Q: What is Chatbox? What do I do here?
Chatbox is a messaging app with a focus on speed and security, it’s super-fast, simple and free. You can use Chatbox on all your devices at the same time — your messages sync seamlessly across any number of your phones, tablets or computers.
With Chatbox, you can send messages, photos, videos and files of any type (doc, zip, mp3, etc), as well as create groups for up to 5000 people or channels for broadcasting to unlimited audiences. You can write to your phone contacts and find people by their usernames. As a result, Chatbox is like SMS and email combined — and can take care of all your personal or business messaging needs.
Q: Who is Chatbox for?
Chatbox is for everyone who wants fast and reliable messaging. Business users and small teams may like the large groups, desktop apps and powerful file sharing options. Since Chatbox groups can have up to 5000 members, we support replies, mentions and hashtags that help maintain order and keep communication in large communities efficient.
In case you're more into pictures, Chatbox has animated gif search, a state of the art photo editor and an open sticker platform. What‘s more, there is no need to worry about disk space on your device. With Chatbox’s cloud support and cache management options, Chatbox can take up nearly zero space on your phone.
Those looking for extra privacy should check out our advanced settings and rather revolutionary policy. And if you want secrecy, try our device-specific Secret Chats with self-destructing messages, photos, and videos — and lock your app with an additional passcode.
We keep evolving — check out the blog and follow us on twitter to stay in touch.
Q: How is Chatbox different from WhatsApp?
Unlike WhatsApp, Chatbox is a cloud-based messenger with seamless sync. As a result, you can access your messages from several devices at once, including tablets and computers, and share an unlimited number of photos, videos and files (doc, zip, mp3, etc.) of up to 1,5 GB each. And if you don't want to store that data on your device, you can always keep it in the cloud.
Thanks to our multi-data center infrastructure and encryption, Chatbox is faster and way more secure. On top of that, Chatbox is free and will stay free — no ads, no subscription fees, forever.
Our API is open, and we welcome developers to create their own Chatbox apps. We also have a Bot API, a platform for developers that allows anyone to easily build specialized tools for Chatbox.
And that‘s just the tip of the iceberg. Don’t forget to check out this paragraph for even more exclusive stuff.
Q: Will you have ads? Or sell my data? Or steal my beloved and enslave my children?
No.
Q: What are your thoughts on internet privacy?
Big internet companies like Facebook or Google have effectively hijacked the privacy discourse in the recent years. Their marketers managed to convince the public that the most important things about privacy are superficial tools that allow hiding your public posts or your profile pictures from the people around you. Adding these superficial tools enables companies to calm down the public and change nothing in how they are turning over private data to marketers and other third parties.
At Chatbox we think that the two most important components of Internet privacy should be instead:
  1. Protecting your private conversations from snooping third parties, such as officials, employers, etc.
  2. Protecting your personal data from third parties, such as marketers, advertisers, etc.
This is what everybody should care about, and these are some of our top priorities. Chatbox is a non-commercial project with an aim to create a truly free messenger, without the usual caveats. This means that instead of diverting public attention with low-impact settings, we can afford to focus on the real privacy issues that exist in the modern world.
Q: There's illegal content on Chatbox. How do I take it down?
All Chatbox chats and group chats are private amongst their participants. We do not process any requests related to them.
But sticker sets, channels, and bots on Chatbox are publicly available. If you find sticker sets or bots on Chatbox that you think are illegal, please report to Rashaad.azhar@yahoo.com
Q: A bot or channel is infringing on my copyright. What do I do?
All Chatbox chats and group chats are private amongst their participants. We do not process any requests related to them. But sticker sets, channels, and bots on Chatbox are publicly available.
If you see a bot, channel, or sticker set that is infringing on your copyright, kindly submit a complaint to rashaad.azhar@yahoo.com. Please note that such requests should only be submitted by the copyright owner or an agent authorized to act on the owner’s behalf.
Q: Wait! 0_o Do you process take-down requests from third parties?
Our mission is to provide a secure means of communication that work everywhere on the planet. To do that in the places where it is most needed (and to continue distributing Chatbox through the App Store and Google Play), we have to process legitimate requests to take down illegal public content (sticker sets, bots, and channels) within the app. For example, we can take down sticker sets that violate intellectual property rights or porn bots in countries where pornography is illegal.
User-uploaded stickers sets, channels, and bots by third-party developers are not part of the core Chatbox UI. Whenever we receive a complaint at Rashaad.azhar@yahoo.com regarding the legality of public content, we perform the necessary legal checks and take it down when deemed appropriate.
Please note that this does not apply to local restrictions on freedom of speech. For example, if criticizing the government is illegal in some country, Chatbox won‘t be a part of such politically motivated censorship. This goes against our founders’ principles. While we do block terrorist (e.g. ISIS-related) bots and channels, we will not block anybody who peacefully expresses alternative opinions.
