Help & Support

Ask someone on the server for an invite link (they get one from Invite friends). Open the link: it opens Iskra in your browser, or in the desktop app if you have it. Pick a name and you're in. No email or password needed.

You can also open app.iskra.foo or the desktop app, choose Join a server and paste the link.

In the desktop app, click Create a server, pick a name and a starting point (a gaming group, a friends hangout, board games, or empty). The server runs on your computer, and you're its owner. Click Invite friends to get a link. Tick Keep my server running and Iskra starts with your computer and keeps the server going, even with the window closed.

Friends on your home network can join right away. For friends elsewhere, turn on Let friends anywhere join in Server settings → Internet access: it opens the ports on your router and sets up HTTPS for you. For a server that's always on without your PC, choose Rent a small server there, or run the standalone server on a spare computer.

Everything is explained in the hosting guide. Your server, your choice: Iskra gets nothing from any of it.

Open Server settings → Internet access and look at What Iskra found out. It tells you, from your own router's answers, whether the ports could be opened and what kind of connection you have.

• The router didn't open the ports: press Show me how for step-by-step port forwarding with your exact addresses and ports, or Copy a prompt for an AI assistant to get help for your router.
• "You're behind CGNAT": your provider shares one internet address between customers, and port forwarding can't help. The app lists your options, quickest first: rent a small server, check for or ask your provider for a public IPv4 address, use Tailscale (free; the app shows you how), or let a friend with an open connection host (the whole server is one folder, so it moves easily).

Details in the hosting guide: reaching your server from the internet.

Yes. On Android, install the app from the download section, or join the Google Play test. On iPhone, a test version is available through TestFlight. App Store and Google Play listings are coming. On any phone, open app.iskra.foo in the browser and add it to your home screen. On iPhone and iPad, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen. The server you join needs HTTPS, which "Let friends anywhere join" sets up.

The web app can notify you while it's closed (on iPhone and iPad, only from the Home Screen app). The phone apps keep voice going with the screen locked and show notifications while they are open.

Your account lives on your devices, not on a server, and there's no password. The recovery key is how you get your account back on a new device, or after clearing your browser or losing your phone. Find it in My settings → Recovery key and keep it somewhere safe, like a password manager.

Nobody can recover it for you, not us and not a server owner. And anyone who has it can use your account, so never share it. Nobody from Iskra or a server will ever ask you for it.

The easiest way is device linking: on a device where you're signed in, open My settings → Devices → Link a device, then scan the QR code (or type the code) on the new device. Both devices show a six-digit number to compare before anything is sent. Your account goes straight from one device to the other, encrypted.

No other device at hand? On the new device choose I already use Iskra on another device, then Use my recovery key, and paste your key. Then open an invite link to each of your servers to get back in.

On another device, open My settings → Devices and remove the lost one. It's signed out for good. If you're worried someone has your recovery key, you can replace your account key in the app; your friends will see that your safety number changed.

• Hide a server from your list: right-click its icon (or press and hold it on a phone) and pick Hide server. You stay a member, it stays quiet, and you can show it again in My settings → Appearance → Hidden servers.
• Leave a server for real: pick Leave server in the same menu. You're taken off its member list and your roles there go; your messages stay. To come back you need a new invite. An owner first makes someone else the owner.
• Sign out of this device: My settings → Devices → Sign out of this device. Tick Also leave my servers to leave them on every device. Make sure you've saved your recovery key if this is your only device.
• Leave Iskra completely: delete your account.

• Turn them on for each device in My settings → Notifications, and allow them when your browser or system asks.
• If it says notifications are blocked, allow them for Iskra in your browser's site settings (or your phone's settings), then try again.
• On iPhone and iPad, notifications only work in the app added to the Home Screen.
• The Android and iPhone apps show notifications while they are open. To be notified while it's closed, use the web app in your phone's browser.
• On phones, the server needs HTTPS ("Let friends anywhere join" sets it up).
• You won't get a notification on a device you're actively using, and a muted server or channel doesn't notify you (right-click it, or long-press on a phone, to check).
• Until you pick a level for a server, one with fewer than 15 people notifies you about every message, and a bigger one only about @mentions. Change it from the server's menu (right-click its icon, or press and hold it on a phone): Notifications.

• Check that Iskra may use your microphone (browser site settings, or your system's privacy settings), and pick the right devices in My settings → Voice & audio.
• Make sure you're not muted or deafened, and that push-to-talk isn't on by mistake.
• If voice works at home but not for friends elsewhere, the server's voice ports need to be reachable: 7881/tcp and 7882/udp. "Let friends anywhere join" opens them on most routers; otherwise forward them by hand (see the ports in the hosting guide).
• Strict networks (some workplaces, schools and VPNs) can block voice. Try another network to check.

• My settings → Voice & audio → Noise suppression: AI (the default) removes the most noise. On a slow computer Iskra switches to Strong by itself and says so. If your voice sounds squashed, set AI noise removal strength to Gentle.
• If the start of what you say gets lost, turn off Set automatically and set the sensitivity by hand, or use push-to-talk.
• Someone else is noisy? Turn on Clean up others' audio for your end of the call.

Allow camera or screen recording for Iskra (on macOS: System Settings → Privacy & Security). Calls in DMs and group chats are end-to-end encrypted, and a browser that can't encrypt media can't join them: use an up-to-date browser or the desktop app.