End-to-end encrypted.

When everyone involved is on fomo 8.5 or later, these can be end-to-end encrypted, and the app shows when they are:

• direct messages;
• group chats with up to 100 members;
• chats in private circles with up to 150 members, and the questions and options of polls in those chats;
• posts, Fliks and comments shared to private circles whose chat is encrypted, including scheduled posts;
• Fliks sent in an encrypted chat, and Thoughts shared with private circles;
• 1-on-1 calls in an encrypted chat, and group-chat and circle calls when encryption is available for that group or circle (the call says so).

Public circles and the FOMO circle, because anyone can join them, and any post shared to a public circle. Group chats with more than 100 members and circles with more than 150 members. Your profile, and profile and circle photos. Messages, posts, Thoughts and comments sent before encryption was turned on for that chat or circle. A post or Thought shared to more than 5 circles at once. A post or Flik your phone couldn’t check for sensitive content before sending, and a post you choose to send without encryption after it failed to send. Calls in a chat, group or circle that isn’t encrypted, and group-chat and circle calls that don’t say they’re end-to-end encrypted (they’re still encrypted in transit). And anything sent with an older version of fomo.

Who is in which chat or circle, who sent something to whom and when, emoji reactions, poll votes, who you mentioned or tagged (not what you wrote), read and delivery receipts, likes, saves, view lists and comment counts, who called whom, who joined a group or circle call, when and for how long, and whether each person’s microphone and camera were on, and that something is encrypted. We need this to deliver what you send and to show your chats and feeds. For encrypted content, notifications say who it’s from and, for a group or circle, its name, but not what was sent.

In a 1-on-1 chat, fomo checks the devices automatically: a device set up with that person’s encryption PIN or recovery key is confirmed without you doing anything, and the chat warns you if a device joins that fomo can’t confirm, including one on your own account. You can also compare a safety number or scan the other person’s code yourself.

Two honest limits: checking works for 1-on-1 chats today, and checks for groups and circles come later. And a warning tells you a device was added; it can’t undo what that device already received, so check any warning you see.

Not on our servers. Before an encrypted photo or video is posted, the poster’s phone checks it, using fomo’s own on-device model (and on iPhone, Apple’s sensitive content check too when it’s on). If it looks sensitive, it’s blurred for viewers until tapped. We see only that result, never the photo. Reporting, and asking us to review your own post that was marked sensitive, are the only ways we see encrypted content.

Not if you set a PIN or saved your recovery key. Install fomo, sign in, and enter it when asked. Your messages come back. Keep your old phone online for a few minutes if you can, so new messages arrive on both.

We can’t. That’s the point. But you have options:

Still signed in on a phone? Open Settings → Privacy & Security → Encryption PIN to see it or set a new one. Saved a recovery key? Use it instead. Neither? Tap “Forgot PIN?” → “Start fresh”. You keep your account, friends, circles and group chats; older encrypted messages stay on the phones that have them.

Almost, and here’s the honest difference. We limit PIN guesses: 10 tries, then a 24-hour lock, and the backup is erased after 30. But a PIN can be guessed by someone with access to our systems, including someone who breaks in. A 64-character recovery key can’t be. Want the strongest protection? Use a longer PIN, or the recovery key.

For a message, press and hold it, then tap Report. Choosing Child safety puts it at the front of our review queue. Reporting shares that message and up to five before it, including any photos and voice memos, with our safety team, so we can act. Reporting an encrypted post, Flik, comment or Thought shares what you opened. You can also block anyone, anytime.