Knit
Encrypted mesh chat over Wi-Fi Aware & Bluetooth — no internet, no servers.
Новое в версии 2.4.0
Voice notes, and optional Internet relays for when nobody is in radio range.
Knit still works with no internet and no account. But a message to someone out of radio range used to
wait for the two phones, or a chain of phones between them, to meet. Turn on Internet relays and Knit
parks a sealed copy on a relay server, which hands it over the next time the other phone connects. It
stays off until you switch it on, and a one-time explanation spells out what a relay can see — your IP
address, when
Knit still works with no internet and no account. But a message to someone out of radio range used to
wait for the two phones, or a chain of phones between them, to meet. Turn on Internet relays and Knit
parks a sealed copy on a relay server, which hands it over the next time the other phone connects. It
stays off until you switch it on, and a one-time explanation spells out what a relay can see — your IP
address, when
Knit is a messenger that works with no internet, no cell service, and no accounts. It connects directly to the phones around you over Wi-Fi Aware and Bluetooth, passing messages device to device.
When you send a message, nearby phones receive it and pass it onward to the phones around them — so your words hop across a crowd, a building, or a campsite, far past your own signal range. The more people using Knit nearby, the further it travels.
WHY KNIT
• No internet or mobile data required
• No account, phone number, or email to sign up
• No central server — nothing to shut down, monitor, or leak
• No ads, tracking, analytics, or Google Play Services
• Free software — anyone can read what the app does
PERFECT FOR
• Festivals and crowded venues where signal dies
• Travel, flights, ships, camping, and the backcountry
• Power outages and emergencies when networks fail
• Anywhere you just want to reach the people around you
PRIVATE BY DESIGN
Direct and group chats are end-to-end encrypted. Each message is sealed so only the people in the conversation can read it — every phone that carries it onward, and every relay, sees only ciphertext. Your keys are generated on your device, protected by hardware-backed Android security. Confirm who you're talking to with a safety number or a QR scan.
ABOUT THE PERMISSIONS
Knit asks for nearby-devices (and, on Android 12 and older, location) because that is what Android requires to discover peers over Wi-Fi Aware and Bluetooth LE. It declares INTERNET for two reasons: Android classes the local socket over a direct Wi-Fi Aware link as network access, and Internet relays use it once you switch them on. There is no account and no backend — a fresh install makes no network calls at all.
FREE SOFTWARE
Knit is released under the GNU General Public License v3 or later, and the full source is public at github.com/getknit/knit. Read the code that runs on your phone, or build the app yourself.
FEATURES
• Public "Nearby" room to broadcast to everyone in range
• Private 1:1 messages (end-to-end encrypted)
• Multi-member groups (end-to-end encrypted)
• Quoted replies, emoji reactions, and @-mentions
• Profiles with a name, status, and avatar
• Image sharing, including GIFs
• Typing and delivery indicators, unread badges
• Store-and-forward — messages wait and deliver when someone returns to range
• Voice notes in direct and group chats
• Add a contact from a link when you're too far apart to scan a code
• Optional Internet relays, off until you turn them on (see below)
• Share the Knit app itself to a nearby phone, offline, with no app store
SAFER SPACES
On-device filtering screens out abusive text and explicit images, entirely offline with nothing sent anywhere. Sensitive content is blurred behind a tap to reveal, and any sender is one tap from blocked.
BEAUTIFUL & MODERN
A clean messaging interface built with Material 3, including full dark mode.
Knit is funded entirely by tips — no ads, no tracking, nothing sold. If it's useful to you, tip once at ko-fi.com/zaventh or monthly at liberapay.com/zaventh.
HOW IT WORKS
Knit runs two radios at once — Wi-Fi Aware and Bluetooth Low Energy — so it works on phones with only one of the two. Best allowed to run in the background. Requires Android 10 or newer.
OPTIONAL INTERNET RELAYS
To reach a contact who is never in radio range, switch on Internet relays: Knit parks a sealed copy on a small relay server, which hands it over the next time their phone connects. Off until you turn it on, behind a one-time disclosure of what a relay can see — your IP address, when you send, roughly how much — and cannot: your messages, who you talk to, or who is in a group. Choose your relays or run your own; the protocol and server are public.
Note: with relays off, Knit reaches people who are nearby, or within reach of the crowd between you. The public Nearby room is unencrypted by design — no fixed set of recipients — and is never uploaded.
When you send a message, nearby phones receive it and pass it onward to the phones around them — so your words hop across a crowd, a building, or a campsite, far past your own signal range. The more people using Knit nearby, the further it travels.
WHY KNIT
• No internet or mobile data required
• No account, phone number, or email to sign up
• No central server — nothing to shut down, monitor, or leak
• No ads, tracking, analytics, or Google Play Services
• Free software — anyone can read what the app does
PERFECT FOR
• Festivals and crowded venues where signal dies
• Travel, flights, ships, camping, and the backcountry
• Power outages and emergencies when networks fail
• Anywhere you just want to reach the people around you
PRIVATE BY DESIGN
Direct and group chats are end-to-end encrypted. Each message is sealed so only the people in the conversation can read it — every phone that carries it onward, and every relay, sees only ciphertext. Your keys are generated on your device, protected by hardware-backed Android security. Confirm who you're talking to with a safety number or a QR scan.
