Avalanche

Bots

Sun, 05 Jul 2026 17:20:49 -0400

Your project can sign in to Avalanche and chat with users either via DM or in groups. Bots can do everything that users can do and more. Bots are identified via angular frames around their profile picture, as well as subtly angular message bubbles in conversations. We also recommend that you name bots using a pattern that ends in Bot, e.g., TestBot, AdminBot.

You can code your bots in TypeScript or Rust. We recommend TypeScript (but Rust is usable for low-memory deployments).

Network tab

Sun, 05 Jul 2026 16:30:29 -0400

The simplest way to make your project integrate with Avalanche is to place a link inside the app, which will appear under the Network tab. All users signed into your server will see the same list of links. The links carry authentication information to let the project know who is viewing the page.

The list of projects that appear here is (currently) governed by the /etc/avalanche/projects.env file, which contains links to every project that needs to appear in the app.

Authentication

Sun, 05 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This document describes how Avalanche projects receive information about user identity.

DIDs

A DID (decentralized identifier) is a string stably identifying a user in Avalanche, potentially across multiple servers. It looks like did:plc:3fbalqfxvbnmgonoe7hldui6.

DIDs have different subtypes. For Avalanche, the subtypes we use are plc and local:

PLC (Public Ledger of Credentials) DIDs are publicly listed on a server hosted by Bluesky Social PBC. Real-life users should usually (may not always) have a PLC DID.
Local DIDs are reachable only on their homeserver, and should not leave their homeserver. We usually use local DIDs for bots, and sometimes for test users.

Your project should avoid displaying DIDs to end users (except in debug menus, settings pages and such); they are an implementation detail rarely useful to the end user.

Projects for volunteer coordination

Wed, 01 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

If you’re running a large volunteer operation you certainly have communication issues. We think Avalanche can help, and the following things are all implementable in Avalanche today using the projects API:

Filling a schedule

Let’s say you have a form with the following question:

What are you interested in working on?

Cooking

Cleaning

Setting up the venue

Sign-making

And let’s say you need something like 70 cleaners—ideally 10 per day over 7 days.

Android App & Device Linking

Sat, 27 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Two big things landed this week: Avalanche now runs on Android, and you can now link a device to your existing Avalanche accounts, like Signal Desktop.

Calling for testers—The process for being a tester is simplified quite a bit now (although still not as easy as installing from an app store) so if you’re excited about Avalanche, now’s a great time to try it and give some feedback!

Try Android Try iOS

Late June Update: iOS alpha

Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve made a lot of progress and now have an alpha iOS build. Contact Lincoln if you want to try it out.

iOS

Until now we’ve had an iOS-only strategy. The reasoning behind that is simply that iOS is my (Lincoln’s) personal platform: I have an iPhone and I prefer developing on iOS, so when I wanna move fast I’m going to build what I know. It’s much simpler to build one platform at a time and then copy that work to another platform (especially with Claude), versus trying to add features and fix bugs on two platforms simultaneously.

June Update

Wed, 03 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

mostly dictated to my phone, lightly edited:

I’ve made a lot of progress, but it’s still going slower than I think we all have been hoping for. The basic core of the message passing system is there, so you can send DMs, you can add people to groups and send group messages. And all of this is secured using the same open source, audited encryption that powers Signal.

I’ve also spent a lot of time on the ways that our product differs from Signal, and in particular because it’s self-hosted and because it’s not tied to a phone number. That creates a number of divergences that I think are valuable and I think make the product stronger, but also require substantial forethought to make sure they go well long term if we get a lot of users. I think the overall progress is such that most of the core is ready and there are no bells and whistles yet at all.

Avalanche Design Proposal

Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Proposal

We’ll start with a secure messaging platform, standing on the shoulders of Signal. On top of that, we’ll build a powerful organizer toolkit, enabling organizers to build whatever they need to activate and nurture their own communities:

People will install the app because a specific action they’re participating in (an action, a conference, etc) requires it.
But they’ll stick around because the network captures and represents the real social connections they formed.

Lincoln has started working on it here: https://github.com/lincolnq/avalanche

Getting started as an organizer

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Welcome to Avalanche! This is the organizer page: Here we’ll lay out why bother switching to Avalanche, and the steps to get your own Avalanche server set up and onboard your team.

What Avalanche is

Avalanche is designed to be the most practical organizing platform out there. Fundamentally, the vast majority of your team (volunteers or community members) will use Avalanche just like they use Signal or WhatsApp: a single inbox where messages arrive and they can respond. Simplicity for the end user is what makes Avalanche practical; but as an organizer you also have requirements about onboarding, formations, communications channels and so on; and that’s why simply Signal or Whatsapp on its own isn’t sufficient.

Install the iOS app (TestFlight)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Avalanche isn’t on the App Store yet, so on iPhone and iPad you install the beta through Apple’s TestFlight.

Join the TestFlight beta

Install it

Install TestFlight from the App Store if you don’t already have it.
Tap the Join the TestFlight beta link above on your iPhone or iPad.
In TestFlight, tap Accept, then Install.
Open Avalanche from your home screen.

Beta builds expire after 90 days; update through TestFlight when prompted.

Privacy Policy

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

This is a non-production demonstration server. av.theavalanche.net exists for testing and evaluation of the Avalanche software. Do not use it for sensitive communications. Accounts and data may be reset or deleted at any time without notice, and the service is provided with no availability or retention guarantees.

Service: av.theavalanche.net (an Avalanche homeserver)
Operated by: the Avalanche project maintainers, based in the United States
Effective date: June 23, 2026
Contact: GitHub issues

Set up your homeserver

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Side-load the Android app

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Avalanche isn’t on the Google Play Store yet, so on Android you install it directly — this is called “side-loading.”

Download APK (v0.4.0)

Install it

Tap the download link above on your Android device.
Open the downloaded avalanche-release.apk file.
Android will warn that it’s from an unknown source — when prompted, allow installs from your browser or files app.
Tap Install, then open Avalanche.

Requires Android 8.0 or newer on an arm64 device (every modern Android phone).