Discord | ✗ Plaintext on server | ✗ Plaintext on server | ✓ DAVE protocol | ✗ Yes, all text readable | ✓ Full-featured | ✗ Not available |
| Signal | ✓ Signal Protocol | N/A No channels | ✓ E2EE calls | ✓ No plaintext access | ✗ DMs and groups only | ✗ Not available |
| Matrix | Varies Megolm, opt-in | Varies Not guaranteed | Varies Element Call | Varies Depends on config | ✓ Rooms, spaces | ✓ Federated |
Under the hood
What's actually running.
Islands isn't one big monolith. It's a handful of focused services, each doing one job. Here's what they do and why they exist.
Identity
Handles accounts, login, sessions, and friend lists. This is where your profile lives and where authentication happens. Passwords are hashed on your device before they ever reach this service.
Key Directory
Stores everyone's public encryption keys so your devices can find each other. Backed by a witness system that detects if anyone tries to tamper with key records.
DM Service
Routes encrypted DMs between users. It stores and forwards ciphertext so messages arrive even when you're offline. It never sees the plaintext content of your conversations.
Server API
Powers your community servers (islands). Channels, roles, permissions, voice, video, screen share, moderation, audit logs. This is the service each island runs on.
Provisioner
Manages the lifecycle of cloud islands. When you create a new island through our cloud, the provisioner spins it up, assigns it a subdomain, and keeps it running.
Witness
An independent checkpoint service for key transparency. It watches the key directory and signs off that nothing's been tampered with. Think of it as a notary for your encryption keys.
Deployment
Two ways to run an island.
Every island uses the same encryption. The difference is who owns the hardware.
Most users
Cloud Island
We host and operate the server for you. You just create it and invite people.
- One-click creation from the app
- Automatic subdomain and TLS
- We manage uptime and updates
- All messages still E2EE
- We can't read your content
Power users
Private Island
You run the server yourself. Your hardware, your database, your rules.
- Self-host with Docker Compose
- Full control over data and storage
- We have zero access to your server
- Same encryption as cloud islands
- You handle updates and uptime
Security
Not just encrypted. Verifiably encrypted.
We use the same cryptographic primitives as Signal for DMs, Sender Key envelopes for channels, and per-session keys for voice. Here's the short version.
Message encryption
- DMs use X3DH + Double Ratchet (same as Signal Protocol)
- Each device gets its own key bundle and crypto identity
- Channel messages use Sender Key envelopes with chain history
- Voice/video uses per-session 256-bit keys via nacl.box
- Stored messages encrypted at rest with AES-256-GCM
Account & infrastructure
- Passwords hashed with Argon2 on your device before being sent
- TOTP 2FA with backup codes for account recovery
- mTLS between all backend services, no shared secrets
- Key transparency with witness-backed checkpoints
- Metadata actively hashed, coarsened, and TTL-expired
Download
Try it out.
Islands is available now on Windows. macOS is on the way.
macOS
Not yet available
Coming Soon