Private messages

Messages are private one-to-one chats between members. You can also chat in groups of up to 20 people: see Group chats.

Open Messages

• On a phone: tap the speech-bubble icon at the top of your Home screen or the Feed.
• On a computer or tablet: choose Messages in the menu on the left.

The number on the icon counts chats with unread messages, plus message requests.

Your inbox has two tabs, Chats and Requests. CageCheck Support is pinned first: tap it to ask the CageCheck team a question or report a bug (see Contact CageCheck Support). Your keyholder and the people you hold stay pinned at the top too (📌). Each chat says how you're connected, like Your keyholder, You hold their key, or a family title like Your Co-Dom.

Start a chat

1. Tap ✎ New message.
2. Search by name or @username, and tap the person.
3. Type your message and tap send.

You can also tap Message on someone's profile. A message can be up to 2,000 characters, and you can start up to 20 new chats a day. On a computer, Enter sends and Shift+Enter starts a new line.

To chat with several people at once, tap ✎ New message, then New group. See Group chats.

Who can message you

Your keyholder, the people you hold, and your confirmed family can always message you. For everyone else, choose in Settings → Messages:

• Everyone (the default): people you don't follow land in Requests until you accept.
• People I follow: nobody else can start a chat.
• Nobody: only your keyholder, the people you hold, and your family.

Whatever you choose, you can still message anyone whose own setting allows it.

Message requests

When someone you don't follow writes to you, the chat goes to Requests:

• They can send up to 3 messages until you accept, and only text.
• They can't see that you've read their messages.
• Tap Accept, or just reply, to move it to Chats.
• Tap Delete to remove it. They aren't told.
• Tap Report / Block if it's unwanted.

It works the same the other way: when you write to someone who doesn't follow you, your first messages go to their Requests, and the chat tells you how many more you can send until they accept.

Invites to group chats wait in Requests too, until you accept or decline them.

In a chat

• Tap a message to see its time, react (🔒 ❤️ 💪 🔥 😂), Copy it, or Unsend one of yours. Unsending removes it for both of you.
• Under your last message you'll see Sent, then Seen once they've read it.
• Tap Load earlier messages at the top for older ones.

For photos, view-once snaps, video messages and disappearing messages, see Photos, snaps and video messages.

Calls and voice messages

Tap the phone at the top of a chat for a voice call, or the camera for a video call (video needs both of you to have a verified ID). The buttons are there when your messages reach their chats and they take calls from you. Choose who can call you in Settings → Messages → Calls.

Your calls show up in the chat: Voice call · 12 min, Missed video call, No answer, and so on, each with Call back. A missed call counts as unread; a call you had or declined doesn't.

When nobody answers, the caller can leave a voice message (or a video message, if they've verified their ID) of up to a minute. It shows in the chat with a play button, and is kept as long as photos. See Voice and video calls.

Video messages

Tap the video camera next to the message box to record a video message of up to 2 minutes, watch it back, then Send. It needs a verified ID and can't go in a message request. Video messages are kept 7 days and can't be downloaded. Someone without a verified ID sees that it arrived and verifies to watch it. See Photos, snaps and video messages.

Chat options

Tap ••• at the top of a chat:

• Mute this chat: no notifications or emails from it.
• View profile
• 🚩 Report: pick a reason and send. Moderators see the latest 50 messages in the chat (including ones you deleted and the calls), and copies of the photos, snaps and voice or video messages the other person sent. Also block @alex (with their username) is ticked unless you untick it.
• ⛔ Block: they can't message you, and the chat leaves your inbox. Blocking also ends any pairing between you and removes follows and family links between you. They aren't told. You can unblock them in Settings, under Blocked.
• Delete chat: removes the messages so far for you only. They keep their copy. If they write again, the chat comes back without the old messages.

More on staying safe: Block and report and Privacy and safety.

Notifications and emails

• Push notifications say who wrote and "Sent you a message" (or "Left you a voice message"), never what it says. Messages don't appear in Alerts.
• If messages wait unread for 30 minutes while you're away from CageCheck, you get an email saying how many and from whom, never what they say. You get at most one every 6 hours. Turn it off in Settings → Email → Messages. See Email preferences.