Help

Joining with an invitation

2ecure is available by invitation only. With your personal invitation code, create your account like this:

1. Open the 2ecure app, or chat.2ecure.com in your browser.
2. Tap “Sign in”. The 2ecure sign-in page (account.2ecure.com) opens.
3. Choose “Create account” there.
4. Fill in the form (username, email address, password) and accept the terms of use.
5. Enter your invitation code (registration token).
6. Enter the code you receive by email.

Complete all steps within one hour. Otherwise the registration expires and you have to start again. Every invitation code is personal and can be used only once.

Your username becomes part of your address, for example @anna:2ecure.com. It cannot be changed later and is never given to anyone else, even after the account is deleted.

No email arrived? Check your spam folder and wait a few minutes. If that does not help, write to support@2ecure.com.

Set up key storage right afterwards.

Key storage and recovery key

Your messages are encrypted with keys that exist only on your devices. Key storage keeps an encrypted backup of these keys on the 2ecure server. Only your recovery key can unlock it – the operator cannot read it.

• Always keep “Allow key storage” turned on in the settings.
• Set up a recovery key and save it in a password manager. Alternatively, print it and keep it somewhere safe – but not as a photo in a cloud.
• Lost your recovery key but still signed in on a device? Create a new one there in the settings.

Never choose “Reset identity” as long as you still have a signed-in device or your recovery key. After a reset you can no longer read your earlier encrypted messages, and your contacts see a warning.

The operator can neither see nor replace your recovery key. Support will never ask you for it.

Verifying a new device

When you sign in on a new device, the app asks you to confirm it. Only then can it read your earlier encrypted messages, and your contacts see it as trusted.

• “Use another device”: Open 2ecure on a device where you are already signed in and confirm the request there. Follow the instructions on both devices.
• Recovery key: Enter your recovery key.

If you have neither another device nor your recovery key, first read the section on key storage and, if in doubt, contact support before you reset your identity.

What does end-to-end encryption mean?

Messages are encrypted on your device and only decrypted again on the recipients’ devices. In between – including on the 2ecure server – they exist only in encrypted form. Nobody else can read them, not even the operator.

On 2ecure, encryption is turned on by default for all chats and rooms. This also covers pictures, files, voice messages and calls.

Not encrypted is the information the server needs to deliver messages (metadata): who is in which room and when messages are sent, the names, topics and pictures of rooms, and display names and profile pictures.

Encryption does not protect against someone holding your unlocked device. Protect your device with a screen lock.

Older messages cannot be read

Sometimes the app shows that older messages cannot be decrypted. The most common reasons:

• The device is not verified yet. Verify it with another device or your recovery key.
• The keys are still loading. Wait a moment and, if possible, keep another signed-in device online.
• You joined the room later. Whether new members can read earlier messages depends on whether the history was shared with them when they were invited. Messages from before you joined are often not readable – this is intended.
• Key storage was turned off. Keys that only existed on a device that has since been signed out cannot be recovered.

To avoid this: keep key storage turned on and only sign out of an old device once the new one shows all messages.

Warning: a contact’s identity has changed

Every account has a cryptographic identity. If it changes, the app warns you. This happens, for example, when someone has reset their identity, such as after losing all their devices.

• Ask the person through another channel – in person or by phone – whether they reset their identity.
• If yes: confirm the warning in the app and verify the person again if needed.
• If not, or if unclear: do not send confidential information and contact support.

Voice and video calls

You can start voice and video calls in one-to-one and group chats. Calls run through the 2ecure call server in Switzerland and are end-to-end encrypted.

• Allow the app to use the microphone and, for video calls, the camera.
• iPhone: In the first version, incoming calls may not ring while the app is in the background or the iPhone is locked. You get a notification instead – open the app to join the call.
• Android: Allow notifications and, when asked, full-screen notifications for incoming calls.
• In the browser: Allow microphone and camera when the browser asks.

Calls also work on most company and hotel networks, because they can use the same connection as secure websites when needed.

Notifications

To let your phone announce new messages, the app uses the push service of Apple (iPhone) or Google (Android). Only technical identifiers are transmitted, no message content. The app then fetches the message from the 2ecure server itself and decrypts it on your device.

• No notifications? Check in your system settings that notifications are allowed for 2ecure, and look at the notification settings in the app.
• Android: Exclude 2ecure from battery optimisation. Your device needs Google Play services for notifications.
• iPhone: Sometimes a notification shows only a general note instead of the content, for example when the message could not be decrypted in time. Open the app to read it.
• Web app: While the web app is closed, you receive no notifications. Use the app on your phone for that.

Reporting and blocking

Harassment, spam and illegal content have no place on 2ecure. To report a violation:

• Report a message: Long-press the message and choose “Report”.
• Report a person or room: Open the person’s profile or the room details and use the report function there.
• Block a person: Open the person’s profile and choose “Block”. You will no longer see their messages and invitations.
• By email: Write to abuse@2ecure.com with the user ID, the room, the time and a description. Screenshots help.

We review every report within 24 hours and act on it: with a warning, a suspension or the deletion of the account. Because we cannot read encrypted messages either, please describe what happened or attach screenshots.

If someone is in immediate danger, call the police right away: emergency number 117 in Switzerland.

Forgotten password

On the 2ecure sign-in page, choose the option to reset your password. You receive a code at the email address of your account.

A new password does not unlock your encrypted messages. For that you need another signed-in device or your recovery key.

Moving on from the pilot phase

If you used another app during the pilot phase (for example “Element X”), switch to 2ecure Messenger without losing anything:

1. Stay signed in to the previous app.
2. Install 2ecure Messenger and sign in with the same account.
3. Verify the new device with “Use another device” or your recovery key.
4. Wait until older messages are readable in 2ecure Messenger as well.
5. Only then sign out of the previous app.

Never choose “Reset identity” during this process.

Deleting your account

You can delete your account yourself at any time: in the app under Settings → “Delete account”, or in your browser on the 2ecure account page. The individual steps, what is deleted and what remains are on the Delete account page.

Privacy

• The 2ecure server is located in Switzerland and is not connected to other servers.
• All chats are end-to-end encrypted by default.
• No ads, no analytics or tracking.
• Push notifications via Apple and Google contain no message content.

All details are in the privacy policy.