Features

Everything mssgs can do, in one overview

Private chats with ghost mode and one-time photos, communities with voice channels and roles, stories, a map of your friends, eleven built-in games, bots and AI. Free on iPhone, Android, desktop and the web.

Start for free The short version
Screenshot of the mssgs app: Your DMs with their nameplates
Screenshot of the mssgs app: Your DMs with their nameplates9:41
In short

What mssgs does, in one paragraph

mssgs is a messaging app from the Netherlands that puts private chats, communities, stories and games in one app. You chat one-on-one or in groups with photos, voice memos, calls and screen sharing; run communities with seven kinds of channel, roles and your own join rules; post stories and share your location with the friends you pick; and play eleven games without leaving the chat. Bots, webhooks and a built-in MCP server connect it to your own tools and AI assistants. One-to-one chats are end-to-end encrypted, there are no ads, and mssgs is free on iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Linux and the web.

Made by
RUAL, the Netherlands
Price
Free, optional Premium
Apps
iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Linux, web
Games
Eleven, built into every chat
Ads and tracking
None
Servers
In the Netherlands, with BIT

Chats

Chats that show what is going on

One-to-one and group chats with photos, videos, voice memos, GIFs and reactions. Every new conversation starts as a request, and your chat list shows at a glance who opened what.

  1. Tap the microphone, pause and carry on, listen back, then send.

  2. Search GIFs and stickers, or cut a sticker out of one of your own photos.

  3. Draw something and send it into the chat as an image. In a DM, your friend sees that you are drawing.

  4. Drop coins or Premium into a chat for whoever grabs it first.

  5. A flame and a count next to a friend you keep a chat going with, day after day. With Premium you can bring a lost streak back once a month.

All about messaging
Also in every chat

  • Requests before chats

    Nobody can message you out of the blue. A new conversation starts as a request that you accept or decline. Add friends by username or by scanning their QR code.

  • See who opened what

    Under every name in your chat list: Sent, Opened, New chat or Received. Read By lists who has read a message, and you see when someone is typing or recording a voice memo.

  • Hold a message for everything

    Swipe to reply. Hold for reactions, Edit Message, Set Reminder, Read By, Keep on Top, Quote in Post and Delete Message.

  • Photos, videos and albums

    Pick several photos and they arrive as one album. Attachments up to 25 MB and videos up to 60 seconds, or 50 MB and 180 seconds with Premium.

  • Formatting and code

    Bold, italic, strikethrough, quotes and code blocks with syntax highlighting. Links get a preview card.

  • Mentions and links

    @ mentions a person, # links a channel, even in another community, and : finds an emoji by name.

  • Events

    Plan something and let everyone answer Going, Maybe or Can't.

  • Listen together

    Apple Music and Spotify links in a DM become one shared queue.

  • Chat backgrounds

    22 themes per chat, or make your own from a colour or a photo, with your own bubble colour.

  • A sound per friend

    Give a chat its own notification sound and ringtone, or record and layer your own in the Studio.

  • Pin and archive

    Pin chats to the top (3 free, unlimited with Premium) and archive old ones behind Face ID or a code.

  • Auto-delete

    Let the messages in a DM delete themselves after 24 hours, a week, a year or more.

  • Your own chat bar

    Reorder or hide the buttons under your DMs.

  • Nicknames

    With Premium, give a friend a name and photo that only you see.

Privacy & safety

Private by default, with controls you can see

Ghost messages and one-time photos for what should not stick around, locks for the chats that need one, and blocking that is quiet. One-to-one chats are end-to-end encrypted, and nothing you write is used to train AI.

  1. A photo or video that can be opened once. You see Sent, then Opened, and mssgs tells you when someone saves it or takes a screenshot.

  2. In a DM, ghost messages clear about a minute after everyone has left the chat. Turn it on for one message or for this session, or add a deadline of 1 hour, 24 hours or 7 days.

  3. Put a 4-digit code on a chat, and unlock it with Touch ID in the Mac app. Your Memories and your archive lock with Face ID, Touch ID or a code.

Ghost mode and one-time view, explained
Also for your privacy

  • Quiet blocking, fair reports

    Blocking is silent. Reports go to volunteer mssgs community moderators, who vote; mssgs staff decide alone only when it is urgent or the law requires it.

