Statim vs Status: two apps on the same chat protocol

At a glance

Feature	Statim	Status
Sign up with	Nothing	Nothing
Encrypted by default	On XMTP, Nostr and Status	Yes, except public Communities
Open source	Yes, MIT	Yes, MPL 2.0
Your own server	Nostr, Status, Matrix	No
Wallet	Yes, off by default	Yes
Calls	No	No

The same chat, from either app

Statim derives your Status identity from the recovery phrase the same way Status does. Import the phrase you use in Status and you are the same person in both apps, with the same zQ3sh… chat key. Status users add you by that key or by a status.app link, and your first message to them arrives as a contact request.

DMs and groups work in both directions: replies, mentions, reactions, photos, voice notes, edits and deletions. Status stickers show in Statim as a line saying what they were, and this protocol has no polls or pins in Statim.

Running the same phrase in both apps at once works, with a catch. The two apps do not share history, and a contact's messages reach Statim only after Statim has written to them. Most people pick one app for their Status chats.

What Status has that Statim does not

Status is built around Communities: channels that can be gated by token, a directory curated with SNT, and an owner whose desktop app acts as the Community's control node. Statim does not open Communities at all.

Status also makes a profile straight from a Keycard, and its wallet covers more Ethereum layer 2 chains than Statim's. Neither app has voice or video calls.

What Statim adds

Statim puts Status next to XMTP, Nostr, Telegram and Matrix in one chat list, so a Status DM sits beside a Telegram group and a WhatsApp chat bridged through Matrix. Each chat says which protocol it is on and what that protocol protects.

Its wallet holds Bitcoin and Solana as well as Ethereum, Base, Optimism, Arbitrum and Polygon, and signs with a Ledger, Trezor or Keystone. It is a plugin, off on a fresh install. On a computer, the statim command reads and sends messages from a terminal, for you or an AI assistant you let use it.

Encryption and nodes

Both apps reach the network through Status's nodes by default, and those nodes see your network address and which topics you follow, never what the messages say. In Statim you can enter a node you run instead. The Status app chooses between Status's own fleets.

One difference in Statim: your first message to someone is encrypted to their chat key with a one-off key, so it has no forward secrecy. Once their Status app replies, both sides move to a Double Ratchet, as the Status app does from the start.

Pick Statim if

You want your Status DMs in the same list as Telegram, Matrix, XMTP and Nostr.
You want a wallet that also holds Bitcoin and Solana, or signs with a Ledger or Trezor.
You want to reach the Status network through a node you run.
You want a command line, or an AI assistant, to work with your messages.

Pick Status if

You spend your time in Status Communities.
You use a Keycard, or want the wallet's longer list of layer 2 chains.
Status is the only network you need, and you want the app its own team builds.

The details

Detail	Statim	Status
To sign up	Nothing. The app makes twelve words on your device, and they are your account. No phone number, no email.	Nothing. A recovery phrase made on your device, or a Keycard, plus a password that cannot be recovered.
End-to-end encryption	Always on XMTP, Nostr and Status. On Matrix, in chats with encryption on. Telegram chats are not end-to-end encrypted, same as in Telegram's own app.	DMs and group chats, with keys that change on every message. A Community can be private and encrypted, or public and not.
Who runs the servers	Each protocol's own nodes, relays and homeservers. The developer runs none of them. You can point the app at your own Nostr relays, Status node or Matrix homeserver.	The Waku network. Every Status app takes part, and Status runs nodes that hold undelivered messages for up to 30 days. The app picks between Status's own fleets.
Open source	The whole app, MIT licence.	The app and status-go, its backend, under MPL 2.0.
Other networks	XMTP, Nostr, Status, Telegram and Matrix in one chat list. WhatsApp, Signal, Slack, Discord and others through a Matrix bridge you run.	None. Status is its own network.
Wallet	Ethereum and its chains, Bitcoin and Solana, from the same twelve words. A plugin, off until you turn it on. Ledger, Trezor and Keystone work too.	Built in, for Ethereum, Arbitrum, Optimism, Base and a growing list of other layer 2 chains. Keycard as a hardware wallet.
Voice and video calls	None.	None.
Platforms	macOS, Windows and Linux. iPhone in beta on TestFlight, Android in open testing on Google Play.	iPhone, Android, macOS on Apple silicon, Windows and Linux.

Sources

Status’s side was checked against these pages on October 28, 2026. Write to [email protected] if something has changed.