Chats and groups

Start one-to-one and group chats, keep your chat list organized, and invite and manage the people in your groups. Steps are for iPhone, Android and the web app; desktop differences are noted in each section.

The chat list

The Chats tab lists all your conversations. Each row shows the chat’s name and photo, the last message and who sent it, the time, and the number of unread messages. Pinned chats come first, in the order you choose, and the rest are sorted by their latest message. On iPhone, Android and the web app, a chat with 10 or more unread messages shows 10+.

Chat type	What it is
Direct chat	A one-to-one conversation.
Group chat	A named chat for several people, with an optional description and photo. Members have roles.
My Memo	A private chat with only you in it.
Feed chat	A read-only chat of posts, such as a topic chat you join from Discover.

Filter and search the list

On Chats, select a filter: All, Unread, Groups or DMs. Groups includes feed chats, and DMs includes My Memo.

To search, select More (⋯) > Search and type in Search chats. Search matches chat names, the other person’s username, and the last message and its sender. Select Cancel to close the search.

In the desktop app, use the Search chats field and the All and Unread filters, or press ⌘K (Ctrl+K on Linux) to jump to a conversation by name.

Mark a chat as read

Opening a chat marks it as read. To clear a chat’s unread count without opening it, long-press the chat and choose Mark as Read. The desktop app doesn’t have this option.

Pin chats

Pin up to 10 chats to keep them at the top of your list. Pins are personal: nobody else sees them.

To pin a chat, swipe it left and select Pin, long-press it and choose Pin, or select Pin in its chat info. Use Unpin the same way.
New pins go to the end of the pinned section. To change the order, select More (⋯) > Reorder Pins, drag the chats, then select Done. Reorder Pins appears when you have 2 or more pinned chats.

In the desktop app, right-click a chat (or open its ⋯ menu) and choose Pin to top or Unpin. The desktop app can’t reorder pinned chats.

Mute a chat

Muting a chat silences its notifications without leaving it. Swipe the chat left or long-press it, select Mute and choose how long, or use Mute in its chat info. Select Unmute to end a mute early. In the desktop app, choose Mute notifications from the chat’s menu.

For mute durations, how mentions work in a muted chat, and desktop differences, see Mute a chat.

My Memo

My Memo is a private chat with only you in it, for notes, links and files. To open it, select More (⋯) > My Memo on Chats. In the desktop app, click New conversation (⌘N, or Ctrl+N on Linux) and choose Personal memo on the Direct message tab.

Start a direct chat

On Chats, select New Chat > Direct Chat.
Choose someone you follow, or type a person’s username (without the @) in Search name or @username. Part of a username finds people who appear in suggestions, and a complete username finds anyone (see Search).
Select the person to open your chat.

If you already have a direct chat with that person, it reopens. You can also select Message on someone’s profile. A new direct chat suggests a few openers that you can select to fill in the message box (see Writing help).

In the desktop app, click New conversation (⌘N, or Ctrl+N on Linux), search on the Direct message tab, and click the person.

Create a group

On Chats, select New Chat > New Group Chat.
Enter a Chat title, and a Description (optional) if you want one.
Select Create group chat.

You’re the new group’s owner. On iPhone, Android and the web app you can’t add members while creating a group, so invite people next.

In the desktop app, click New conversation and open the Group tab. Enter a Group name and an optional description, add up to 49 people with Add people by name or username, and click Create group. The people you add join right away.

Invite people to a group

A group’s owner and managers can share invite links and QR codes, or add their followers directly.

In the group, select Chat info > Manage chat > Invite Links.
Select Create Invite Link, or + if the chat already has links.
Enter a Link Name (optional) if you want one, then select Create.
Select Copy or Share to send the link.

Anyone with the link or its QR code can join the group while the link is active. A group invite link can’t be used to create a DonutChat account: send people who don’t use DonutChat yet your personal invite link first, then the group link after they sign up.

The Invite Links screen shows each link’s status (ACTIVE or DISABLED), how many people have used it, and its invite code. From there you can copy or share a link, open its QR code, Disable or Enable it, or delete it. People scan the QR code with their phone’s camera to open the link; DonutChat doesn’t have its own QR scanner.

In the desktop app, open Details > Invites and click Create invite. Desktop invites can also have Maximum uses (0 means unlimited) and an expiry date (Expires (optional)). The desktop app doesn’t show QR codes.

Invite your followers

On iPhone, Android and the web app, a group’s owner and managers can add people who follow them:

In the group’s chat info, select Invite.
Choose people on Invite Followers, or select Select All.
Select Invite.