  • Make Disappearing

    Turn a message you already sent into a ghost message.

  • End-to-end encrypted DMs

    One-to-one chats are end-to-end encrypted.

  • No ads, no tracking

    Your data is not sold, and your messages are never used to train AI.

  • No phone number

    An account is a username and an email address. No real name needed.

  • Parent Center

    A parent sees who a child chats with, how long they were online today and alerts. Never the messages, never where the child is.

  • Follow your reports

    See whether each report is In review, Content removed or No action taken. Who reported you is never shown.

  • Hosted in the Netherlands

    The servers mssgs runs on are hosted with BIT, a Dutch provider.

  • Blurred when you look away

    On the desktop, ghost messages blur as soon as the window loses focus.

Calls

Voice and video calls, with your screen

Call a friend from any DM, turn the camera on, share your screen and keep chatting while the call floats. Communities have voice channels you just drop into, with video.

  1. Tap Join Voice in a community, with camera and screen sharing. Someone too loud? Mute for me.

  2. From the desktop app or your iPhone, show your screen to a call or a voice channel, with a heads-up in the chat if you like.

  3. A card asks Call Dani? before anything rings, and Join muted starts every call with your microphone off.

  4. Minimize a call to a floating bar and carry on chatting.

All about calls
Also in calls

  • Calls in every DM

    Tap the phone at the top of a chat. Every call starts as a voice call, and you turn the camera on when you want to.

  • Reactions

    Throw an emoji across the call.

  • Volume per person

    Speaker, mute and a volume for everyone in the call.

  • Ringtones

    Your own ringtone, or one for a single friend.

  • Push to talk, noise suppression

    On the desktop, hold a key or a side mouse button to talk, and filter out keyboards, traffic and voices behind you. The filtering happens on your computer.

Communities

Communities with channels, roles and your own rules

A community (a server) is a shared space for a friend group, a club, a team or a class: seven kinds of channel, roles with real permissions, invites you control, and more than one owner.

  1. Text, voice, game (join the voice to play, the rest of the channel watches), photo (a gallery grid), suggestions (members vote on ideas), watch party and announcement channels, sorted into categories.

  2. User groups with a name and a colour, and every permission set to Enabled, Default or Disabled: from Manage Channels to Post Voice Memos.

  3. A link or your own video, in sync for everyone. The host controls playback, anyone can clip the last seconds.

  4. Ask a question, set how long the poll runs, and watch the votes come in.

All about communities
Also in communities

  • Decide who may join

    Invite Only, Domain Only (email addresses on your domains), Paid Only (Premium members) or Public. VPN forbidden refuses VPN, proxy and Tor.

  • More than one owner

    Add co-owners with the same rights. The first owner cannot be removed.

  • Invites with limits

    Links and QR codes with an expiry (1 hour to 30 days, or never) and a usage limit.

  • Import from a screenshot

    Recreate a channel list from a screenshot of another app.

  • Who is reading

    The members list shows who is here, who reads along live and when each person last read.

  • Custom emoji

    The community's own emoji, used by name.

  • Slash commands

    Members type /standup or /poll, and the community decides what the command does.

  • Webhooks

    Post alerts from other services straight into a channel.

  • Kick, ban and audit log

    Ban with a reason, optionally by IP address, lift bans later, and see who changed what.

  • Notifications per channel

    Off, When in server or Everywhere, or mute a channel or community from 15 minutes to until you unmute.

  • Self-deleting channels

    Let a channel's messages delete themselves after a set time.

  • Pins and events

    Pinned messages for everyone, and events people answer.

  • Folders

    Group communities in a folder in your list.

  • Search

    Search one channel or the whole community.

  • Request access

    Members ask for a channel or a role themselves, and the owner decides.

  • Broadcast into your community

    Follow another community's announcement channel, and its posts arrive in yours.

  • Own two, join ten

    Free accounts own 2 communities and join 10. With Premium: own 10, join as many as you like.

Stories & Memories

Stories to share, Memories only you see

Take a photo, add a filter, text, stickers, music or a link, and choose who sees it: a public or friends-only story, a private group, a chat, or just your Memories.

