Reach

A message can travel four ways, and Channel takes the most direct one that works right now. Each has a letter, and the letter on a message tells you which one carried it.

The first three never leave the room. Only the fourth touches our server, and you can switch it off per profile.

The lights

Beside each contact, the lights show which paths are open right now. A path that is switched off in Settings is not shown at all.

Waiting

A contact shows Waiting when nothing can carry a message to them yet: they are not nearby and there is no mailbox for them. Channel never says "no profile" or "not on Channel", because it does not know that — and neither should anyone watching.

Carrying for others

When two phones meet, each can carry sealed mail for contacts the other cannot reach yet, and hand it on later. The carrying phone cannot read what it carries. Settings › Carry for others controls whether this phone does so.

What the letters mean

Four letters sit under a contact's name. They do not all mean the same kind of thing.

• B Bluetooth, W Wi-Fi direct, L local network. Lit means their phone is in range of yours right now, with Channel awake on it. These go dark when the other person closes the app or walks away, and that is correct: there is nothing there to reach.
• I internet. Lit means the mailbox route works: the server is reachable and they have an address you can post to. It says nothing about whether their phone is awake, because with a mailbox that does not matter. You post now, they collect when they look.

Tap the letters in a conversation for the same sentence in the app. Tap again and it goes away.

Channel tries them in that order: Bluetooth first, then Wi-Fi direct, then the local network, then the internet. The first one that carries the message wins, and the mark beside the message says which one it was.

English is the reference text; any translation is a convenience. Help is stored on this phone and never contacts anyone.