Every messenger asks you to trust a company with your most private words. Not this one.
That company always has a reason to look. Midnight Select locks your words on your phone before they leave, and it’s built so no company sits in the middle, including us.
Nova✦ AIWelcome in! I’m Nova, this community’s AI host. Ask me anything about the app.
R
Riley (test)How do I see which cells carried my message?
Nova✦ AIOpen You › Network. The bright line shows the path: your phone, your cell, then theirs.
S
Sam (test)Just linked my cell by QR. It’s on the map!
Illustration · labeled test accounts
Live directory · official communities
Find your people. Keep your privacy.
Communities are group spaces inside Midnight Select: open to join, end-to-end encrypted, with their rules shown before you join. These are the official ones, live from the app.
Directory updated 4 h
Official
Help / How It Works
@help · English
“Ask anything about Cher Ami. Friendly, step-by-step help.”
Open: join in one tap
About
New here, or stuck on something? This is the place to ask how Cher Ami works: private messages, profiles and who sees what, communities, Lofts (formerly cells), and the wallet (which runs on a test network until the independent security audit, so test tokens have no value)…
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful. No harassment, hate or threats.
Never share or ask for recovery words, private keys, passwords or money. Anyone asking is running a scam.
Ask how-to questions plainly; screenshots help, but crop out anything personal.
For account recovery, use the app's own recovery screens. Nobody here will ask for your recovery code.
The latest features, shown live. Tap one, or let it play.
23:47
Midnight SelectNew messagenow
Midnight SelectNew messagenow
Sound: Moonrise Vibration: Midnight lock
Message alerts that keep secrets
Alerts never show names or message text, just “New message”. With the app closed, iPhone alerts arrive through Apple push. On Android, pick a free push app such as ntfy (still being tested); otherwise it checks about every 15 minutes.
Animated illustrations with made-up data, not screen recordings.
Today our first cell still carries messages. When ten independent cells are live and healthy, the central server steps aside and the network carries itself. This is the real count.
Always-on cells toward ten–
A cell counts once it has stayed online through its first week. The switch-over at ten is rolling out.
The proof
Real computers, right now
Every dot is a computer running a cell at this moment. The ones we run are marked, so you can watch the share that isn’t ours grow.
◆ Live network · Midnight Select mesh● LiveConnecting…
● Live feedCell 2026.10.11.1 released · signedAndroid 0.292.0 · Google Play testingiPhone build 47 · public TestFlight● Live feedCell 2026.10.11.1 released · signedAndroid 0.292.0 · Google Play testingiPhone build 47 · public TestFlight
Paths and pulses: illustration
Finding cells…
Drag to turn the globe
● Live feedCell 2026.10.11.1 released · signedAndroid 0.292.0 · Google Play testingiPhone build 47 · public TestFlight● Live feedCell 2026.10.11.1 released · signedAndroid 0.292.0 · Google Play testingiPhone build 47 · public TestFlight
Online
Offline
Ours
First week
✦AI host
Message (illustrated)
Send a test message across the globe
Send a test message across the globe
It never leaves this page. Your browser locks it with a real one-time key, the globe shows the trip, and only the “recipient” here can unlock it.
◆ Cells · live
Online now
–
Run by people
–
Always-on, past their first week
–
◆ Traffic · since you opened this page
–
Collecting… a point every 30 seconds
◆ Event log
Android 0.292.0 · Google Play testing
iPhone build 47 · public TestFlight
Cell 2026.10.11.1 released · signed
Every dot is a real cell someone runs, shown by its code. Green means online in the last few minutes, blue cells are ours, a dotted ring means a cell’s first week, and ✦ AI marks cells running AI community hosts. Cells never share where they are, so positions are stable stand-ins, not locations. Each colored light illustrates how a locked message hops: a burst at the sender, 5 different cells, then a ripple when it arrives. Today a real message crosses at most two cells, three with Hide my IP. It’s an animation, not individual messages.
How we get to no server
Today
Our first cell carries messages
It’s a sealed box: it can’t read what you send, and delivered messages are deleted. Cells run by people are already joining.
Rolling out
Cells take over
The network counts healthy always-on cells: 10 in all, 8 of them certified (the kind that can run AI community hosts), with 5 people using them. Reaching that puts the central server on standby.
Goal
No server in the middle
Our server stays only as a sleeping backup. WhatsApp and Telegram can’t do this: they will always run on one company’s servers.
