Chats & messaging

Starting a chat

1. Open Chats from the sidebar

   On desktop it's a two-pane view, your conversations on the left, the open thread on the right. When something's unread, the sidebar item shows a badge with the count.

2. Tap New chat

   Search for people by name or username and add them as recipients. One recipient makes a direct message; two or more makes a group chat, with an optional group name (you can rename it later).

3. Write your first message and Send

   You'll land straight in the new conversation.

Inside a conversation

• Send text and photos. The photo button next to the message box adds up to six photos to one message, with an optional caption. Tap a photo to see it full screen; pinch or double-tap to zoom, and swipe down to close.
• React with emoji. Press and hold a message (on a computer, right-click it or use the smiley that appears when you hover) to open the reaction bar: ❤️ 😂 😮 😢 🔥 👍, or tap + for more. Double-tap a message to ❤️ it. You get one reaction per message; picking another swaps it. Tap the reactions under a message to see who reacted, and tap your own to remove it.
• Reply to a message. Swipe a message to the right, or press and hold it and choose Reply. Your reply shows a quote of the original; tap the quote to jump back to it.
• Delete a message. Press and hold one of your own messages, choose Delete, then tap again to confirm. It's removed for everyone and shows as “Message deleted.”
• See when it was sent. Time dividers appear on real gaps (“Today 9:41 AM,” “Yesterday”). Swipe the conversation to the left to see every message's time, or hover a message on a computer.
• Typing and Seen. Bouncing dots show when someone is typing. Under your latest message you'll see Sent, then Seen once the other person has read it; in a group, Seen by N or Seen by everyone.
• New messages and older ones. A New messages line marks where you left off. If you're scrolled up when something arrives, a button takes you to the latest. Scroll to the top to load older messages.
• If a message doesn't send, it says Not sent. Tap to retry. Tapping it sends the same message again, so it can't show up twice.
• Mute a chat. Open the conversation's Details and tap Mute notifications. You still get the messages, and a crossed-out bell shows next to the chat's name. Tap it again to turn notifications back on. You can also mute from the chat list, below.
• Report a message. Press and hold someone else's message and choose Report.

The search bar at the top of the Chats list filters by who you're chatting with, the person's or group's name, not message contents.

Quick actions in your chat list

On a phone, swipe a chat to the left. On a computer, point at a chat and click the ⋯ button. Two buttons appear:

• Mute or Unmute. A muted chat shows a crossed-out bell and its unread dot turns gray.
• Read marks the chat read without opening it. Unread puts the dot back so you remember to come back to it. Marking a chat unread is private: nobody else sees it, and it doesn't change what they see as Seen. Opening the chat clears it.

Club chats in the list offer Mute and Read.

Group names and members

Tap the group's name at the top of the conversation (or Details) to see who's in it and make changes.

• Name the group. Anyone in the group can change its name. Everyone sees a note in the chat when it changes.
• Add people. Anyone in the group can add people they follow, up to 50 people in a group. Someone who joins later sees messages from the moment they were added, not the earlier conversation.
• Admins. Whoever started the group is its admin. Admins can remove people and make other members admins too.
• Leave a group. Tap Leave group, then tap again to confirm. The group disappears from your list and the others see that you left.
• Direct messages stay private. To bring more people into a one-on-one conversation, open its details and start a new group. The new group doesn't include your earlier messages.

Club chats

Every club you belong to has its own chats. Find them in your Chats list (use the Clubs filter to see only club chats), from the Club chats row at the bottom of the list (it lists your clubs; pick one to see all of its chats), or with the Chats button on the club's page. There are three kinds:

• Announcements. Every club has one, and every member is in it. Club admins and the hosts they pick post there; everyone else can react. Once an admin has posted, the channel shows in the Announcements section at the top of your Chats list. The section starts closed: tap it to open it, and it shows how many channels have something new.
• Open chats. Anyone in the club can open one to look in, then tap Join to start posting. Once you've joined it shows in your Chats list with your other conversations. Leave it any time from its Details.
• Private chats. Only the people an admin adds can see them or read them. Other members don't see that they exist.

Club chats work like your other chats: reactions, replies (except in Announcements), photos and the rest. To change how a club chat notifies you, open its Details. You can mute it, or choose between a notification for every message and just the unread dot. Unread club chats count toward the Chats badge unless they are muted or set to the unread dot. In clubs with more than 50 members, open chats start on the unread dot.

For club admins

• Start a chat. Open the club's chats and tap New chat. Pick the kind, give it a name, and choose a picture: an emoji, an icon or a photo, on a color. For a private chat, pick the people. A club can have up to 25 chats.
• Manage a chat from its Details: rename it, change its picture, choose hosts for an announcement channel, and add or remove people in a private chat. You can manage a private chat you aren't in, but you can't read its messages.
• Remove a message. Admins and moderators can press and hold anyone's message and choose Remove for everyone. It shows as “Removed by a moderator.”
• Archive a chat when it has run its course. Nobody can post in it, and it drops out of members' lists. You can bring it back from the Archived section of the club's chats.

Sharing an event or post into a chat

On any event page, tap Share and choose Send in Run This. A picker lists your conversations, select one or several (each gets its own copy), optionally add a message, then hit Send. Nothing sends until you press Send; tapping a chat only selects it. The recipient gets a tappable event card that opens the event page. Feed posts share the same way from the post's Share option.

Message notifications

A new message bumps the Chats badge in the sidebar and can push to your browser or phone. Message pushes have their own Messages toggle in notification settings. Messages don't appear in the notifications inbox. Chats is their home. A chat you've muted sends no notifications at all.

What blocking does to chats

If you block someone (or they block you), the direct chat between you is hidden from the chat list for both of you, not deleted. If the conversation is opened another way, the message box is replaced with a notice: you can't send while a block is in effect. Blocked people are also filtered out of the new-chat search and the share picker. Group chats you're both in stay visible. A block doesn't dissolve a whole group. Unblocking restores the conversation, history intact. More on blocking in Your profile, privacy & account.