What is Matrix?
The problem with most chat apps
Apps like Discord, Telegram, and WhatsApp are each run by a single company. Your messages live on their servers, under their rules. If they go down, change their terms, or shut off your account, your conversations go with them. And none of them can talk to each other — everyone has to be on the same app.
Matrix works like email
You can send an email from Gmail to someone on Outlook without thinking about it. Matrix works the same way for chat — people on different servers can message each other directly. Nobody owns the system. It's a shared standard, like email itself.
Many people and organizations run their own Matrix servers, and they all connect to each other automatically. This is called federation — independent servers that talk to each other as one network.
Where Element fits in
Matrix is the underlying system. Element is an app you use to connect to it, the same way a web browser connects you to the internet. It's available on desktop, Android, and iOS.
Element is the most widely used Matrix app, but not the only one. All Matrix apps work with the same accounts, the same rooms, and the same contacts. Use whichever one suits you.
What's a homeserver?
When you sign up for email, you pick a provider — Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo. A homeserver is the same idea for Matrix. It's where your account lives.
Nary A Peep is a homeserver. When you register here, your address looks like @you:naryapeep.com, and you can chat with anyone on any Matrix server in the world.
Is it private?
Direct messages and private rooms are encrypted by default. Your messages are scrambled so that only you and the people in the conversation can read them — not even us.
Some information is visible to server admins, such as who is talking to whom and when, and anything posted in unencrypted rooms. This is true of every chat service. We don't sell or share any of it.
Getting started
The fastest way is to open our web client and create an account. For everyday use, grab one of the recommended apps and set the server to naryapeep.com when you sign up.
That's all there is to it.