  1. A story lasts 24 hours by default, or 1 hour, 12 hours or 5 days. A story set to Never still goes after 24 hours.

  2. A story only the members of a group see, each with View, View and Post or Admin rights.

  3. Posting is in the iPhone and Android apps. Stories open on every device.

All about stories and Memories
Also in stories

  • One post, many places

    Send one photo to a story, private groups and chats at the same time.

  • Filters for your city

    Swipe through filters, including photo filters for the city you are in, and add text, stickers, music or a link.

  • Memories

    Your private photo library, with a Memory Map, locked with Face ID, Touch ID or a code.

  • Photostrips

    One strip a day, one frame from each member. Photos in a strip can never be deleted.

  • Schedule a post

    Post now, in an hour, in a few hours or at a time you choose.

  • Story notifications

    Be told when a friend posts a story.

  • Who viewed it

    Swipe up on your own story to see its viewers. Saving your story to Photos sends you a notice.

  • Quote in Post

    Put a message from a chat on a photo for your story.

  • Import from Snapchat

    Bring your Snapchat Memories into mssgs.

  • Stories on the map

    Public stories can show on the map where you took them, if you want them to.

  • Design a city filter

    Upload your own photo filter for a spot (10 m to 5 km) or a whole city from the desktop or web app. Volunteer community moderators vote before it goes live.

  • Face lenses

    Lenses for your face, right in the camera.

Map

A map of your friends, on your terms

See the friends who share their location with you. You choose per friend whether they see you and from how far, and sharing stays on until you stop it: there is no timer to forget.

  1. Switch on Share my location per friend, with a range of 10, 25, 50, 100 or 300 km, or worldwide. Outside it they see you as out of range.

  2. How far away they are, Follow to keep the map on them, and directions in Apple Maps or Google Maps.

  3. A friend's pin shows whether they are walking, running, cycling, driving or on a train.

All about the map
Also on the map

  • Named places

    Name the places you visit often, like Home or Work, and friends see the name instead of an address.

  • Freeze your location

    With Premium, a friend sees you at a spot you choose until you unfreeze.

  • Share a place

    Drop a pin and send it to a chat as a map card.

  • Map tools

    Range radar, What others see, Shared with, Who looked and travel filters.

  • Map styles

    Default, Satellite, Streets or Outdoors, with traffic if you want it.

  • In your chat list

    Choose what shows under a friend's name: nothing, a place label, or the label and city.

Games

Eleven games, right in the chat

Challenge a friend from any DM: an invite card lands in the chat, they tap Join game and you play without leaving mssgs. No downloads, no separate app.

  1. Tap the game controller at the top of a chat. Friends join with the invite card, a room code or a QR code.

  2. Four in a Row, Battleship, Checkers, Word Guesser, Snake, Snake Capture, Polymono, Tegostrat, Memory, Mau and Chess.

  3. The floating game bar says when it is your turn, with up to 5 games going at once.

How games work
Also for players

  • Game channels

    A voice channel with a game table as the main view: join the voice to play, and everyone else in the channel watches and chats along.

  • Watch a game

    The host can allow spectators, and a Playing… pill under a friend's name lets you watch.

  • In the browser too

    The web app plays the same games, no install needed.

  • Rules in the lobby

    How-to-play cards explain every game before you start.

  • Tournaments

    Host a tournament: several rounds of your games, scored.

  • Game Activity

    Link games you play outside mssgs to your account, and unlink them whenever you like.

  • Build a game

    Developers can bring their own game to mssgs with the Game SDK.

Tools

The small apps you would otherwise switch to

Reminders, alarms, an agenda, a translator, a video editor and File Drop live in the same app as your chats.

  1. Hold a message and choose Set Reminder: in 1 hour up to 1 week, or a time you pick. The notification takes you back to the message.

  2. Send files to people on the same network. Receiving is free, sending up to 20 GB is Premium.

All tools
Also in Tools

  • Keep on Top

    Pin a message above a chat for yourself, from an hour up to a week.

  • Reminders for a group

    Pick the chats and who gets it, and repeat daily, on weekdays, weekly or monthly. Good for "bins out" every Tuesday.

