Fluxer encrypts your data in transit and at rest, and end-to-end encryption is planned. Encrypted calls are planned for 2026, and encrypted personal notes, DMs and group DMs are planned as an experimental draft in 2026 and a stable release in 2027. Nothing on Fluxer is end-to-end encrypted today, as section 9 of our privacy policy says.
Does Fluxer have end-to-end encryption?
Not yet. Fluxer's servers process messages and calls to deliver them and can access their content. Calls today run on LiveKit and are encrypted in transit between your device and our servers. Our own systems can access call media while they handle it, as section 9 of our privacy policy says. LiveKit's optional encryption mode is off by default, and since its key comes from the server, it isn't end-to-end against whoever runs the instance.
Are my messages encrypted at all?
Yes, in transit and at rest. Your messages, files and calls are encrypted between your device and our servers, and your data is encrypted on our servers and in backups. Our article on message privacy says when a person on our team can look at specific messages.
What is end-to-end encryption?
End-to-end encryption means only the sender and the people a message is meant for can read it, and the service in between can't. As Wikipedia's article on end-to-end encryption puts it, messages are encrypted on the sender's device so that no third party, including the service provider, can decrypt them, and the recipients decrypt them on their devices.
Encryption in transit is different, because it only protects messages on their way to the service, and the service's servers can decrypt them once they arrive.
The usual building block is a pair of keys for each person. The public key is safe to share and is used to encrypt, and the private key stays on that person's device and is the only thing that can decrypt the messages encrypted with the public key.
End-to-end encryption can't protect you if someone has broken into your device, and it depends on knowing that a key really belongs to the person you think it does.
When will calls be end-to-end encrypted?
Calls will be end-to-end encrypted first. Item 2 on our roadmap is a new voice and video system planned for 2026, and every call on it will be end-to-end encrypted with the DAVE protocol, with no unencrypted fallback. Around March 2026, we said encrypted calls would come in the next update, which was too early, and we don't have an exact date yet.
What will be encrypted in a call?
Your microphone audio, camera video, screen share video and screen share audio will all be end-to-end encrypted in every call. This applies to calls that go through a voice server and to peer-to-peer calls that self-hosted instances can run on the new system.
Your device encrypts what it sends, and only the devices of the other people in the call can decrypt it. The voice server forwards your audio and video without being able to decrypt them. Neither Fluxer nor an instance's admins will be able to see or hear the call.
Which protocol will calls use?
Calls will use DAVE, Discord's open protocol built on MLS, an IETF standard published as RFC 9420. Our apps use libdave, the open source DAVE library. It is built natively for the desktop app and compiled to WebAssembly for the browser.
Trail of Bits reviewed the protocol's design and implementation in 2024, and both reports are public. Our own code, including how we use libdave, has not been audited.
How can I check a call is encrypted?
In a call, you'll be able to see a privacy code for the whole call and compare your verification code with anyone else who is in it, in person or through another app you trust. Once you mark someone as verified, the app will warn you if their key changes after that.
What can the voice server still see?
The voice server can't decrypt your audio or video, but it still needs some information to run the call. It sees who is in the call, when people are speaking and how loudly, and technical details about each stream, such as its bitrate and resolution. End-to-end encryption protects what's said and shown in the call and doesn't hide this information.
The connection from the app to the voice server is also encrypted with QUIC, the transport the new system uses, as a layer under the end-to-end encryption. Once calls are end-to-end encrypted, Fluxer's call relays won't be able to access what's said or shown in a call.
Can I turn end-to-end encryption off?
Once they're out, encrypted calls, notes, DMs and group DMs will have no setting to turn them off in Fluxer's open source software. fluxer.com runs that software, and self-hosted instances run it too. The apps drop any audio or video frame that arrives without encryption, and an app that doesn't support the encryption can't join the call.
When will DMs be end-to-end encrypted?
Item 4 on our roadmap adds end-to-end encryption to personal notes, DMs and group DMs, with no setting to turn it off. An experimental draft is planned for 2026 and a stable release for the first half of 2027. We haven't written this encryption yet.
How will encrypted DMs work?
We'll build it on MLS (Messaging Layer Security), an IETF standard published as RFC 9420 in July 2023. MLS was designed for group conversations, and the members' devices agree on shared keys that the server never has and encrypt messages with them.
Each device is normally its own member of the group, and the group's keys change whenever its members change. MLS is designed so the server can't read the messages it delivers, as long as members check each other's keys without relying on that server.
MLS doesn't give a new device messages sent before it joined. In the experimental draft, we'll work out how your history gets to a new device and how you check that a key belongs to the person you're talking to. For calls, the verification codes will let you do that.
What will the server still see in encrypted DMs?
The server won't be able to read your encrypted notes, DMs and group DMs, but it will still see some details, such as who is in a conversation and when messages are sent.
Will group DMs get bigger?
Yes. As part of this work, group DMs will grow from 50 to 250 members, on the same timeline as the end-to-end encryption. For real-time updates to keep working in groups of that size, we'll need to make changes to Fluxer's server software.
Will communities be end-to-end encrypted?
Communities, which are the large public spaces with moderation and search, aren't part of the plan for end-to-end encryption. They work differently in Fluxer's server software, and we haven't worked out how end-to-end encryption would fit them.
For smaller groups, we plan to let you tie an end-to-end encrypted group DM of up to 250 members to a community, but we haven't set a date for that yet. The app would show the group DM with that community and leave it out of your list of DMs.
Will Fluxer's encryption work with polyproto?
Probably. The polyproto family behind our federation plans also includes polyproto-mls, which is separate from polyproto-core and uses the same MLS standard. In October 2026 it was in alpha, and we'll probably build our encryption to match it and help finish it.
What can I do until then?
You can run your own Fluxer instance, and then your messages and files are stored on servers you choose and Fluxer has none of them. An instance isn't end-to-end encrypted either, so whoever runs it can access its content the way Fluxer can on fluxer.com.
You can also export your data at any time from "Privacy" in "User settings".
Why does this matter to us?
End-to-end encryption is two of the eight items on our roadmap, because we want your calls and conversations to stay between you and the people in them. It all goes into the open source Fluxer software that fluxer.com runs, so self-hosted instances get it too.