What’s new?

These notes begin with anynear 0.8.0. This entry sums up what the app could do at that point, after its first weeks of development.

What anynear could do

• Circles: start a circle or join one with an invitation link and write to everyone in it. You can have several separate circles, each with its own key.
• Direct messages to contacts. You exchange contacts with a contact link; the members of your circles are contacts automatically.
• No account and no phone number.
• One chat, two paths: every message travels over the internet and, with a paired radio, also by radio as a short text.
• Photos, PDFs and other files as attachments, voice messages of up to 5 minutes, reactions with emojis, and sharing into anynear from other apps.
• Honest message states: sent, delivered and read. “Delivered” appears only when the recipient’s device has confirmed it.
• Storage: files only for you and a storage for each circle, encrypted on your phone and kept in the anynear network.
• Passwords behind your device lock, with one-time codes and passkeys.
• Alerts in their own channels, which you can mark as seen on all your devices.
• A backup you create yourself as a file, protected by your password.
• Several devices: your name, picture and settings are the same on all of them.
• Notifications on Android without Google services.
• Radio: pair a radio by Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, check who answers over radio, and install new software on the radio from Android.
• Support as a chat: report an error or ask a question from inside the app.

Good to know

• The versions before 0.8.0 were steps on the way and have no notes of their own.
• Until November 2026 the app was called PYRSA.