Do you need Knit Anywhere?

What works without it

These are free and need nothing from Knit Anywhere.

• Messages and photos phone to phone, over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, with no internet.
• Messages, and small photos and files, over the internet, through the relay the app sets up.

Run your own relay

The relay software, Knit Spool, is open source under the AGPL. Run it on a server you control, and Knit sends messages, photos and files through it. You choose how large a file it takes, and out of the box it carries photos and files in your conversations with no ticket.

Share it as an invite link. The people you talk to add it too, so that their phones and yours meet on it.

Run your own call relay

Your relay can hand Knit a call relay (a TURN server) you run beside it. Turn that on, and a phone connected to your relay can use your call relay whenever a direct connection isn't possible.

On a call it carries, your call relay can see both phones' network addresses and how long the call lasts, but not what anyone says.

What running your own takes

You're taking on a server. It has to stay online and up to date, with a certificate and room on its disk.

You're also the operator. Your relay sees the network addresses of the phones that connect to it, and the size and timing of what they send, though it can't open any of it.

Or let Knit Anywhere do it

Knit Anywhere uses Knit's own servers and the relay your app is already on, so the people you talk to don't add anything. Your phone keeps a random ticket key, and nothing carries your name.

Relaying calls and storing larger files costs real money for every person who uses them, so Knit offers Knit Anywhere as a thank-you to its supporters.

Where it stops

• A relay you run carries only the conversations whose people use it.
• It needs the internet at both ends. Off the grid, Knit works phone to phone without it.