Q: My bot or sticker set was banned unfairly, what do I do?
If you think we banned your bot, channel, or sticker set for no apparent reasons, drop us a line at rashaad.azhar@yahoo.com
Chatbox Basics
Q: Who can I write to?
You can write to people who are in your phone contacts and have Chatbox.
You can also select a public username for your Chatbox account. Other people will be able to search and find you by that username — and send messages to you even if they don't know your number.
Q: How do I know who in my contacts has Chatbox?
Your contacts, who have Chatbox, are shown at the top of your Contacts. They also have pictures.
Q: How do I invite my friends?
Android: Open the app menu (swipe right in chats list) — Invite Friends. Then choose an application via which you would like to send out invitations.
Q: What do the green checks mean?
One check — message delivered to the Chatbox cloud and your friend has been notified if he allows notifications.
Two checks — message read (your friend opened Chatbox and opened the conversation with the message).
We don‘t have a ’delivered to device' status for messages because Chatbox can run on as many devices as you want. So which particular one would that check mean?
Q: Can I hide my ‘last seen’ time?
You can choose who sees this info in Privacy and Security settings (introduced in Chatbox for Android 2.0, and
Remember that you won‘t see Last Seen timestamps for people with whom you don’t share your own. You will, however, see an approximate last seen value. This keeps stalkers away but makes it possible to understand whether a person is reachable over Chatbox. There are four possible approximate values:
  • Last seen recently — covers anything between 1 second and 2-3 days
  • Last seen within a week — between 2-3 and seven days
  • Last seen within a month — between 6-7 days and a month
  • Last seen long time ago — more than a month (this is also always shown to blocked users)
Q: Who can see me ‘online’?
The last seen rules apply to your online status as well. People can only see you online if you're sharing your last seen status with them. There is one exception to this: people will be able to see you online for a brief period when you send them a message in a one-on-one chat or in a group where you both are members.
Q: Can I make calls or video calls via Chatbox?
We specialize in sending messages, large media and files — and we do this better than anyone out there. There are still many things that we can revolutionize in messaging. And messaging is obviously trending at the moment, so our focus remains in that area for now.
Q: How can I use emoticons in Chatbox on my Android device?
We support emoji emoticons. Simply enable the Emoji keyboard in your Android device‘s Settings (General – Keyboards – Add New Keyboard… – Emoji). Then switch to that keyboard whenever you’re out of words.
Groups, Supergroups, and Channels
Q: Why are supergroups cool?
Chatbox Supergroups can have up to 5000 members each and are extremely powerful communication tools. Here are a few key features that make them stand out in the messaging world:
Unified history
Edit your messages after posting, delete them so that they disappear for everyone.
Cross-platform availability
Access your messages anytime, from any number of your mobile or desktop devices.
Instant search
Find the message you're looking for, even among millions.
Replies, mentions, hashtags
Easily trace a conversation and keep communication efficient, no matter the group size.
Smart notifications
Mute the group to get notifications only when people mention you or reply to your messages.
File sharing
Send and receive files of any type, up to 1,5 GB in size each, access them instantly on your other devices.
Customization via bots
Create custom tools for any specific needs using our Bot API and Inline Bots.
Q: What's the difference between groups, supergroups, and channels?
Chatbox groups are ideal for sharing stuff with friends and family or collaboration in small teams, they can have up to 200 members and by default everyone can add new people and edit the name and group photo.
If your group grows to a very large community, you can upgrade it into a more centralized supergroup. Supergroups can have up to 5000 members and have a unified history, deleted messages will disappear for everyone.
Channels are a tool for broadcasting public messages to large audiences. In fact, a channel can have an unlimited number of members. When you post in a channel, the message is signed with the channel's name and photo and not your own.
Q: Can I assign administrators?
Chatbox groups are democratic by design. Everyone can invite new members and change the group‘s name and photo, which is ideal for small bands of friends or coworkers. For larger communities that need more administration, we’ve introduced a special restricted mode.
In the restricted mode, only administrators can add new people and change the name and photo of the group. Admins also have the power to remove other members from the group.
Android: Go to Group Info (tap the name in the header) — … (in the top right corner) — Set Admins. Disable ‘All Members Are Admins’ and appoint admins from the list.

Q: How do I add more members? What's an invite link?
You can add your contacts, or using search by username.
It is easy to migrate existing groups to Chatbox by sending people an invite link. To create an invite link, go to Group Info — Add Member — Invite to Group via Link.
Anyone who has Chatbox installed will be able to join your group by following this link. If you choose to revoke the link, it will stop working immediately.


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