Night Drop

About Night Drop

Night Drop is a one-to-one messaging app designed for anonymous communication over Tor. It does not require a phone number, email address, or account; each identity is a key pair generated and held on the device. Messages use end-to-end encryption with a ratcheting protocol, and traffic is routed through Tor by default. The product states that there is no direct internet connection path outside Tor. Messages are stored locally by default. Optional server storage is limited to 24 hours and is opt-in, with a persistent warning while enabled. For offline delivery, an untrusted relay can hold encrypted message data until the recipient reconnects. The relay is described as seeing only opaque encrypted data and unlinkable handles. Before a stranger can send a first message, the recipient must authorize contact, either by scanning a pre-authorized QR code or exchanging a short code. Safety-number comparison or scanning is available to check contact identity. Backups are encrypted and user-owned. The recovery password is generated on the device and shown once; the product warns that a lost password makes the backup unrecoverable. The app lists no analytics, crash reporting, advertising SDKs, or third-party push service. Optional update checking is described as a daily request over Tor for certain installation types, and the app only reports availability rather than installing updates. Night Drop is intended for private one-to-one messages rather than broad social networking. Its privacy features introduce setup and recovery responsibilities: users must approve incoming contacts, verify safety numbers when appropriate, and retain the backup password if they want to restore encrypted backups. Release builds are described as reproducible, meaning the published application can be rebuilt from its source and compared byte for byte. The product also distinguishes installation types when checking for updates: some installations do not check automatically, while others can ask an onion address over Tor whether a newer version exists. Even then, the app only reports the update and does not install it. These choices reinforce a design in which contact authorization, local storage, and optional relays are explicit parts of the user’s messaging setup.

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