Also on the roadmapRecovery through friends you trustNetwork fees covered for you, so you never handle crypto tokensPhones can help relay, only if you opt in (Wi-Fi and charging)Usernames on a public registry, starting on the test network
Most AI lives on a company’s servers, where what you type can be stored, studied and sold. Ours is built the other way around: on your phone, or on sealed computers that can’t keep what you say.
Today
Private drafting, on your phone
Writing help on Android, in texts and private chats: reply ideas and shorter, warmer or clearer rewrites, made on your phone with simple rules, no AI model. Nothing is sent anywhere. iPhone next.
Today
AI hosts in official communities
Eight friendly hosts (Nova, Rivet, Wren, Sable, Luna, Tala, Umbra and Vesper), always labeled as AI and never pretending to be human. They think on confidential computers that prove they’re sealed before each use.
Planned
Personal memory that can’t be mined
An assistant that remembers what matters to you, kept encrypted on your phone. Nothing to mine, nothing to sell.
Planned
Private group summaries
Catch up on a busy group in seconds, summarized on your phone instead of a server.
Planned
Wallet co-pilot
Plain-language help before you pay: who it goes to, what the fee is and what the world will see.
Planned
AI on community cells
Hosts move off our computers onto certified cells run by people, so no company sits in the middle of the AI either.
Honest note: an AI host reads what’s posted in its community so it can reply, and the computer running it could read that too. That’s why hosts only run on sealed confidential computers or certified cells, and only in communities that show the AI label. They don’t answer private messages.
Honest side-by-side
What happens to your words
Facts, not trash talk. WhatsApp and Telegram do a lot well; here’s where your words actually go.
Question
Midnight Select
WhatsApp
Telegram
Who can read your messages?
Only you and the people you message, in every chat, group and call
Only you and them, in chats, groups and calls
Telegram’s servers can, unless you start a 1-to-1 Secret Chat
Who runs the servers?
Our first cell today; built to hand over to independent cells
Meta
Telegram
What do you sign up with?
Just a username
Your phone number
Your phone number
What can the servers still see?
Which accounts talk and when, on the cell that carries it. Hide my IP keeps your internet address out
Who you talk to, when, and your IP address
Your cloud chats, contacts and metadata
Ads?
None, and no trackers
In the Updates tab
Sponsored posts in large channels
If someone leans on the company?
Today our cell could be pressured; as cells take over, there’s no single company to lean on
One company runs the whole service and its metadata
One company holds your cloud chats and their keys
Checked October 2026. WhatsApp and Telegram are mature apps used by billions; Midnight Select is in early testing, and its independent security audit is still ahead. No app makes you anonymous.
How it works
Three steps, no jargon
1
Today
Lock
Your phone seals every message before it leaves. Only the people you send it to hold the key. Not us, not the network.
2
Today
Carry
Cells pass along sealed envelopes. They can tell an envelope went by, never what’s inside, and they delete it once it’s delivered.
3
Today
Prove, don’t reveal
Zero-knowledge proofs let you prove something is true without showing the details. Today: that you’re over 18 without your birthday. Rolling out: that a payment is valid without the amount.
Today
You choose who sees what
That’s selective disclosure: set each profile detail for everyone, people you’ve matched with, contacts or only you. Strangers see only your basics.
Today
Never a pin on a map
“Near me” uses a rough area that stays on your phone, and distances are always rounded.
Today
Age checks without documents
Tap “Get verified” and scan your passport’s chip in the ZKPassport app. Only two facts are proven: you’re over 18, and your face matches. We keep a signed “verified” mark, never the document.
Trust
Your keys. Your data.
We designed Midnight Select so there’s nothing for us to hand over.
Today
Non-custodial
Your wallet keys are created and kept on your phone. We can’t move, freeze or spend your funds, and we can’t recover them for you either.
Rolling out
Shielded transactions
Private payments hide who paid whom and how much. They’re built and being tested on Midnight’s test network; public test payments work today.
Today
Your keys
Message keys never leave your phone, and your chat backup is encrypted with a code only you hold.
Today
Your data
No ads, no trackers, no phone number needed. Your contacts stay on your phone and are never uploaded.
Also today
Hide my IP (Tor)App lockLocked chatsDisappearing messagesView-once photosEncrypted callsPrivacy receipt in every chatReveal tiersPer-field profile audiences
Honest limit: we can’t read your messages, but today our server can see who messages whom and when. Hiding that too (sealed sender, mixnet) is planned.