  • Alarms

    Alarms that go off even when mssgs is closed, with your own sound on Premium.

  • Agenda

    What you have on, with an import from Apple Calendar.

  • Translator

    Speak and translate, for a conversation across languages.

  • Video editor

    Cut, trim and crop a clip, and add text or sound.

  • Stopwatch, timer, calculator

    The everyday basics, without leaving the app.

  • Clips

    Save the last stretch of a watch party, trim it and publish it on the Clips tab of your profile.

  • News and facts

    News from the sites you pick, and ten facts a day.

  • Your own bottom bar

    Put the tabs you use most on the bar, and pin a chat, community or tool as its own button.

Bots, AI & developers

Bots, webhooks and AI that work in your chats

Post alerts with a webhook, give a community its own slash commands, build a bot with cards and buttons, or let an AI assistant like Claude read and reply through the MCP server in the desktop app.

  1. Bot messages are cards with a coloured bar, fields, images, a status pill and buttons that call your service and update the card in place.

  2. An incoming webhook posts into a channel; a /command trigger calls your web service and posts the answer.

  3. Offer your own computer as an agent, and people in a channel hand it a task by mentioning it. It runs on your computer, not on mssgs servers.

Developer docs
Also for developers

  • An MCP server for AI assistants

    The desktop app has an MCP server built in. Claude, Cursor or Codex can read, summarize, reply and even play games, only in the channels you expose.

  • Bots as members

    Bot accounts have a BOT label, a profile and a status. Members mention them, DM them and use their commands.

  • Safe by default

    The MCP server is off until you switch it on, read-only until you allow sending, reachable only from your own computer, and every AI tool gets its own revocable token.

  • Game SDK

    Build a game that runs inside mssgs with the Game SDK.

  • Integrations

    Ready-made GitHub and Unifi integrations.

  • Documentation

    Everything with examples in the developer docs.

Account, security & Premium

One account on every device, well protected

Sign in with a code by email, add a password and a second step if you like, and use the same account on your phone, your computer and in the browser. mssgs is free; Premium is a month at a time.

  1. Scan the QR code on mss.gs/login or in the desktop app, check the code, and tap Yes, log in.

  2. 2,500 credits for 30 days, and it never renews by itself. See Premium.

All about your account
Also in your account

  • Sign in with a code

    A code by email always works, so a password is optional. Passwords are stored as PBKDF2-SHA512.

  • Two-factor authentication

    A passkey (Face ID, Touch ID or a security key), an authenticator app, a hardware key or SMS, with a backup number.

  • Every device in view

    Where you are signed in, with city and last activity. Remove one and it is signed out at once.

  • Several accounts

    A personal and a work account on one phone, one tap to switch.

  • Credits

    Top up in the app or on mss.gs/credits, redeem codes and gift credits. They never expire.

  • Badges that pay

    Every achievement badge pays out credits when you unlock it.

  • Accessibility

    Text up to 1.6 times larger, larger buttons, button labels, action confirmations and screen descriptions.

  • Ten languages

    English, Dutch, German, French, Italian, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Russian and Ukrainian.

  • Dark or light

    Dark (the default), Light, or follow your phone.

  • Search in Settings

    It understands the words people use, like "ringtone" or "passcode".

  • Your page on the web

    mss.gs/@username shows your photo, bio and badges to people without mssgs.

  • Phone and computer together

    Your phone waits while you are active on your computer, so you are not buzzed twice.

  • Decoration shop

    Illustrated avatar decorations, nameplates and profile worlds, bought once with coins and kept for good.

Free and Premium

What is free, and what Premium adds

Nearly everything on this page is free. Premium raises the limits and adds a few extras, one month at a time.

Free and Premium compared
FeatureFreePremium
PriceFree2,500 credits for 30 days, never renews by itself
Message length2,000 characters5,000 characters
Attachments25 MB50 MB
Videos in chats60 seconds180 seconds
Pinned chats3Unlimited
Communities you own210
Communities you join10Unlimited
Your own sounds30 secondsFull length
Sending with File DropReceiving onlyUp to 20 GB
ExtrasLive reactions, nicknames for friends, freezing your location, a lost streak back once a month, your own alarm sound, animal chess pieces and boards, the Premium crown

Credits never expire. See Premium and credits for prices.

