The slow messenger · from Berlin
It's okay to
not be available.
Write to a friend. They'll read it whenever they choose to. Tomorrow, next week, whenever they next open the app. No notifications. No "online" dot. No read receipts. No little red number waiting to scold you.
End-to-end encrypted · We keep nothing we can read · iOS & Android
Every other messenger is built to demand your attention.
The badge. The "Delivered → Read." The typing dots. The "last seen 2m ago." They turn a message into a debt and a silence into rudeness. No Rush removes every one of those levers. The product isn't a faster chat. It's a calmer one.
What we took out — on purpose
No notifications
The app can't wake your phone. Messages arrive only when you decide to open it.
No unread badge
No red number on the icon. Nothing accumulating. Nothing nagging.
No read receipts
Nobody learns whether or when you read it.
No "online"
No presence, no "last seen," no green dot. Being unreachable is invisible and normal.
No typing dots
Compose in peace. Take an hour over one sentence if you want.
No guilt
No streaks, no "you haven't talked in a while." The app never keeps score.
The right to disconnect, built in.
How it works
-
1
Join with your number
A phone number and a one-time code. No email, no password. Your keys are made on your device and never leave it.
-
2
Add friends by QR or contacts
Scan a friend's code in person, or find people you already know — without us ever reading your address book.
-
3
Write whenever you want
Rich text, photos, video, voice notes, GIFs. Expressive like the apps you know, just without the urgency.
-
4
They read whenever they want
Your message waits, locked, until your friend next opens the app. Then our copy is gone.
We keep nothing we can read.
Your messages are locked so only your friend's device can open them. Built on the Signal protocol, the same end-to-end encryption used by the most private messengers in the world.
Our servers are just a courier. They pass along a sealed, unreadable box and forget it the moment it's delivered. We can't read your messages. We don't keep them. With sealed sender, we don't even know who wrote to whom.
- End-to-end encrypted, always. Not a setting.
- We never hold your keys or your plaintext
- Delivered messages are deleted from us instantly
- Unread ones expire on their own. Your friend's phone still has the original.
- Media is encrypted before it leaves your phone
- No readable map of who you talk to
For the people you actually want to write to.
One on one and small groups, up to sixteen people. A family thread, a tight circle of friends, your two oldest collaborators. Not the WhatsApp group of ninety cousins. Not a channel. Not an audience. Just the small set of people whose silence is fine and whose words you actually want to read.
Rich, but quiet.
Bold and italics. Photos and video. Voice notes. GIFs. Files. Everything you'd expect from a modern messenger, delivered without a single buzz.
Money, briefly
Free
Enough for almost everyone.
- Unlimited messages, 1:1 and small groups
- Voice notes, photos, GIFs
- End-to-end encryption (the whole point)
- No ads. Ever. We can't see your messages anyway.
Supporter ~€5 / month
You keep the lights on.
- Everything in Free
- Larger files and videos
- Longer message retention windows
- A second device when that ships
- The quiet satisfaction of paying for a thing that doesn't try to monetize your attention
No ads. No data brokers. No "free if you let us read everything."
Questions
Wait. No notifications at all?
Correct. The app can't push anything to you. You see what's waiting when you choose to open it. No "gentle reminder" toggle, no opt-in workaround. The whole point is that there is no push infrastructure to lobby for later.
If you keep nothing, how does a late message arrive?
We hold the sealed, unreadable message just long enough for your friend to pick it up, then delete it. Think of us as a courier holding a locked box, not a warehouse keeping a copy. Unread boxes expire after about a month, and your friend's phone always has the original to re-send.
Is it really private, or is that marketing?
It's architecture, not a promise. Messages are end-to-end encrypted with the Signal protocol; your keys live only on your device. We plan to open-source the app and have it independently audited before making any "audited" claim. Read the full threat model — including the honest caveats — in our docs.
How heavy does media get? Won't that cost a fortune?
Text is basically free. Media is the only real cost, and we designed around it. We store only what's in transit, expire it fast, and never keep a permanent copy. Your phone is the archive, not our servers.
One app for iPhone and Android?
Yes. One app, in both stores, with native feel on both.
Is it anonymous?
It's private, not anonymous. You join with a phone number, so it's not a tool for hiding your identity. It's a tool for talking to people you know without surveillance or pressure. If you need anonymous, Briar and SimpleX are excellent and we wholeheartedly recommend them.
What about abuse and harmful content?
We can't read your messages, so we don't pretend to scan them. Reports come from the recipient: if someone sends you something abusive, you can report it from your app, and we'll act on the sender's account. The 1:1 and small-group-only design also makes No Rush structurally bad for the kinds of stranger-discovery patterns most abuse relies on. Full policy goes in the privacy and terms pages before launch.
Where is the company?
Berlin, Germany. No Rush is a German company. GDPR isn't an afterthought; it's the floor. The app launches in German and English on day one.
Slow down the conversation.
Be among the first to try No Rush.
We'll only use your email to invite you. Nothing else.