# FAQs ## The basics ### Do my friends need to install anything? Only if they want to. Members can view your server or broadcasted event on any device or browser. Only the **host** needs the app as the server is built into it. There are some limitations of using the browser view: - Only one server, no personal space - Not as smooth login, may require you to re-provide server code more often - No cosmetics and style options - Limited personal settings (e.g. day hours) - No haptics/sound options ### Does it cost anything? Hosting and every feature are free. Two **optional** costs, only if you go public: - A **domain** for a permanent public address — a few pounds a year (see [[Guides/5. Go public with Cloudflare]]). - Cloudflare's **Workers Paid plan — $5/month** — *only* if you run busy **public Broadcasts** and want guest reactions plus headroom. Free works fine for normal friend-group use; Phlip just throttles busy public Broadcasts to stay under Cloudflare's free limits (see next question). We also offer a cosmetic **supporter pack** - themes, card finishes, card backs, etc. Supporter purchases never unlock features: hosting and everything functional is free for everyone, as a founding principle. ### Why are guest reactions off on my public Broadcast? Public **Broadcast** links are served by a small Cloudflare Worker with a key-value store so guests never touch your phone. Cloudflare's **free** plan caps how many writes that store can do per day (about a thousand), and every guest RSVP is a write. To stay safely under the cap, Phlip **throttles public Broadcasts on the free plan**: it turns guest reactions off and shows a write meter on the host toolbar. Guests can still open the link and RSVP. To lift the throttle, upgrade Cloudflare's **Workers Paid plan ($5/month)** and mark it **Paid** in Settings → Hosting → Cloudflare. **LAN Broadcasts** (guests on your Wi‑Fi) hit the phone directly and are never throttled. Full steps: [[Guides/5. Go public with Cloudflare|Cloudflare guide]]. ### Do I need an account with Phlip the company? There is no Phlip company account. Your identity is a username + password **per server**, held by that server (your friend's phone), not by us. ### Why can't I browse events in the past? Phlip is forward thinking, this means that we focus entirely on making it happen. The only way to view events in the past is through the 'memories' view. To emphasize this, server settings allow for events and chat messages to be auto deleted if older than a certain date. The decision is two-fold. First, it is a design choice to encourage a forward thinking perspective that encourages the future plans. Second, it offers a natural safety choice in that it limits the data available on the host's device if something goes wrong. If for example, the phone suddenly died, the group would then only be focused on remaking the upcoming plans. ## Hosting ### What can I host on? Any Android phone running the Phlip app - a recycled spare that lives on a charger, **or your everyday phone**: hosting runs as a foreground service alongside normal use. One phone can host multiple servers. See [[Guides/4. Host a server on your Android phone]]. ### Does the host phone need a SIM card? No. Any internet connection works. ### What happens if the host phone is off or offline? The server is unreachable until it's back. All data is stored on the host, so nothing is lost and everything resumes intact. Any change a member makes will be held until the host is back online so they can have pending changes without having to wait. ### How do people connect from outside the host's Wi-Fi? The **Public** toggle opens a Cloudflare Tunnel from the app using a permanent address on your own domain. No router setup. One public server per phone at a time. Guide: [[Guides/5. Go public with Cloudflare]]. ### Where exactly is my data? On the host phone, in a per-server data file. Cloudflare relays public connections but your group's content lives only on the host. We're working on encrypting message/event content, but that's still in development (see below). ## Security & privacy For a full summary of the security built into Phlip — and how hosts can minimise their own risk — see the [[Notices/Security]] page. ### Is my data encrypted? **Encryption is under active development and not yet fully implemented - please don't rely on it.** We'd rather be upfront than let you assume the wrong thing. This project is in early alpha and encryption is an **aim, not a guarantee**. Some data is **not** encrypted - metadata like event times, display names, icons and routing information - LAN connections may be unencrypted, and the host can see the IP of a pending join request. Getting to fuller, dependable encryption needs more specialist security work, which we'll take on over time (tracked on the [[Roadmap]]). **Until then, treat Phlip as not securely encrypted and don't use it for anything sensitive.** What matters is the honest boundary today, not the aim. What we are offering today is **a platform that doesn't collect your data for advertisements** or selling to third parties. ### What if I forget my password? The host removes your old membership and re-admits you with the join code. Your password is a real cryptographic key, so there's no "reset email" - there's no company to send one. ### Can someone with the join code impersonate me? No. The join code gets you to the door; your per-user password verifier is what proves you're you. Unrecognised devices are asked for the join code *and* your password. ### Who decides who's in? The host & admins - every new member goes through **Approve/Deny**, and the member directory lets the host manage roles (host / admin / moderator / user / viewer) or remove people. ### What about photos? Deliberately minimal. Chat is for coordinating plans - no photo uploads, no galleries on the server. **Memories** photos are stored only on your own device, never uploaded; sharing a memory composes a card image on your device that you choose to send. ## Open source & licensing ### Is Phlip open source? Partly - and we're specific about which part. Phlip's **hosting backend** (the server code that runs on the host phone and holds your group's data) is **open source under the Apache License 2.0**, so anyone can read it, audit exactly what it does with your data, and build or run it themselves. The **Phlip app and client** (the mobile app, its interface, branding and cosmetics) stay **proprietary**. The full split is on the [[Notices/Licence|Licence]] page, and the code is on [GitHub](REPLACE_WITH_GITHUB_URL). ### Why open-source the backend but not the app? The backend is the part that touches your group's data, so making it inspectable is where "your device, your data" is *proven* rather than just claimed - you don't have to take our word for what the server does. The app carries the branding, cosmetics and store builds; keeping it proprietary lets a solo developer sustain the project through supporter cosmetics without ever gating a feature. ### Can I run the backend myself from source? Yes - under the Apache 2.0 terms you can build and run it. Most people won't need to: hosting is built into the app and is a couple of taps. Source access is there for auditing, contributing and anyone who wants to verify or self-build. Note the Phlip **name and logo** aren't part of the Apache grant (see [[Notices/Licence]]). ## Other apps ### Do we all have to leave our group chat? No. Phlip is an events planner, not a chat replacement - most groups keep chatting wherever they already do and use Phlip for the part chat is bad at: turning "we should do something" into a real plan with a time, a place and an RSVP list. You can share any event as a card image with a link, so people who never open Phlip still see the plan. ### Connecting Phlip to other chat apps Bringing plans in and out of tools like WhatsApp and Discord automatically is planned, not built - it's on the [[Roadmap]]. For now, sharing an event card and link is the way to reach people outside a server. --- Still stuck? Start with [[Guides/1. Start here]]. The formal detail lives in [[Notices/Legal]] — [[Notices/Privacy|Privacy Policy]], [[Terms|Terms of Service]] and [[Licence]].