Chat that
never goes online.

No. The chat path runs entirely on your local Wi-Fi. The only thing that touches the internet is the optional update check (App Store / Play Store) and any external link a peer sends you that you choose to open.

Only on your device, in an AES-GCM-encrypted SQLite database. The encryption key lives in iOS Keychain / Android Keystore. There is no cloud copy.

Then NearChat won't deliver. By design. We don't have a relay server. Most people use it with family at home, friends at the office, or roommates — anyone you share a router with.

NearChat re-discovers them automatically by scanning your local /24 subnet on the chat port. You don't have to re-pair when the router shuffles DHCP leases.

No. There is no analytics SDK, no crash reporter, no telemetry. The privacy page explains every byte of network traffic the app generates.

Yes, optionally. Set a password first, then turn on biometrics. The password hash never leaves the device, and biometric data never enters the app — iOS / Android handle it.

Technically, yes. NearChat doesn't care about the internet, cell towers, or GPS — it only needs two devices on the same Wi-Fi. Open a Personal Hotspot on the Moon and another phone can join it, because Wi-Fi is just radio waves and radio waves travel through vacuum perfectly fine (that's how Apollo astronauts spoke to Houston). So as far as we know, NearChat is the first chat app that works on the Moon.