Calls, messages and files — on a server you choose. No surveillance, no corporate platforms. Just your circle.
Works on
Why Circlus
Every message on Telegram, WhatsApp or iMessage is stored on someone else's servers. You have no control over who sees it.
Public messengers mean strangers, ads, and content you never chose. Your child is there — next to everyone.
Scammers impersonate family members. On any open platform, anyone can message your parent and pretend to be you.
Encryption is common, but who talks to whom and when is still known to the corporation that owns the server. With Circlus, you choose the server — and decide who you trust with that.
How it works
Set it up once and use it with your whole family or team. We guide you through every step.
Deploy the Circlus server on any VPS you like. The server is open source on GitHub and its guide takes you through the setup in a few steps. Everything needed for calls is installed with it.
Any VPS from ~$5/mo · everything for calls includedOn your server, create one or more Circles — "Family", "Work", "Friends" — and invite the people who matter.
Unlimited circlesInvitees just open the web client in a browser — nothing to install. An Android app is there for those who prefer one. Calls, messages, files, group chats. All end-to-end encrypted.
Browser · Android app · iPhone via browser for nowHow to connect
Circlus is built around Circles and the apps people use to access them. Right now you can use the web client or the Android app. An iPhone app is in progress; until then, iPhone works through the web client.
Open the official Circlus web client in your browser. It can also be installed on your device as a PWA.
The Android app is available to admitted testers through the closed Google Play test. APK files are also published in the official Circlus Android Releases repository.
You can message the developer directly through Circlus. The guest link will register you in the developer's Circle and open a conversation.
Who it's for
For the moments when it truly matters who is listening.
A safe space to stay in touch with your kids — no strangers, no ads, full parental control.
In Circlus, contacts are only people you personally added. A scammer simply cannot message them pretending to be you.
For lawyers, journalists, doctors and anyone for whom the content of conversations must never leave a trusted perimeter.
Corporate data shouldn't sit on third-party messenger servers. Circlus gives you team chat on your own infrastructure.
Features
Text, emoji, replies. Familiar chat, nothing extra.
Encrypted voice and video calls right inside the app.
Send photos, videos and documents in any format.
Multiple independent circles on a single server.
Talk to everyone in a circle at once. Group calls are in development.
Use the phone app, tablet browser, and desktop browser side by side.
The server sees who talks and when, but not what. Content stays with you.
Web app in any browser, installable as a PWA, plus an Android app. An iPhone app is in progress.
For professionals
Guest links give clients access to you — without joining the main circle. You control everything: what's allowed, how you appear, who takes the call.
Create a link and share it with your client. They register and land directly in your chat — with no access to other circle members. The connection is two-way: you can also message or call the client first. Multiple links for different purposes.
Via one link the client sees you as "Sarah, therapist". Via another — "Support team". Control how you appear to each audience.
Each link has its own set of capabilities. Some clients get messages only, others calls too, others files as well.
Add several team members to a link. Switch who is on duty — the client always contacts the same address, you decide who answers.
Why trust us
Messages are encrypted by the app, so Circlus can only be fully trusted once the code of the whole system is open. We are opening it step by step.
The server code is published: you can check what it stores and run it yourself.
We will open the code of the app that encrypts messages, so anyone can verify that keys never leave the device.
Then the code of the Android and iPhone apps. Why not all at once.
Questions & answers
You don't need to be a programmer, but you will type the commands from the guide in a terminal — it usually takes about an hour. If you'd rather not, we can set up the server for you — on your VPS or on ours.
A basic VPS is enough for a family of 5–10 people — typically $5–7 a month. Any provider will do — Circlus is not tied to a particular one, and a VPS you already have works just as well.
Yes. Whoever runs the server — a friend, a hosting company or a specialist you asked to set it up — cannot read your messages and files, add an outsider to the circle or take the circle over. They see who is in the circle and when people talk, and they can switch the server off. If they stop suiting you, the circle can move to another server without their consent.
The details are on what the server knows. We also set up circles on request, on your VPS or on ours: hosting options.
Yes. Prepare the destination Circlus server and HTTPS domain first, create a one-time import permission there, then start the move from the existing Circle settings. See the step-by-step Circle migration guide for the data scope and exact procedure.
While the server is offline, messages won't be delivered — the same as any messenger. Once it is back, everything works as usual.
Conversations already on your devices stay with you. For now, the circle itself has to be created again on a new server and participants invited again.
We are working on restoring a circle without new invitations. For this, every device already keeps the list of participants signed by the circle owner.
What the circle needs to work: who is in it, who writes to and calls whom, and when. Messages and files themselves are stored only in encrypted form.
This does not rely on a promise that the server won't look. The server simply has no keys to decrypt them: the app never sends them.
Circlus also has Circle Inspector — the circle owner can use it to see what the server stores about their circle, or give temporary access to a specialist who is helping.
The item-by-item list is on what the server knows.
Even with end-to-end encryption, Signal and WhatsApp servers belong to companies. They see metadata, know who talks to whom, and store your contacts. With Circlus, the server is chosen by the circle owner — their own, or one they asked us to run for them. On a server you run yourself, Circlus has no administrative access at all. Where we do run one, we are its administrator, and what that does and does not allow is written down rather than promised. Circlus is also a closed environment — outsiders simply cannot enter your circle.
Yes. Invited users just open the invite link — in a browser, or in the Android app if they prefer one. No server configuration, no technical steps. The interface is intentionally kept simple and familiar.
It will be — this is a basic condition of trust: messages are encrypted by the app itself, and only its code can show that. We will publish the web client code in the coming months, then the code of the mobile apps. The server is already open.
Why not right away: Circlus changes quickly, and for now it is easier to develop when one version of the app is in use rather than several third-party builds.
One-to-one calls are fully supported, with both voice and video. Group calls are in development; we are not announcing a date yet. Group text chats already work completely.
No. For calls to work on home and mobile networks, a relay server for calls (TURN) is needed. It is part of the standard installation and runs on the same VPS at no extra cost; there is nothing to request or pay for. Chats and files work without it.
If your VPS struggles with video, we can give you access to our call relay on request. For teams with frequent video calls, we agree the terms individually.
Ready to start?
Deploy the server by following the guide or ask us to do it — and invite your people. You can also try it without a server.