Terms of Use
Version 1.0 · 3 August 2026
These terms cover your use of Spectr, an end-to-end encrypted messenger. They are written to be read, not to be skipped. If you do not accept them, do not use the service.
They sit alongside the Privacy Policy, which describes exactly what the server can and cannot see. Read that one too — it is short, and it is specific.
1. What Spectr is
Spectr lets people exchange messages that are encrypted on the sender's device and decrypted on the recipient's. The relay that carries them cannot read their content: it never holds the keys.
What the relay can see is set out plainly in section 3 of the Privacy Policy. In short: it can see who is sending to whom, and when, because the routing envelope names the sender. We do not claim otherwise.
2. Your account is a key pair, and only you hold it
There is no sign-up, no phone number and no email address. Your identity is a cryptographic key pair generated on your device, represented by a 24-word recovery phrase.
We cannot recover your account. Not for you, not for anyone claiming to be you, not on production of identity documents. If you lose the recovery phrase and lose access to your devices, that identity is gone permanently, along with any history only stored on those devices. This is a direct consequence of the server not holding your keys, and it is not a fault we can fix on request.
Anyone who obtains your recovery phrase becomes you. Keep it offline.
3. Acceptable use
You are responsible for what you send. You agree not to use Spectr to:
- send content that is unlawful where you are or where the recipient is;
- harass, threaten, stalk, defame or impersonate anyone;
- distribute material that sexually exploits or endangers children — there is no tolerance here whatsoever, and reports of it are acted on immediately;
- distribute malware, phishing links, or content designed to defraud;
- send bulk unsolicited messages, or automate account creation;
- attempt to disrupt, overload or gain unauthorised access to the service or other users' accounts;
- circumvent the blocking, reporting or rate-limiting mechanisms.
Encryption is not an exemption from the law. It means we cannot read your messages; it does not mean your conduct is unaccountable.
4. Blocking, reporting, and what we do about it
Every user can block another from the contact menu. A blocked contact cannot reach you, and blocking takes effect on your device immediately.
Every user can report another. A report sends the reported user's public key and fingerprint, your public key, and the category you chose. It does not send message content, because we could not read it.
We review reports and may restrict or remove an account's ability to use the relay. Because we cannot read messages, enforcement rests on reported behaviour, patterns visible in relay usage, and repeated reports from unrelated users. We aim to act on reports of child sexual abuse material and credible threats to life within 24 hours, and on other reports as promptly as we can.
If you believe you were restricted in error, contact us at the address in section 11.
5. Your content
Your messages are yours. We claim no ownership of them and no licence over them, because we never possess them in readable form.
You are responsible for having the right to send what you send.
6. Age
You must be at least 16 years old to use Spectr, or older if the law where you live sets a higher age for consenting to online services on your own behalf. Spectr carries unfiltered person-to-person communication and is not designed or intended for children.
7. Beta status, availability, and no warranty
Spectr is beta software. It runs on a single server with no failover. It has not had an independent security audit. Known limitations — including at-rest key encryption that does not activate on every platform — are documented in the Privacy Policy rather than hidden.
It is provided “as is”, without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. We do not warrant that it will be available, that messages will always be delivered, or that it is free of defects.
Do not rely on Spectr as the only channel for anything where failure would cause you serious harm. If your safety depends on a message arriving, use more than one channel.
Undelivered messages are held for at most seven days and then discarded. We may change, suspend, or discontinue any part of the service.
8. Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, we are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, nor for lost profits, lost data, or messages that were not delivered or could not be decrypted.
Nothing in these terms excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded — including for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain exclusions, and in those places these limits apply only as far as the law allows.
9. Export control and sanctions
Spectr contains cryptographic software. You are responsible for complying with the export, import and use laws that apply to you. You may not use the service if you are subject to sanctions that prohibit it, or in a jurisdiction where using strong encryption is unlawful for you.
10. Ending your use
You may stop at any time. Settings → Data → Delete all data erases your keys, chats and media from the device. We may suspend access to the relay for an identity that breaches section 3.
11. Contact
Bug reports and abuse reports: use Settings → Report in the app, which reaches the operator directly. For anything else, including disputes about enforcement, write to legal@spectr-messenger.ru.
12. Changes to these terms
If we change these terms materially, the app will ask you to accept the new version before you continue. The version and date at the top of this page tell you which one you agreed to.
13. Governing law
Not yet settled, and deliberately not invented. The governing law and the legal entity that operates Spectr depend on where the operating company is established, which has not been finalised. Stating a jurisdiction here before that is decided would be worse than saying nothing: it would be unenforceable and misleading.
This section will name the operating entity, its registered address, and the governing law, and these terms will be re-issued for acceptance at that point.
These terms are drafted to be accurate to how Spectr actually works. They are not a substitute for legal advice, and they have not yet been reviewed by a qualified lawyer in the jurisdiction that will apply.