Frequently asked questions

Family Chat gives each family a private Matrix chat server. You manage members and settings in a web control panel and chat using any Matrix-compatible app, such as Element or FluffyChat.

Family Chat is €5 per month per family, or €50 a year — two months free. Both prices include VAT. That covers your dedicated server, unlimited family members, federation controls, and EU hosting (US and Asia Pacific regions are coming soon). See pricing for details.

You can move from monthly to yearly whenever you like, from the Billing page in your control panel — we charge the difference for the rest of the year and your renewal date stays where it is. Going back to monthly mid-year means unpicking a year you’ve already paid for, so email us and we’ll sort it out.

Yes. €5 a month and €50 a year are what you pay — the VAT is inside that price, not added at checkout. Your invoice shows the split, and you can download full VAT invoices from the billing portal. If you’re buying as a business and enter a valid VAT number at checkout, EU reverse-charge rules apply and the invoice carries no VAT.

Not just yet, and we’re sorry about it. Selling to UK households means registering for UK VAT from the very first sale, and we would rather do that properly than half-do it. Everywhere else in the EU, and most of the rest of the world, works today. If you’re in the UK, email us and we’ll tell you the moment it opens up.

Go to Sign up, enter your family name and email, choose a region, and complete payment through Stripe. Your server is usually ready within about a minute. See Set up a Matrix client to start chatting.

Use the email and password from signup at the control panel . Only parents need the control panel for managing members, billing, and federation; children can use chat apps once they have credentials.

Any Matrix-compatible client works. We recommend Element for the easiest setup. FluffyChat, Cinny, and SchildiChat are also popular. See our Matrix client setup guide.

It is https://YOUR-FAMILY-SLUG.safechat.family, where the slug is shown on your control panel dashboard (the short name you chose at signup, such as smith). You enter this URL when signing in to a Matrix app — not matrix.org.

Always use Sign in. Accounts are created by parents in the control panel. Using “Create account” in a Matrix app will not work with Family Chat.

Your messages are stored on your family’s dedicated server. We do not read, analyse, or sell message content. If you enable end-to-end encryption in your chat app, encrypted messages cannot be read by us or anyone without the room keys. See our Privacy Policy.

Yes — if you own a domain, your family’s chat addresses can be on it, like @mum:example.com, at no extra cost. Choose it during signup, or move an existing server later from the control panel. Your domain only needs to serve two small files; see the domain setup guide.

Your rooms and their history move across automatically. Everyone does get a new chat address and signs in again, and end-to-end encrypted messages need a one-time key export in your chat app. The migration guide explains exactly what’s kept and what changes.

By default, your server is private — only family members you add can log in, and no outside Matrix servers can connect. Parents can optionally allow federation with specific servers (including other Family Chat families) from the control panel.

Your server is suspended (stopped, not deleted) and data is preserved. If you resubscribe later, your server can be restored. Manage billing through the Stripe portal linked from the control panel.

Confirm the server status is Running in the control panel, use the correct homeserver URL with https://, choose Sign in (not create account), and use your control panel email and password. See troubleshooting in the setup guide.