How waited protects your photos
Updated
On waited, a photo is encrypted on the sender’s phone before it leaves: our servers only keep an unreadable version, without the key to open it. By default, it opens only once, screenshots are blocked, it isn’t saved to the gallery and it’s deleted after 7 days. Here’s how it works, what we see, what we don’t, and the limits of any protection.
End-to-end encryption
When you sign up, your phone creates a key pair. The private key stays in your phone’s vault (the Keychain on iPhone, the Keystore on Android) and never leaves it. Only the public key is sent to our servers, so your friends can send you photos.
When you send, your photo is encrypted on your phone with a random, single-use key (XSalsa20-Poly1305). That key is then sealed for each recipient with their public key (X25519), and for you, so you can see your photo again.
Our servers only get the encrypted photo and those sealed keys, which they can’t open. The photo is only decrypted in your friend’s app, in memory, when it’s shown.
A wait the server enforces
Until the wait is over, our servers refuse to hand the encrypted photo and its key to the recipient. So there’s no opening it early, even with a modified app: only your approved challenges and your friend’s credits bring the unlock closer.
The protections on every photo
- View once (default): the photo opens a single time. As soon as it’s opened, the key that reads it is erased from our servers.
- Screenshots blocked (default): screenshots and screen recordings are blocked while it’s on screen, on iPhone and Android alike, and the photo is hidden in the app switcher. If the phone still reports a screenshot, you get a notification.
- No saving (default): the photo never leaves the app, unless you let your friend save it to their gallery.
- No preview (default): nothing shows before it unlocks. If you allow it, your friend sees a blurry thumbnail, encrypted with its own key: it never gives access to the real photo.
- Hidden in the background: the photo leaves the screen as soon as the app goes to the background.
You set these protections once in your sending preferences, and can adjust them for each conversation. When a photo looks sensitive, the app applies the strictest protections on its own.
Automatic deletion
Every photo is deleted automatically, from our servers, on your side and your friend’s: after 7 days by default, or 24 hours or 30 days, your choice. If the wait is longer, the photo stays until a day after it unlocks, so your friend has time to see it. Backups follow within an hour.
You can also cancel a send for 2 minutes, and delete a photo at any time once it’s been revealed. When you delete your account, your photos, messages and credits are erased.
What our servers see, and what they don’t
What they don’t see
- Your photos: only an encrypted version, without the key to open it.
- Their blurred preview, encrypted with its own key.
- Your private key, which stays on your phone.
What they see
- Your username and profile photo (public on your profile page), your birth month and year.
- Your friends, and who sends a photo to whom, and when.
- Each photo’s settings: wait, protections, challenges.
- Your text messages and your credits.
Text messages aren’t end-to-end encrypted: they’re encrypted in transit (HTTPS), then stored on our servers to show your conversations.
As French law requires of hosting providers, we keep the data that identifies who posted a piece of content (account, date, IP address) for a year, never the content itself. We don’t sell your data and there are no ads. All the details are in the privacy policy.
When a photo is reported
If your friend reports one of your photos, their app sends it, decrypted, to our moderation team along with the report: it’s the only time we can see a photo. It’s then stored encrypted, with a key kept outside our data servers, and every time a moderator views it is logged.
Nudity isn’t allowed. An on-phone check, which sends us nothing, stops anyone under 18 from sending or viewing a photo that looks nude. For adults, the app asks for confirmation and applies the strictest protections.
The limits, openly
- No app can stop someone from photographing the screen with another device. Don’t send anything you wouldn’t want to see shared.
- On a hacked phone, or one unlocked by someone else, a photo can be seen while it’s on screen.
- Your private key never leaves your phone: if you switch phones, photos received before can’t be opened on the new one.
- An invitation link (a photo sent to someone without the app) contains the secret that opens the photo: the first person to open it in the app gets the photo. Only send it to the right person.
- As in most encrypted messaging apps, our servers are what pass public keys around. waited doesn’t offer key verification between friends, like Signal’s safety numbers.
A space among friends
- You only get photos from your friends: you have to follow each other.
- Reporting or blocking someone takes two taps, from a photo or a conversation. A photo involving a minor is reviewed first, within 24 hours.
- waited is for ages 16 and up.
- You can delete your account whenever you want, right in the app.
Pressure, blackmail, an intimate photo shared: the app’s “Help and safety” screen, in the settings, lists who can help.
Frequently asked questions
Can waited see my photos?
No. Your photos are encrypted on your phone and our servers only keep an unreadable version, without the key to open it. The one exception: if your friend reports one of your photos, their app sends it to us for moderation.
Are my photos really deleted?
Yes: from our servers, on your side and your friend’s, after 7 days by default (24 hours or 30 days, your choice), and sooner if you delete them. Backups follow within an hour. Only a reported photo may be kept longer, for moderation or an investigation.
What happens if my friend tries to take a screenshot?
By default, screenshots are blocked while the photo is on screen. If the phone still reports a screenshot, you get a notification. Nothing, however, can stop someone from photographing the screen with another device.
Are my messages end-to-end encrypted?
Photos, yes. Text messages are encrypted in transit and stored on our servers, but not end to end.
Want to try it?
waited is free, on iPhone and Android.