Try it yourself
Four things to try in a minute
Hands-on demos that run right here in your browser. Pick one.
Try it yourself · real encryption
Send a note only they can read
Your browser locks the note with a fresh key and puts the key inside the link itself, after the #. Browsers never send that part to any server, so we can’t read your note, and neither can anyone without the link.
0/500 · Plain text only, up to 500 characters.
Your privacy plan · 30 seconds
Set it up for your life
Three quick taps, and you get a short checklist of the settings that matter for you. Nothing you tap leaves this page.
Question 1 of 3
What matters most to you?
Payments on Midnight · test network
Send money like a message, and choose who sees it
Midnight is a blockchain built for privacy. Pick a public or private payment, press send, and watch what the world can see.
Being tested in the Android alpha
MMayaYou
JJamalFriend
Ready
What the world sees
Anyone can look at the network’s public record.
Nothing yet. Press send.
DUST: your fee battery
Every payment uses a little DUST for the network fee. Holding NIGHT refills it on its own, so you never buy or send DUST. (Illustrative amounts.)
NIGHT
Midnight’s main token. Always public, so private payments use shielded tokens instead.
DUST
Pays fees. Refills from NIGHT. Can’t be sent.
Shielded
Who paid whom, and how much, stays hidden. The network checks a proof instead.
Illustration. The alpha uses Midnight’s test network with test tokens only, never real money. In the Android version with the test wallet (direct download) you can already pay test NIGHT right inside a chat; private (shielded) payments are built and being tested.
Planned · Nym mixnet
Hiding who talks to whom
Encryption hides what you say. It doesn’t hide that two people are talking, or when. Nym is an independent network built to hide that too, and we plan to send Midnight Select traffic through it.
Today: we can’t read your messages, but our server can see which accounts message each other and when.
Someone watching the networkCan’t tell who’s talking to whom
Every message is cut into packets that all look identical, so size gives nothing away.
2
Shuffled along the way Planned
Packets pass through three layers of mix nodes run by different people. Each one holds packets for a random moment and shuffles them before passing them on.
3
Decoys fill the quiet Planned
Your phone also sends fake packets, so a quiet moment looks just like a busy one.
4
No one sees both ends Planned
Each mix node only knows the step before and after it. Nobody, us included, can match a sender to a recipient.
Extra privacy, coming Planned
Every message takes 5 hops through the Nym mixnet: an entry gateway, three mix layers, an exit gateway. It starts as an opt-in under Hide my IP and becomes the default once testing shows delivery is smooth. Expect about 1–3 seconds more per message and a little battery for the decoys. If a private route isn’t available, your message waits and you can choose to send with fewer hops: never a silent downgrade.
Illustration. Nym is a separate, independent network: its mix nodes are run by people around the world, not by us. Try “Nym view” on the globe above too.
Take a tour
Tap through the real app: chats, communities, profiles, shields, the network and the wallet.
1 / 7
Chat like you always do
Groups, photos, voice notes and calls, with the lock built in.
Locked end to endEvery chat, group and call is encrypted on your phone. The servers that carry it can’t read it.
Real app screens with fictional demo data. Screens marked “Next app update” are from the newest build, reaching testers soon. Tap the numbers on the phone.
New this week · on Android and iPhone
Group calls on iPhone too: voice with up to 16 people and video with up to 8, end-to-end encryptedThe app in English, Español, Português or Français: choose on the first sign-up screen or in You › Language (machine-assisted translations, still being reviewed)Live chat translation, done on your phone and never sent to a server: “Translated from … · Show original”, preview what you send, and everyone in a group picks their own language. Links, @usernames and amounts are never translatedMidnight letters: a one-to-one message that arrives sealed and opens at the time you choose (a gentle seal, not a lock)Offline mesh (preview, off by default, still being tested between real phones): to people you’ve already chatted with, with the app open, messages hop through nearby phones over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, still end-to-end encrypted, including photos, voice notes and files up to 3 MB. Offline voice calls go straight to a nearby phone over Wi-Fi, with no call server. Meet in person adds someone by QR code without internetA new live globe: glowing beacons for the real cells, real day and night shading, spin, pinch to zoom, double-tap to fly there, and Find my cell (comets and stars are illustration)Updates, quicker: tap your circle to add another, posting carries on in the background with progress, and Share with / Lasts chipsThe Midnight Select tour, new edition: what makes Midnight Select different, in under a minuteHome-screen widgets: Favourites, a Private inbox count (count only), Tonight’s Midnight sky with the moon phase, a Cell network pulse and Quick actions, plus lock-screen inbox and moon widgets on iPhone. Widgets never show message textBack up to Proton Drive (with its app) or any folder, or share the backup file. It’s encrypted before it leaves your phone, and nothing uploads on its own
How communities work
Joined a community and wondering where to go next? Here’s the whole thing in six steps.
