--- title: "FAQ: Room Passports, privacy and safety | WLP chat" description: "How Room Passports, room identities, reporting and sponsor tiles work in WLP chat, and what the research prototype does and does not do." url: https://wlpchat.club/faq/ --- # Questions and answers About joining, identity, privacy, safety, sponsors, the pilot and the research prototype. ## Joining a room ### How do I join a room? Open the Room Passport link your organiser sent you, on the device where you use WLP chat. You read the room’s purpose, rules, retention and sponsor policy, accept the rules, then choose a name and a two-letter mark for that room. ### Can I search for rooms to join? No. WLP chat has no public directory and no search. The only way into a room is a Passport from someone already in it. ### My link says the Passport expired, was revoked or is used up. Each Passport has an expiry date and a use limit, and the organiser can revoke it. Ask the person who invited you for a new one. The app tells you which of these happened. ### The Passport says the room is full or suspended. A full room has reached the member limit its organiser set; ask them to raise it. A suspended room is under review, and nobody can join until the review ends. ### Why does the Passport say “Research room”? During the research sessions the study team supplies the organiser details. Later versions will say whether the organiser was checked against a domain or a public registry, or not checked at all. ## Your identity ### Why doesn’t WLP chat ask for my phone number? Because other members of a community group should not need it to talk to you. The WLP chat app never asks for a phone number or an email, so neither can leak from your room. ### What is a room identity? The name and two-letter mark you choose when you join a room. They exist in that room only. Another room gets a different identifier, and a different name if you choose one. ### Can someone link my identities across rooms? WLP chat does not show one room’s identifier in another. People can still recognise you from a reused name, a reused mark or something you wrote, and the app warns you when you reuse a name or mark. ### What happens if I lose my phone? A recovery kit can restore your local identity and the list of rooms you were in. It cannot restore messages, files, reports or your room identities, so organisers need to invite you again. Export the kit from Settings, Recovery. ## Privacy and data ### Where are my messages stored? In the current research build, on your device only. Nothing goes over a network. The Privacy and data screen in Settings lists everything the app stores, where, and for how long. ### Are messages end-to-end encrypted? Not in the current build. It is a local usability prototype and makes no encryption claim. Before the live pilot, WLP chat will adopt an established, reviewed encrypted messaging layer. We will not invent our own cryptography. ### What does the organiser see? Who invited you, and your activity in their room. Never your phone number, email or the names you use in other rooms. ### What will WLP chat itself see? In the live service: the routing and abuse metadata needed to deliver messages and handle reports, and the evidence people choose to attach to a report. Today, in the research build, nothing leaves your device. ### How do I delete everything? Settings, then Delete everything on this device. It removes your local identity, rooms, messages and reports after you confirm. Invitation records held by organisers are not affected. ## Safety ### How do I block someone? Open their profile in the room and press Block. It works at once, whether or not you also report them. ### How does reporting work? Choose Report on a message, a file, a member or a sponsor. You pick a reason and tick the messages to include as evidence. Only what you tick is submitted, and you preview it before you send. ### Who handles my report? The room’s organiser handles ordinary problems. Platform safety handles severe reports, complaints about an organiser, reports about sponsors, and appeals. You see the status of your report under Activity. ### Why is there no Message button on profiles? WLP chat has no direct messages between members. Everyone in a room talks where the organiser and moderators can act on reports. Direct messages stay out until they pass a separate safety review. ## Sponsors ### Why is there a sponsor tile on Home? Some rooms are funded by one local sponsor instead of a subscription. Home shows at most one tile for the room you have open, and it always says Sponsored first. ### How is the sponsor chosen? For the room, by its organiser, with manual approval. Never from your messages, an advertising ID or your activity in other rooms. Eligibility can also use the room’s broad region, and the tile says so. ### Can I hide it? Yes. Press Hide and a House tile from your organiser replaces it until the campaign ends. ### What happens when I tap the sponsor’s link? The app shows you the exact website first and warns that opening it shares your IP address and browser details with that site. WLP chat adds no member, device or room identifier to the link. ## Plans and prices ### Is WLP chat free for members? Yes, always. Safety tools, deletion, text, voice notes and small files never sit behind a payment. ### What does it cost an organiser? The pilot is testing two organiser plans: Starter, free for one room up to 100 members, and Community at £29 a month for up to 500 members. These are test prices. ### Can I pay now? No. The current build has no billing, no card entry and no store purchase. ## The prototype ### What does “Prototype security: local demo, not audited E2EE” mean? The current build is a research tool. It runs on one device, sends nothing over a network, and does not encrypt messages end to end. Treat it as a way to try the flows, not as a private channel. Every screen that touches security repeats that sentence. ### Can I make calls? No. The call lobby shows the permission and network states a real call would go through, and it is labelled Simulation. No call connects. ### Which languages does the app support? English, Ukrainian and Russian. Change it in Settings, Language. ### Which devices can I use? The web preview runs in a current browser. Pilot participants get Android and iOS research builds from the study team. There is no desktop app. ### Who is running the research? The WLP chat study team. Sessions are facilitated and cover organisers and the adults they invite. ## Organisers and the pilot ### What does it cost? Nothing to request a room or to try it with the study team. Members always use WLP chat free. The organiser plans on the organisers page are test prices for the pilot; nothing can be bought in the current build. ### Do members need to install anything? Yes: the WLP chat app, or the web preview in a browser. They open your Passport link and pick a name for your room. Nobody enters a phone number or an email. ### What happens to our messages? In the research build, messages stay on each phone and nothing is sent over a network. Before any room goes live, the pilot adopts a reviewed encrypted messaging layer, and the privacy page will list exactly what the server receives. ### Do we have to leave WhatsApp straight away? No. You can run both while members move across, then make the old group read-only. Our guide walks through it step by step. [Read the guide](https://wlpchat.club/guides/move-your-group/). ### Can members leave? Any member can leave a room at any time, and delete everything the app stores on their phone from Settings. ### Who will we talk to? The study team building WLP chat. Replies come from hello@wlpchat.example. ## Still have a question? The study team answers questions about the app and the pilot. [Contact support](https://wlpchat.club/support/)[Request a pilot room](https://wlpchat.club/pilot/)