Channels

From the Delta Chat FAQ.

Channels

Channels are a one-to-many tool for broadcasting messages.

Subscribe to a channel

• Scan the QR code or tap the invite link you got from the channel owner.

That’s all! You will receive a few of the messages from the channel history and, from that point on, all new messages from the channel.

Don’t worry, if that does not happen immediately. Once the channel owner comes online, your join request will be processed.

As all of Delta Chat, also Channels are private and decentralized, there is no public discovery.

Other channel subscribers will not see that you subscribed and cannot message you. The channel owner, however, can message you. They will also see that you read a message unless you have read receipts disabled.

If you do not want to share your main profile, you can also create a dedicated profile for joining a channel.

Create a channel

• Tap New Chat and choose New Channel.

• Enter a name, optionally set an image and description, and hit the Create button.

• You can now send and manage messages as usual.

• From the channel’s profile, share the QR code or invite link with others.

Subscribers will receive your messages, but they cannot send messages in your channel. When subscribing, they will receive a few of the latest messages of the channel history.

You can see the view count beside each message. Note that this only counts subscribers who have read receipts enabled, so the real view count may be larger.

How many subscribers can a channel have?

Channels are designed for much larger audiences than groups.

The practical limit depends on the used relay, so there is no single fixed number that applies everywhere.

For really large channels with several tens of thousands of subscribers, we recommend using a dedicated profile for the channel and checking whether the relay is suitable.

But don’t be too hesitant: Delta Chat is designed to be relay-agnostic, so you can change your relay at any point easily - your existing subscribers will not even notice. You only have to update the invite link you share with new subscribers in that case.