Get help with Railgun

Contact

Railgun is a small company and a person reads every message. Email us and include the handle on your account, what you were doing and, if it helps, a screenshot.

Three kinds of message have their own address, so they reach the people who handle them:

• Security vulnerabilities: security@railgun.chat, under the process on the security page.
• Privacy and data requests: privacy@railgun.chat.
• Abuse, harassment or illegal content: abuse@railgun.chat — see Report abuse below for the in-app route.

Common questions

Signing in on a new device

Install Railgun from the download page or the Mac App Store, or open the web app, and sign in with your handle and password. If you have turned on two-step verification, you will then be asked for the six-digit code from your authenticator app; one of your recovery codes works in its place, and is used up when it does. If you added a passkey in Settings, you can sign in with Face ID, Touch ID or a security key instead of typing anything.

Your conversation history does not follow you. Railgun does not keep message history on its servers — it relays messages and holds them only until a device of yours confirms delivery — so a new device starts with an empty conversation list, and the history on your old device stays there. Your mailbox is different: mail lives on the server until you delete it, so it is all there on the new device.

Recovery codes

You were shown a set of recovery codes when you registered. They are shown exactly once — Railgun stores only their hashes, so nobody, including us, can show you the current set again. Each code works once. They do two jobs:

• Getting back in without your password. Go to the recovery page, enter your handle, one code and a new password. This replaces every code with a fresh set, shown once, and signs the account out everywhere.
• Passing the two-step check when you cannot reach your authenticator app: type a recovery code where the six-digit code goes.

You can generate a new set at any time from Settings → Account (on the web, account settings). Doing so invalidates every existing code the moment it returns, so save the new sheet before you close it. If a verified email address is on your account, a password-reset link can be sent to it instead. If you have neither a code nor a verified address and you have forgotten your password, there is no way back into the account — not for you, and not for us.

Railgun+ billing

Railgun+ (Pro and Business) is bought and managed on the web, not inside the apps. Sign in, open account settings and, under “Plan & billing”, choose Manage billing. That opens the billing portal, where you can change plan, update your card, download invoices or cancel. A cancelled plan stays active until the end of the period you have paid for. Plans and prices are on the pricing page; what billing records exist and where they live is on the billing privacy page. Railgun never sees your card.

Your plan follows your account, so it applies on every device you sign in on — including the Mac App Store version, which shows your plan but does not sell one.

What the Mac App Store version doesn't include

The App Store version of Railgun runs inside Apple's App Sandbox, and a few things the direct version does are not possible there. Messaging, calls, mail and your account work the same in both, and the same sign-in works in both. The App Store version does not include:

• Threat Shield — the on-device scanning described on the Threat Shield page.
• Tor transport — routing Railgun's connection through Tor.
• Sending mail directly from your device — mail you send to addresses outside Railgun goes out through Railgun's servers instead.
• Checking for updates itself — updates arrive through the App Store, like any other app there.
• Buying Railgun+ — see the billing answer above.

If you want any of those, install the direct version from the download page. You can sign in to it with the same account.

Delete your account

You can delete your account from inside the app. Open Settings → Account → Delete account. You will be taken through these steps:

1. If you own any Spaces or organizations, you are asked to transfer each one to another member or delete it. An account that still owns something cannot be deleted.
2. Type your handle to confirm that you mean this account.
3. Re-enter your password, or your two-step verification code if you have that turned on.

Deletion is immediate and permanent. There is no grace period and no way to undo it — Railgun does not keep a copy to restore from. When the account is deleted:

• Your handle is retired permanently. It is also your @railgun.chat mail address, so it is never given to anyone else.
• Any Railgun+ subscription is cancelled at once. Invoices are kept for as long as the law requires.
• Messages already delivered to other people's devices stay on their devices, as they would with any messenger.

If you can't sign in, email support@railgun.chat from the email address on the account and tell us the handle. We will confirm with you before anything is deleted.

Report abuse

To report a message, long-press it on a phone or right-click it on a computer and choose Report. To report a person, open their profile and choose Report. Either way you can also Block them, which stops their messages reaching you.

A report goes to us, not to the person you reported. If you would rather write to a person, or the report concerns something outside a conversation, email abuse@railgun.chat.