ABOUT THE PERMISSIONS
Knit asks for nearby-devices (and, on Android 12 and older, location) because that is what Android requires to discover peers over Wi-Fi Aware and Bluetooth LE. It declares INTERNET for two reasons: Android classes the local socket over a direct Wi-Fi Aware link as network access, and Internet relays use it once you switch them on. There is no account and no backend — a fresh install makes no network calls at all.
FREE SOFTWARE
Knit is released under the GNU General Public License v3 or later, and the full source is public at github.com/getknit/knit. Read the code that runs on your phone, or build the app yourself.
FEATURES
• Public "Nearby" room to broadcast to everyone in range
• Private 1:1 messages (end-to-end encrypted)
• Multi-member groups (end-to-end encrypted)
• Quoted replies, emoji reactions, and @-mentions
• Profiles with a name, status, and avatar
• Image sharing, including GIFs
• Typing and delivery indicators, unread badges
• Store-and-forward — messages wait and deliver when someone returns to range
• Voice notes in direct and group chats
• Add a contact from a link when you're too far apart to scan a code
• Optional Internet relays, off until you turn them on (see below)
• Share the Knit app itself to a nearby phone, offline, with no app store
SAFER SPACES
On-device filtering screens out abusive text and explicit images, entirely offline with nothing sent anywhere. Sensitive content is blurred behind a tap to reveal, and any sender is one tap from blocked.
BEAUTIFUL & MODERN
A clean messaging interface built with Material 3, including full dark mode.
Knit is funded entirely by tips — no ads, no tracking, nothing sold. If it's useful to you, tip once at ko-fi.com/zaventh or monthly at liberapay.com/zaventh.
HOW IT WORKS
Knit runs two radios at once — Wi-Fi Aware and Bluetooth Low Energy — so it works on phones with only one of the two. Best allowed to run in the background. Requires Android 10 or newer.
OPTIONAL INTERNET RELAYS
To reach a contact who is never in radio range, switch on Internet relays: Knit parks a sealed copy on a small relay server, which hands it over the next time their phone connects. Off until you turn it on, behind a one-time disclosure of what a relay can see — your IP address, when you send, roughly how much — and cannot: your messages, who you talk to, or who is in a group. Choose your relays or run your own; the protocol and server are public.
Note: with relays off, Knit reaches people who are nearby, or within reach of the crowd between you. The public Nearby room is unencrypted by design — no fixed set of recipients — and is never uploaded.
- Автор: Jeffrey Walter Mixon
- Лицензия: GNU General Public License v3.0 or later
- Сайт
- Отслеживание проблем
- Исходный код
- Список изменений
- Метаданные сборки
- Статус воспроизводимости
Пожертвовать
Версии
Можно выбрать загрузку приложения в виде APK (доступно по ссылкам ниже), однако следует помнить, что при такой установке вы не сможете получать уведомления об обновлениях, и что это менее безопасный способ скачивания. Советуем установить приложение F-Droid и использовать его.
Скачать-
arm64-v8aarmeabi-v7ax86x86_64Для этой версии требуется Android 10 или новее.
Cобрана и подписана оригинальным разработчиком и гарантированно соответствует этому исходному коду.
Скачать APK 66 МиБ Подпись PGP | Журнал сборки
-
arm64-v8aarmeabi-v7ax86x86_64Для этой версии требуется Android 10 или новее.
Cобрана и подписана оригинальным разработчиком и гарантированно соответствует этому исходному коду.
Скачать APK 70 МиБ Подпись PGP | Журнал сборки
-
arm64-v8aarmeabi-v7ax86x86_64Для этой версии требуется Android 10 или новее.
Cобрана и подписана оригинальным разработчиком и гарантированно соответствует этому исходному коду.
Скачать APK 70 МиБ Подпись PGP | Журнал сборки
Новое в версии 2.3.1
Fixes Knit disappearing seconds after you open it, on phones whose Wi-Fi chip will not run Wi-Fi Aware.
Some phones report Wi-Fi Aware as available and then refuse to hand it over while Wi-Fi is connected.
Knit kept asking every three seconds, forever, and each attempt cost the system a little memory it never
got back — so Android eventually stopped the app for asking too often, within a minute of opening it,
over and over, with nothing in the logs to explain why.
Knit now slows those attempts
Some phones report Wi-Fi Aware as available and then refuse to hand it over while Wi-Fi is connected.
Knit kept asking every three seconds, forever, and each attempt cost the system a little memory it never
got back — so Android eventually stopped the app for asking too often, within a minute of opening it,
over and over, with nothing in the logs to explain why.
Knit now slows those attempts
Новое в версии 2.3.0
Forward secrecy for direct messages and group chats, encrypted receipts and reactions, and a camera
inside the chat.
Conversations between updated phones now re-key as they go and drop the old keys, so someone who records
traffic today and gets hold of a phone later cannot read the earlier messages. Group chats gain the same
property. A chat with a phone on an older version keeps working, and moves over once everyone updates.
Delivery receipts and reactions are now sealed too, instead of readab
inside the chat.
Conversations between updated phones now re-key as they go and drop the old keys, so someone who records
traffic today and gets hold of a phone later cannot read the earlier messages. Group chats gain the same
property. A chat with a phone on an older version keeps working, and moves over once everyone updates.
Delivery receipts and reactions are now sealed too, instead of readab