Profiles
How TACENZA Chat profiles are encrypted and shared, who counts as a contact, what audiences mean, and what you see on someone else's profile.
Your TACENZA Chat profile is encrypted on your device, and only people you talk to get the key to read it. This page explains how that works, what “contacts” and audiences mean, and what you see on other people’s profiles. To fill in your own profile, see Set up your profile.
How profiles are shared
Your profile – picture, banner, bio, pronouns, status and links – is sealed with a profile key before it’s uploaded. The server stores only ciphertext.
- The profile key travels inside your encrypted messages and in the encrypted info of groups you’re in. So the people you write to, and the members of your groups, can read your profile. Nobody else can.
- If you haven’t talked to someone yet, you can’t read their profile either. The app says “Their profile appears after they’ve sent you a message.”
- Turning off Share my profile in Settings › Privacy Center gives your profile a new key. Nobody new can read it, and people who could read it before can’t read your changes.
Contacts
Your contacts are the people you’ve written to, or whose message request you accepted. You can also choose Add to contacts on someone’s profile. The list is kept in your encrypted account data, so the server never learns who your contacts are.
Parts of your profile set to Contacts are sealed with a separate contact key, which goes only to your contacts in your 1:1 chats, never in groups. Removing a contact makes a new contact key, so they can’t read anything newer.
Audiences
Each part of your profile has an audience, set under Who can see on your profile:
- Everyone – everyone you talk to.
- Contacts – only your contacts.
- Nobody – kept on your devices and never uploaded.
Your display name and profile colour are always visible to everyone you talk to.
Names and identity
A display name can be anything up to 40 characters, so two people can pick the same one. That’s why the app shows the @username next to a display name wherever identity matters. The username is what’s unique.
Status and online
A status (Online, Away, Do not disturb or Invisible, with an optional emoji and text) is something you choose. TACENZA never detects it.
Online & last seen is a separate opt-in in Settings › Privacy Center, off by default. It’s mutual: it’s shown only between two people who have a 1:1 chat and both share it. With it on, the server keeps when you were last here, to the minute. Turning it off deletes that.
Someone else’s profile
Open a profile from a chat’s details panel, or choose View profile on one of their messages. You’ll see what they chose to share with you, and:
- Message – open your 1:1 chat.
- Add to contacts or In contacts.
- Copy profile link.
- Groups in common and Shared media, if they share them.
- Safety number – compare and verify their keys. See Safety numbers.
Badges
- bot – the account is a bot. Whoever runs it can read what you send it.
- verified – you’ve compared safety numbers and marked them as verified. It disappears if their keys change.
- contact – they’re one of your contacts.
Live location on profiles
If someone shares their live location with you, you see it on their profile while the share lasts. See Messaging.