Guide

How to use
Add friends

Burner IM has no phone book or central friend list. You connect by exchanging cryptographic contact material (a link, a QR code, or in some cases a raw Tor onion address) and confirming the request on both sides.

1Share your profile

Open Settings, then your profile (avatar area). You get:

  • QR code ("Scan to add me") containing your full contact link.
  • Copyable identity key and onion address.
  • A single Contact Link field you can paste into a message or note for your friend.

Your contact link looks like a URL with the burner://add/ prefix, your .onionhost, and query parameters for your public key and a short display alias. Wait until Tor shows you a real onion address (not "Not connected") before sharing.

2Add someone

Go to the Contacts tab. Tap the add contact (floating +) button. This opens the scanner screen.

  • Scan their QR code, or
  • Paste manually at the bottom: paste a full burner://add/... link, a legacy onionAddress:publicKey line, or (with fewer guarantees) a bare *.onion address, then submit the field.

The app sends them a contact request over Tor. You should see it listed while it is pending.

3Requests tab

On Contacts, open the Requests tab. There you can Accept incoming friend requests or dismiss ones you do not want. Until both sides have completed the flow, the contact stays in a pending state.

4Tips

  • Exchanging the full contact link or QR is better than only an onion string, because your friend gets your public key in the same step.
  • Tor has to be working on both devices for the request and accept handshake to succeed; flaky network will look like delays or errors.
  • If something fails, try again after reconnecting Tor; you can resend a request in some cases when the app allows it.

Questions or rough edges? Check the roadmap or download the latest beta from the home page.