Apps

On every device you use

One account, the same chats everywhere. Every download is on the downloads page.

  • iPhone and iPad

    From the App Store, with an Apple Watch app.

  • Android

    From Google Play.

  • macOS

    The desktop app, with the MCP server built in.

  • Windows

    An installer, or a portable build.

  • Linux

    An AppImage.

  • The web

    No install: open mss.gs/app in your browser.

Extra on iPhone

  • Widgets

    Home Screen widgets for a channel, a DM, stories, posting a story and who is nearby.

  • Apple Watch

    Your chats, stories, agenda and places on your wrist.

  • CarPlay

    Your conversations in the car, read out and answered with Siri.

  • Siri and Shortcuts

    Send a message, send a DM, share your location or send a preset message by voice or from a shortcut.

  • Share from any app

    Send a photo, a link or a file from another app straight into a chat.

  • iPad

    A layout with several columns side by side.

Extra on the desktop

  • Quick switcher

    Ctrl+K or ⌘K jumps to any community, channel or DM, and Ctrl or ⌘ with 1 to 9 to a community. Also in the web app.

  • Pop out

    Pop a DM, a call or a watch party video out into a window of its own.

  • Game overlay

    See who is in your call, and the latest chat, on top of the game you are playing.

  • Clip mode

    Pick a window or a screen, and save the last stretch of it as a clip with a key.

  • Touch ID

    Unlock a locked chat with your fingerprint in the Mac app.

  • MCP server

    Built into the desktop app from the downloads page, for Claude, Cursor and other AI tools.

Questions about the features

What can you do with mssgs?

Chat one-on-one or in groups with photos, voice memos, calls and screen sharing; run communities with text, voice, game, photo, suggestions, watch party and announcement channels; post stories; share your location with the friends you pick; play eleven games in the chat; and connect bots, webhooks and AI assistants.

Is mssgs free?

Yes. Nearly every feature on this page is free. Premium costs 2,500 credits for 30 days and never renews by itself; it raises limits like message length (5,000 instead of 2,000 characters) and attachments (50 MB instead of 25 MB).

Does mssgs have disappearing messages?

Yes, two kinds. Ghost mode in a DM clears messages about a minute after everyone has left the chat, and one-time view sends a photo or video that can be opened once. mssgs tells you when someone saves one or takes a screenshot, but it cannot stop them.

Can I video call and share my screen?

Yes. Calls in a DM are between two people and start as voice calls; turn the camera on whenever you like, and share your screen from the desktop app or your iPhone. Communities have voice channels with camera and screen sharing.

Can mssgs replace Discord for my group?

For most groups, yes: communities have text and voice channels, roles, invites and moderation, plus game, photo, suggestions and watch party channels. mssgs has no threads; replies and quotes stay in the channel. See the Discord comparison.

Which games are built in?

Eleven: Four in a Row, Battleship, Checkers, Word Guesser, Snake, Snake Capture, Polymono, Tegostrat, Memory, Mau and Chess. See the games page.

Does mssgs work with AI assistants like Claude?

Yes. The desktop app from the downloads page has a built-in MCP server. It is off by default, read-only until you allow sending, only sees the channels you expose and is reachable only from your own computer.

Do I need a phone number?

No. An account is a username and an email address, and you sign in with a code by email. A password and two-factor authentication are optional.

Which devices does mssgs run on?

iPhone and iPad, Android, macOS, Windows, Linux and the web app. Your account and chats are the same on all of them. See downloads.

How private is mssgs?

One-to-one chats are end-to-end encrypted, there are no ads and no tracking, and your messages are never used to train AI. The servers mssgs runs on are hosted with BIT in the Netherlands. More on the security page.

Read more

Games All eleven, with how to play Security Encryption, hosting and your data Help desk Every feature, step by step Premium What it adds, and what it costs Developers Bots, webhooks, MCP and the Game SDK Discord alternative mssgs and Discord, side by side

Try it with your friends

Free to start. A username and an email address is all you need, no phone number.

Download mssgs