Help / How It WorksTravel
1
Pick your communities
Choose some at sign-up, or any time from the Community tab. Everyone starts in Help / How It Works.
TTravel CommunityWelcome to Travel!
2
Talk in Messages
Once you join, the community chat lives in Messages. Look for the community badge: that’s where you talk with members.
TRules · Guidelines
3
Know the place
The Community tab shows each community’s profile, slogan, rules and guidelines.
AI host
4
Meet the AI host
Official communities have an AI host, always labelled “AI host”. It welcomes you and replies in the chat, and never pretends to be a person.
Verified 18+
5
18+ is verified
Adult Community 18+ opens only after you verify you’re over 18.
Create
6
Start your own
Create one from the Community tab (Create), choose who can join, and publish it to the directory.
Get Midnight Select
Phones are in early testing. Computers can help run the network today.
Join the testers group with the Google account your phone’s Play Store uses (tap “Join group”). Only the group’s managers can see members’ email addresses, and a welcome email with these steps arrives.
One click, nothing else to install. Signed by Jaison Norton through Microsoft. If SmartScreen shows a one-time prompt, click More info, then Run anyway.
Join the list to test Midnight Select early and help shape it.
Pick your devices and enter your email.
Confirm the email we send you.
Get your download link by email, right away.
For node operators · free
Run a node
We call nodes “cells”. A cell is a small free program that passes along sealed messages for Midnight Select. Every healthy cell brings the network closer to ten, the point where our central server steps aside.
What you get
TodayThe Cell operator badge and certification, after your first week and 72 online hours in 30 days.
TodayYour cell on the live network map, linked to your username (up to 5 cells).
Rolling outCertified cells can host the AI community hosts.
PlannedDUST sponsorship that covers network fees, once our Treasury is set up. It’s not payment or wages; personal use only.
How to start
Download: a signed Windows installer with everything included, or the Mac and Linux version (needs Node.js 22.13 or newer).
Run it: no open ports, one outgoing connection, about 100 MB of memory. It works from any country with internet.
Link it: scan its QR code in the app under You › Network › Run a cell.
Got a Raspberry Pi?
Turn it into an always-on cell node in five simple steps. No computer has to stay on.
Your cell keeps itself up to date. Updates signed by Midnight Select install automatically at a quiet moment, and if a new version doesn’t start properly, the previous one comes back on its own. Your cell’s key, messages and settings are never touched. Running a cell from before October 8? Install this version over it once; after that, updates are automatic.
Your cell speaks your language: English, Español, Português and Français. Setup asks which one; the dashboard has a language menu at the top.
Watch it workOpen its dashboard: a live “network core” where your cell sits on a turning particle sphere among the real cells it knows, each ringed by its real state (latency, ✦ AI hosts, and our original server as the Midnight shield, bright while it serves and faded on standby). Readouts on the left and outputs on the right (envelopes per second, peers, uptime, the 10-cell switch-over, certification, updates) are joined by lights that move at your cell’s real rates, with a live feed and an event log that never shows message contents, usernames or IP addresses. Prefer the details? Switch to Operator view, which also shows your certification progress.
Free, and AGPL-3.0 licensed. One cell per computer: installing again upgrades the cell you already have, and opening it twice just brings up the same dashboard. The dashboard and installer are in English for now.
Windows (installer, .exe): signed by Jaison Norton (Microsoft Artifact Signing). New signatures build trust with Windows over time, so SmartScreen may show a one-time “unrecognized app” prompt: click More info, then Run anyway. The .zip is the alternative.
The dashboard's readouts now wrap instead of being cut off, so longer words fit in small windows.
The Spanish, Portuguese and French texts are new and machine-assisted; if something reads wrong, tell us in the Help community.
Updates wait for a real quiet moment: only work for people (messages, attachments, calls and relayed connections) counts as busy, no longer the routine traffic between cells, so a well-connected cell no longer has to wait for the night.
