Getting started

Requirements

• An iPhone on iOS 26 or later. That floor is where Apple's native post-quantum cryptography lives, and Auris uses it directly rather than shipping its own.
• A TestFlight invitation from the developer. There is no public beta and no App Store listing yet.
• Auris does not require a phone number, email or address-book upload.

First launch

1. Your identity is created

   The phone generates an Auris ID and its keys locally. Part of that is a short scribble ceremony; your finger movement is one of several sources folded into the randomness that seeds your keys. The private key material stays on your device.

2. Pick a display name

   It is shown to your contacts and travels only inside the encryption. Change it whenever you like; the service receives it as encrypted content.

3. Review permissions

   Notifications support background alerts and calls. The microphone is needed for calls and voice notes; the camera is used for video, capture and scanning features when you invoke them. Permissions can be changed in iOS Settings.

Add a contact

Scan a contact's QR code, paste their ID, or open their invitation link. Send a message to establish the session. The first message can take a little longer. The hybrid post-quantum session badge indicates that post-quantum key material contributed to the session. Compare safety numbers next to check the contact's identity keys.

Verify each other, once

Open the contact's verification sheet and compare the complete safety number in person or over an independently authenticated channel. Matching values check the identity-key pair, under the fingerprint's security assumptions. Mark the contact verified; Auris will tell you if the number ever changes. Why this matters →

Choose a security posture

Settings offers one dial: Standard for everyday use, Enhanced for raised guard, Lockdown for a stricter combination. A wizard walks the ladder and says what each step costs. The encryption is identical at every setting; the dial changes how much convenience you trade for metadata and endpoint hardening. Most people should start at Standard. The security dial →

Protect your history, if you want to

By default your chat history is encrypted on the device and opens with the phone. If you want it to require Face ID, a separate Auris passphrase, or both (so that knowing your phone passcode is not enough) choose that in Settings. Read the warning first: a forgotten passphrase makes the history unrecoverable, on purpose. History protection →

Make a call

Tap the call button in the chat. Auris finds a direct or relayed path according to the network and your settings, then checks the default encryption setup before releasing media. Call controls and troubleshooting →

If something goes wrong

Settings has a diagnostics report you can send to a contact you trust. It is an ordinary encrypted message, invisible to the server, and it removes third-party names and masks every ID before it leaves your phone. There is deliberately no “upload diagnostics to Auris” button: a raw report contains your contact roster, and the whole design exists to keep that off the server.