Messaging without installing an app

What a messaging app leaves on your phone, and what a browser tab in a private window leaves behind.

Short answer

You can have an encrypted conversation in a web browser with nothing installed. A messaging app leaves an icon, notifications, a message history on the phone and usually a phone number tied to the account. A private browser window leaves far less: no icon, no notifications, and once you close it, no history or login in the browser. A few traces can still remain, and they are listed below.

Island.chat works this way: no app to install, no push notifications, no phone number required to register.

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What a messaging app leaves on the phone

An icon and an entry in the app list. Anyone who picks up the phone can see which messaging apps are on it.
A download record. The app store keeps a list of apps the account has downloaded, which usually still shows the app after you delete it.
Notifications. New messages appear on the lock screen, and some phones keep a notification history.
A message history on the phone. Messages, and often photos saved to the gallery, stay on the device until deleted, and are often included in phone or cloud backups.
A phone number. Most messaging apps register with your number, and many offer to match you with people in your contacts.

What a private browser window leaves behind

When you close a private (incognito) window, the browser deletes the history, cookies and site data from that window. What it does not remove:

Open private tabs. On phones, private tabs stay open until you close them, even after you leave the browser. Close the tab itself, not just the browser.
Files you download. A downloaded file is saved to the phone like any other.
Bookmarks and saved passwords you create while in the window.
Screenshots you take, which go to your photos.
Network records. The network you use, such as office Wi-Fi or your mobile carrier, can see which site you connected to, though not what you wrote.

Side by side

On the phone	Typical messaging app	Island.chat in a private window
App icon and app list	Yes	No app to install
App store download record	Yes	None
Notifications on the lock screen	Yes, unless turned off	No push notifications from Island.chat
Message history on the phone	Yes	No. Decrypted messages exist only in the page's memory while it is open
Photos in the gallery	Often saved automatically	Only files you choose to download
Phone number	Usually required	No phone number required to register

How Island.chat works without an app

Island.chat runs entirely in the browser. Messages are end-to-end encrypted on your device before they are uploaded, and the server stores only the encrypted copy. Your browser decrypts messages in its memory while the page is open and does not save them to the phone. Close the tab and the decrypted messages and your key are cleared from it; next time, you log in again with your handle and password.

The trade-off is convenience. There are no alerts, so you check for messages when you choose to, and you type your password more often than in an app, because nothing is kept on the phone to remember you.

Is a web messenger as secure as an app?

The encryption is the same kind used by messaging apps, and it runs on your device. The difference is how the code arrives: an app is installed once from an app store, while a web page is loaded from our server each time you open it, so you rely on that server sending the right code. Our Security page explains this limit and what Island.chat does and does not protect against.

Using it with the fewest traces

Open a private window and type the address instead of bookmarking it.
Don't let the browser save your password.
Don't add the site to the home screen.
Download files only when you need to keep them.
Close the tab when you're done.

About Island.chat

Island.chat is private, invite-only one-to-one messaging in your browser. There is no app to install and no phone number required to register, and messages are end-to-end encrypted on your device before they are uploaded. $20 for 30 days after a free trial. One person pays, both message.