Private routing over the Nym mixnet (preview, OFF unless you turn it on): the cell now includes a native Nym client built from Nym's official SDK for Windows, macOS and Linux, no WSL needed. It uses Nym's sandbox test network; nothing changes unless you switch it on.
macOS: the included Nym client is not yet signed or notarized by Apple, so macOS may block it if you turn private routing on. On Windows it is signed like the rest of the cell.
Windows .zip cells: the included Nym client is signed by Midnight Select like every other program in the cell, so those cells update automatically too (2026.10.09.1's .zip was refused by their updater).
One cell per computer: Setup and the installers always update the cell this computer already has (it keeps its ID, cell code, key and messages) and won't set up a second one; a second cell won't start while one is running, and there is one shield by the clock.
Updates: if you run Setup by hand to a version your cell had already downloaded, the cell no longer installs it a second time.
Verify your download (SHA-256)
Windows (installer, .exe)511cfb9116a0ac61424ca6b18ef7ac26fda6b82145146aa2115eac0cd6426458
Windows (advanced, .zip)d778f70bf55a60cd15ef65b96a84a757a39ffc90b63088bb36da9a1cc27ce21d
macOS / Linux (.tar.gz)bee23de371988cd5d47ff8d12562924a4a7c3fb354f6901ea665e0cb0058dec8
DUST sponsorship: Not started: the Midnight Select Treasury isn't set up on Midnight's test network yet.
See how a cell works, step by step
See it work
What your cell does
Locked on the phone. A message is locked on the sender’s phone. Only the recipient’s phone has the key.
Rewards (sponsored DUST for network fees) start once the Midnight Select Treasury is set up. Personal use only.
Questions
Can you read my messages?
No. Messages are encrypted on your phone and only the people you send them to can unlock them. We can’t read messages, but today our server and the cells that carry them can see who messages whom and when. Hiding that too (sealed sender and a mixnet) is planned.
Who’s responsible if something breaks?
By design, no single company. Messages are carried by independent cells, so as more of them run, there’s no single point that can fail, be pressured or shut you down. Today our first cell still carries most messages, so we run it and answer for it, and cells that misbehave can be dropped from the network. The trade: instead of a company help desk that sits on your data, you get real control of it. Our team still answers questions at hello@midnightselect.app.
What if I lose my keys?
Non-custodial means we can’t recover your wallet keys or reset your recovery code, because we never have them. Protect yours: write your 24 wallet words on paper and keep them somewhere safe and offline; save your account recovery code the same way; on Android, add the optional encrypted wallet backup to your own Google Drive; and turn on the encrypted chat backup to your own iCloud Drive, Google Drive or Proton Drive (with its app), or any folder. You make each backup yourself; nothing uploads on its own. The backup is encrypted before it leaves your phone, so neither your cloud provider nor we can read it. Recovery through friends you trust is planned.
How do communities work?
Pick communities at sign-up or from the Community tab; everyone starts in Help / How It Works. After you join, the community chat is in Messages (look for the community badge), and that’s where you talk with members. The Community tab shows each community’s profile, rules and guidelines. Official communities have an AI host, always labelled as AI, that replies in the chat. Adult Community 18+ needs verified 18+. You can also create your own community from the Community tab and choose who can join.
Do I need to know about crypto?
No. Messaging works like any chat app. The wallet is optional, and in the alpha it only uses test tokens, never real money.
What are NIGHT and DUST?
NIGHT is the token of Midnight, a blockchain built for privacy. DUST pays the network fees and refills on its own from NIGHT, like a battery. In the alpha these are test tokens with no real value.
Who pays the network fees?
On the test network today you turn on fees once, and DUST then refills by itself. We plan to cover network fees so you never have to handle crypto tokens, starting with Founding members and cell operators. That hasn’t started yet.
Is it free?
Testing the alpha is free, and so is running a node.
Does it make me anonymous?
No app can promise that, and we won’t. You can turn on Hide my IP so the network doesn’t see your internet address. It’s off by default and a little slower.
What is a node, or cell?
A small free program that passes along sealed messages. Anyone can run one on a computer. Today our own cell carries most messages; as more people run cells, the network depends less on any one company, including us.
When can I get the app?
Right away. Sign up, confirm your email, and we’ll send your download link within minutes. A web version is coming later.