The people you choose are added to the group and get a notification. Invitations Sent shows who was invited, who was already a member, and any invitations that failed.

Join a group

Invite link: open the link on your phone, and DonutChat shows the group. If you’re signed out, the invite opens after you sign in.
Invite card: an invite link posted in a chat appears as a DONUTCHAT INVITE card. Select Join Chat.
Code or pasted link: on Chats, select New Chat > Join Chat, enter the code or paste the link in Invite code or link, and select Join Chat.

DonutChat shows the group’s name, description and member count. Select Join Chat to join as a member. If the link was disabled, has expired or has no uses left, you see Invalid Invite; ask the group’s owner or a manager for a new link.

In the desktop app, click New conversation > Join with code, enter the 12-character Invite code, and click Join conversation. The desktop app accepts codes, not links. A group’s owner and managers can find a link’s code on the Invite Links screen.

If you were banned from a group, you can’t rejoin it until the owner or a manager unbans you.

Chat info

In a chat, select the info button (Chat info) to see the chat’s details:

Pin and Mute, plus Invite for the owner and managers of a group.
View profile in a direct chat, or the member list in a group.
Shared content: the chat’s photos and videos, links, polls and pinned messages, and how much storage the chat uses. See Share files and find shared content.
Manage chat: Group Management for the owner and managers, with Invite Links and the chat’s bots and webhooks; Chat ID, which you can select to copy; Leave Chat (iPhone and Android); and, for the owner, Delete Chat.

In the desktop app, click Details in the conversation header, or choose Chat details from the chat’s menu. Details has tabs such as About, Members, Files, Invites and Banned.

Change a group’s name, description or photo

The owner and managers can change a group’s details. Direct chats can’t be renamed.

In Chat info, select Edit chat.
Change the Title or Description, or select Change photo and crop the new photo.
Select Save.

In the desktop app, open Details > About, edit the Name or Description, and click Save shared settings. You can’t change a group’s photo in the desktop app.

Members and roles

Each group member is an Owner, a Manager or a Member. The person who creates a group is its owner.

Action	Owner	Manager	Member
Change the name, description and photo	Yes	Yes	No
Create invite links and invite followers	Yes	Yes	No
Manage the chat’s bots and webhooks	Yes	Yes	No
Make members managers, or remove the manager role	Yes	No	No
Remove or ban members	Yes	Yes	No
Remove or ban managers	Yes	No	No
See banned people and unban them	Yes	Yes	No
Delete the chat for everyone	Yes	No	No

To see the members, open Chat info, select the member count (for example, 5 Members), then select View members. Select a person to open their profile. The owner and managers can open the ⋯ menu next to a member to choose:

Promote to manager or Demote to member (owner only).
Remove from chat. The person can rejoin with an invite.
Ban from chat. The person can’t rejoin until they’re unbanned.

To unban someone, switch to Banned members and choose Unban. This lets them rejoin; it doesn’t add them back to the chat.

In the desktop app, use the Members tab in Details (Make manager, Remove manager role, Remove from chat and Ban from chat) and the Banned tab (Unban…).

A group’s ownership can’t be transferred. Nobody, including the owner, can delete other people’s messages.

Set your nickname in a chat

In the desktop app, you can choose a nickname that people see next to your name in one chat. Open Details > About, enter 3 to 30 characters in Your nickname in this chat, and click Save nickname. Letters outside the English alphabet and emoji count as more than one character. Leave the field empty to use your name. Nicknames appear on every platform, but you can set them only in the desktop app.

Leave a chat

Long-press the chat in your list and choose Leave Chat. On iPhone and Android, you can also use Chat info > Manage chat > Leave Chat.
Select Leave to confirm.

In the desktop app, choose Leave chat… from the chat’s menu or from Details > About.

If you rejoin a group later, or start a new direct chat with the same person, messages from before you left stay hidden from you. Feed chats show their full history again when you rejoin. Your mute setting stays as it was.

A group’s owner can’t leave it. To close a group you own, delete it.

Delete a group

The owner can delete a group for all its members.

Select Chat info > Manage chat > Delete Chat.
Select Delete to confirm.

In the desktop app, open Details > About, click Delete entire chat…, then click Delete conversation.

Feed chats

Feed chats are read-only chats of posts, such as the topic chats you join from Discover > Topics (see Discover). In the desktop app, you join them from Discover > Feeds. Posts appear in the main conversation, but members can’t post there: the message box reads “Reply in threads to comment on posts”. To comment, open a post’s thread and reply. Feed chats appear under the Groups filter.