Unseen Communicator is free software. That's free as in freedom, as well as in price. This means Unseen Communicator is yours — to use, modify, and share — because Unseen or Retroshare is developed by and for the users.

Unseen Communicator is a distributed Peer-to-Peer network based on Retroshare, a well established encrypted communications system. Download and install the software on your desktop device and follow the simple instructions to connect with friends and your Unseen contacts.

This system solves a fundamental issue with communications; it minimizes the censorship experienced with email, phone calls and other centralized services. With the optional centralized Supernodes which are distributed data (like DNS), performance is greatly improved.

Connections are formed between you and your contacts using the TOR network of computers that facilitate nearly unblockable communications between participants. The more participants in the network, the more powerful the network becomes, as each node can relay messages for the others. You can decide your level of involvement with the network; you can be a user or run a super node to help support others. The Supernode solves two of the biggest issues with peer based networks; finding a peer can be very slow, but it’s fast when using any Supernode, you can also use the Supernode to relay your message when the other peer is not running (using store and forward, like email).

Many decentralized services are provided with the system:: forums, channels, chat, mail... Additional services such as content broadcast and delivery which can’t be censored or blocked like they are on platforms like Facebook, Twitter or Google. The system is fully decentralized, and designed to provide maximum security and anonymity to its users beyond direct friends. Unseen Communicator is entirely free and open-source software. It is available initially on Linux, MacOS and Windows. There are no hidden costs, no ads and no terms of service or privacy policy. You alone decide if you want to use it. You can stop at anytime, no one has your personal information.

Communicator uses by default the TOR network, seamlessly. There is nothing extra to install, it’s built in to Communicator. You can optionally use p2p direct communications if you don’t want to use TOR. Using TOR, even friend nodes cannot see your IP, which allows to safely and anonymously connect to unknown people. This is an excellent way to safely try the software while connecting to untrusted users.

Everything you do with Unseen Communicator is encrypted using open-source libraries using a key you generate yourself. No one else keeps a copy of your keys, which provides security for your communications.

Compare this to centralized services that use phone numbers, such as Skype, Telegram, WhatsApp, Signal, etc. Those services generate your keys and send them to you. You have no idea who else gets a copy of your keys. Additionally, everything is tied to your phone number. That is not private in any way.

Another problem has become apparent; the deliberate censorship of telephone calls, voicemail and email communications. Messages are being “lost” as they travel through these communications systems. You don’t know what you are missing when you never receive the messages.

Unseen Communicator has no central servers that can be shut down via traditional denial of service attacks. No user data is stored anywhere and there is no centralized administration of the network. You decide you want to participate and use and/or support the network with your computer. You can leave at any time. However, we recommend people download bootstrap relay node or supernode to help distributed network contacts to the network.