What it is
Zen connects you only with people you have met: you add a friend with a QR code or an invitation link. Every phone and computer is a node of a mesh network (Yggdrasil), so messages, calls and files travel between your devices and your friends’, encrypted end to end; public nodes run by volunteers only pass them on and cannot read them. There is no company server that stores, reads or sells them.
Zen also tries a new way of deciding shared matters: the pyramid, built from small cells of people who know each other in person, where votes, trust and a common purse flow from the bottom up, with no headquarters that could be bribed or shut down.
Explore Zen
Isn’t it a virus? How to check
- Download Zen only from the install page or the GitHub releases (the address must start with
github.com/robertostrowskijagoda/), or get it from a friend who has Zen. - Before installing, you can upload the file to virustotal.com: dozens of antivirus programs check it at once.
- Compare the file with the SHA-256 checksums of the release.
- The code is open: anyone can review what Zen does.
- Every official Android release is signed with the same key, so a phone will not install a fake over the real Zen. The key fingerprint (SHA-256):
5C:F8:4B:A5:25:AC:80:4C:84:2F:B5:B9:2F:35:C5:49:F6:C0:7A:84:FB:E0:C2:80:49:13:91:91:C1:EE:F5:14
Why not on Google Play or the App Store?
The main reason is the stores’ legal rules and policies, which Zen by design does not meet:
- Moderation. Stores require the developer to review reports and remove content and accounts (Apple guideline 1.2, Google Play’s user-generated content policy). Zen has no server and nobody in the middle who could.
- The pyramid’s currency and wallet. Financial and crypto rules call for a company and financial licences.
- Paid gates. In-app payments for digital services must go through the store’s billing, with a 15–30% commission.
- Dating. Stores require age verification and a moderation team.
- Self-updating and background work. Google Play forbids apps that update themselves outside the store, and the App Store heavily restricts background execution.
- Developer identity and paperwork. Stores publish the developer’s details and require formalities such as encryption export declarations.
The cost: the App Store charges 99 USD a year, Google Play 25 USD once, and the licences and legal work run into thousands. Zen is made by one person, for free.
A store can also remove an app or demand changes at any time, and nobody, not even a store, needs to know you have Zen. So Zen is installed straight from GitHub and tells you itself when a new version is out: on Android and computers it fetches the update and checks its signature first; on iPhone SideStore installs it.
Documentation
The documents are written in English.
Source code and license
Zen is free software under the GPL-3.0 with additional terms in NOTICE. Using Zen to break the law is forbidden by the terms of use.
Community
Questions, help with installing, ideas, or just a talk with other people who use Zen: on Discord. Bugs and feature requests go to GitHub issues; the code, pull requests and stars are welcome on GitHub.
Support Zen
Zen is free and ad-free and is kept going only by voluntary donations. It is made by one person, with no company and no investors.
Buy me a coffeebuycoffee.to/zen is the only official Zen fundraiser; the same link is in the app (About → Support Zen). Donations are voluntary gifts and buy no rights or features.
Thanks
Thanks to Yggdrasil, the open, encrypted mesh network Zen runs on, and SideStore, which installs Zen on an iPhone and keeps it renewed right on the phone.