Online since June 2026

Got tired of Discord. Built our own.

Chat, voice, camera and screen share for your crew, on a server I pay for and run myself. Nothing you say is sold, and nothing you rely on moves behind a paywall overnight.

Create an account See it first Open BWU Uplink →

Works in the browser tonight. Nothing to install, no card.

First 50 accounts get Premium free for life.

The BWU Uplink app: a server called The Crew on the left with its text and voice channels, a conversation in #general in the middle, and the member list on the right.
Watch the 30-second tour
Your DMs can be end-to-end encryptedEncrypted on your device. I can't read them, and neither can anyone who copies my database.
The client is open sourceThe app in your browser is on GitHub, so the privacy claims are checkable, not just stated.
One person, one serverI use it every night with my own crew. When something breaks, I'm the one it breaks on first.
The actual app

Voice, camera and screen share, with the chat still open.

These are screenshots of the running app, not drawings of it. The call docks at the bottom so the conversation above it never goes away.

The BWU Uplink voice deck: a live call with two people docked at the bottom of the screen, while the #general conversation stays visible above it.
Drop into a room without losing the thread. Low-latency voice, camera and screen share, with noise suppression so people hear you and not your fan.
The BWU Uplink friends list: who is online, add a friend, open a DM.
Friends and direct lines. See who's around, message anyone on the list, and turn on end-to-end encryption for the conversations that should stay between you.

Same account on your phone.

The same channels, the same people, the same unread counts. Android has an APK, and on iPhone you add it to your Home Screen from Safari and get real push notifications for messages and mentions.

Windows and Linux get a native app with game detection and auto-ducking, so your crew's voices drop under the game audio instead of fighting it. The browser works everywhere else, with nothing missing.

BWU Uplink on a phone: the same #general chat, same people.
Why this exists

Every big chat app ends up in the same place. This one can't.

Things that used to be free move behind a subscription, and what you say becomes material for ad targeting. There is no one here to sell you to. The honest version of what that means:

Yours, not rented

Every message, call and file sits on a machine I own and maintain. Nobody scrapes it because nobody else can reach it. Make your own server for free, or join mine.

I can't read your messages

DMs and private groups can be switched to end-to-end encryption. Text and files are encrypted on your device before they reach me, and only the people in the conversation hold the keys. Compare safety codes with a friend to confirm it's really them. No independent audit yet; the code is open and the details are in the privacy policy.

You can just message me

If something goes down, you message the person running the hardware, and I'm in the same voice channels you are most nights. The 2 AM maintenance is mine.

If it ever ends

One person running one server is the honest bus factor, so two things exist because of it: if I ever have to shut this down you get advance notice, not a locked-out login screen, and you can export everything you've said from Settings at any time.

What you get

I only built the stuff we actually use. It turned out to be most of it.

Voice, camera, screen share. Low latency, 720p share on the free tier, 1440p at 60 fps with desktop audio on Premium.
End-to-end encrypted DMs and groups. Switch it on per conversation. Safety codes to verify who you're talking to.
Your own server, free. Channels, roles, invites. You don't have to join mine.
The normal stuff, minus the clutter. Replies, reactions, pins, GIFs, search, friends, presence, unread on the person.
Windows, Linux, Android, browser. Native apps with game detection and auto-ducking. iPhone via Add to Home Screen. Same account everywhere.
Your data stays yours. Export everything you've said from Settings, any time, not just on the way out.
Plans

Free to join. Paid only if you want the extras.

The paid tier exists because the server and bandwidth cost money, not because I'm trying to get rich off my friends.

Free
$0
Everything your group needs to hang out.
  • Text, DMs, friends, presence
  • End-to-end encrypted DMs and groups
  • Voice, camera, 720p screen share
  • 50 MB files
  • Make your own server and invite people
Create an account Open app
Premium
$5.99 / month, or $30 a year
Higher limits, to help cover the bandwidth.
  • 200 MB files
  • 1440p 60 fps screen share with desktop audio
  • Custom soundboards and banners
  • Studio Mode for higher-quality voice
Start free, upgrade in the app Open app

Premium is bought inside the app after signing in, through Stripe. The free tier lets you try everything first. Want it on your own machine? Self-host is $49 a year for updates and the licence infrastructure that keeps your instance running.

Get the app

Get the app. Or don't, the browser works too.

The desktop apps add game detection and auto-ducking and are code-signed. The browser has the same account and nothing missing.

Browser
Same account. Works tonight.
Create an account Open app
Windows
Installer for Windows 10 and 11, x64. There's also a portable build.
Download
Linux
AppImage, x86_64. Game detection, per-app share audio and ducking work the same as Windows.
Details

Push-to-talk and the in-game overlay don't work yet: Wayland won't let an unpackaged app register either one. chmod +x and run; needs fuse2 (pacman -S fuse2 on Arch), or add --appimage-extract-and-run. Nothing scans this before you run it the way Windows does, so the hash is published: sha256sum, verify with sha256sum -c.

Download
Android
APK, sideloaded. sha256sum to verify.
Download
iPhone
Safari, Share, Add to Home Screen. Message and mention notifications work this way (real web push).
Details

Incoming calls only ring while the app is open. That needs a native iOS app, which doesn't exist yet.

Create an account Open app

Bring your crew.

Free, no card, nothing to install. If you were sent an invite link, it's your ticket in.

Create an account Open app