Naven
Communities
A neighbourhood group without handing out your phone number
Joining a neighbourhood chat should not mean giving your mobile number to two hundred people you have never met.
Who this is for
Streets, buildings and small residents' associations who want to reach each other without a public group or a phone-number list.
How it is usually set up
One channel for notices, direct messages for the people you actually know, and no directory anybody can browse.
What Naven does not claim
Naven promises no security and no moderation. Messages are screened before they send against ten published categories, by software written by one person — it misses things, and it is weaker in languages other than English. Calls are not screened at all. Naven is not end-to-end encrypted, which is what makes screening possible; anyone whose first requirement is end-to-end encryption should use Signal.
What it costs
Nothing. Naven is free, with no advertising, no paid tier and no data sale.