We publish
the limits.
Livara seals your direct messages on your own device — ML-KEM-768 mixed with P-256 — and hands the server a box it cannot open. Group chats do not work that way. You will find that written further down, in the same font, at the same size.
- Direct messages and their media are encrypted before they leave your device
- Your password is never transmitted — SRP proves you know it instead
- A lost recovery phrase locks your old direct messages away from us too
WHAT THE SERVER STORES FOR THAT SECOND MESSAGE
ct=8f2a41d7bc09e5a3f61d0b47ce9218ad35f7c0e4b9a6d812
7e05c3fa1b68d94e2af370c5b1e8d64a09f27b3cd815ea60
The table most messengers put in a PDF
Two conversation types, two different guarantees. Green means the server is holding something it cannot open. Amber means it can. Nothing here is hedged.
| ITEM | DIRECT 1:1 CHAT | GROUPS & CHANNELS |
|---|---|---|
| Message text | [+] Sealed on your device | [!] Server can read it |
| Photos, video, files | [+] Encrypted before upload | [!] Server can read them |
| Captions and edits | [+] Sealed on your device | [!] Server can read them |
| Who you talked to | [!] Server knows | [!] Server knows |
| When you talked | [!] Server knows | [!] Server knows |
| Your password | [+] Never leaves your device | [+] Never leaves your device |
| Your private keys | [+] Never leave your device | [+] Never leave your device |
The box is closed before it leaves you.
A new direct message, edit, caption or attachment is encrypted on a participant device. If either side is missing a hybrid identity the send is refused — not downgraded to something weaker while telling you it worked.
→ How the key is derivedUseful, popular, and not end-to-end encrypted.
Group and channel content is protected in transit and by membership and role checks, then stored in a form the server can process. Anyone who tells you their group chat is E2EE should be asked how they handle a new member joining.
→ Why this is hard to do properlyMeet CARET
Every app this decade has a friendly round blob mascot. Ours is the blinking block at the end of the line you have not sent yet — because that is the only part of a messenger that has ever actually kept a secret for you.
- JOB
- Sit after the last character you typed.
- SEES
- Every draft, including the 2 a.m. ones you deleted.
- SAYS
- Nothing. No mouth was budgeted.
- SENDS
- Also nothing. It has no network permission.
- SIZE
- One line of text. 14 by 20 pixels. Non-negotiable.
CARET has read every message you deleted before sending. It has never repeated one. It has never been asked, because nothing on your device can ask it.
Three disks that keep a conversation honest
Encryption decides who can read a message. These decide whether it shows up at all.
It arrives while you are looking at it
One socket carries messages, typing, presence, calls and account changes. No polling loop pretending to be realtime.
It survives the tunnel
Every change advances a per-user sequence number. Reconnect and the client asks for the exact range it missed, then stops.
It does not lie about sending
Text gets a stable operation ID and an immediate bubble. The outbox retries that same ID, so a bad signal cannot duplicate you.
$ livara sync --explain
seq 41207 delivered live
seq 41208..41219 missed (offline 4m)
seq 41208..41219 replayed on reconnect
seq cursor advanced → 41219
no full resync, no duplicate bubbles, no "pull to refresh"
Two clients, one timeline, one thing in the middle
The server is not a trusted third party you are asked to feel good about. It is a relay with a ledger, and the diagram says exactly what it holds.
- Same account, same dialogs, same receipts on both clients
- Direct-chat ciphertext is what the relay actually stores
- Android keeps an offline cache and a retrying outbox
- The relay does know who you messaged and when
- The relay does hold group content in readable form
- Nothing here hides the fact that you use Livara
Open it and check for yourself
The web client runs in a normal browser. The Android build is a signed APK with a published SHA-256. Both are on this page, both point at the same account.