You probably heard about SFLphone in 2004. In 2015 it was launched as Ring, in 2016 it became part of the GNU Project, and in 2018 it was renamed to Jami. More history info on Wikipedia: [Jami (software)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jami_(software)) # [Jami](https://jami.net/) Jami is a distributed, peer-to-peer communication platform. By design, it doesn’t rely on central servers to route calls or messages, but it can use TURN servers when direct peer-to-peer connections fail, and mobile clients may use a DHT proxy to support push notifications. It uses end-to-end encryption with perfect forward secrecy, built on TLS/SRTP and X.509 certificates, and is licensed under the GNU GPLv3-or-later. I rarely use Jami (most of my contacts are on [SimpleX Chat](SimpleX%20Chat.md)), but my experience with Jami has been solid. Jami works particularly well on LAN. For example, if you cover a small village with your own Wi-Fi, you could still chat locally even if the internet goes down. ## Mostly on-device (with optional services) ### Account & usernames Your account is created and stored locally on your device. A username is optional — it’s a readable alias linked to your Jami ID and registered through a name server (default: `ns.jami.net`). You can also self-host your own registry. Usernames on the default name server are unique, blockchain-backed, and cannot be changed or deleted once registered. ### Backups & multi-device - **Link another device:** From your existing device, choose *Link another device*. Jami briefly publishes an encrypted account archive to the network; on the new device, you confirm with a code or QR. The new device imports your account and creates its own device key. - **Export a backup:** You can also export an account archive to keep an offline backup of your identity/keys. - **History:** Conversation history is stored locally and synchronized across your devices by Swarm; it isn’t bundled into the account archive. - **No recovery service:** If you lose all devices and the encrypted backup/password, the account cannot be recovered. > [!Summary]+ Summary > Jami is a secure, GPL-licensed, server-less-by-default communication system that keeps identities and data on users’ devices, with optional name-service, TURN, and DHT-proxy components for reachability and convenience.