Help

Ellidiya is a messenger made in India. You chat, share photos and files, make voice and video calls, and post Jhalak (short updates that disappear after 24 hours), all with your mobile number.

Get the Ellidiya app for your Android phone or iPhone from ellidiya.com/app. You can also use Ellidiya on your computer, linked to your phone.

Your phone is your main device. You can also link a computer to it and use both at the same time.

• Private by default: people see your name and photo, and your online status only if you allow it. You can hide your internet address in calls.
• Light: works on slow networks and older phones, with a data saver for mobile data.
• Your language: menus in English, हिन्दी, ಕನ್ನಡ, தமிழ், తెలుగు, मराठी and বাংলা.
• Your backup: save your chats to your own Google Drive.

1. Install the Ellidiya app (see below) and open it.
2. Type your mobile number and tap continue. We send a 6-digit code by SMS.
3. Type the code. The first time, choose the name people will see.

To see which number you are signed in with, open ⚙ Settings: your number is shown at the top.

• Android: go to ellidiya.com/app (or tap the Ellidiya link a friend sent you) and tap Download Ellidiya. Open the downloaded file and tap Install.
• iPhone: open your Ellidiya link in Safari, tap the Share button → Add to Home Screen → Add.

Ellidiya then appears on your home screen like your other apps, and in your phone's share menu, so you can share photos to it from the gallery.

1. On the computer, open ellidiya.com/computer. A QR code appears.
2. On your phone, open ⚙ Settings → Linked devices → Link a computer.
3. Point the phone's camera at the code on the computer screen.

You can see and remove linked computers in Linked devices at any time. No camera on the phone? Tap Sign in with an SMS code instead on the computer.

Tap New chat → Find my contacts and allow Contacts when your phone asks. Ellidiya shows which of your contacts are already here; tap one to chat. The rest are listed under Invite to Ellidiya: tap Invite to send them your invite link by SMS from your own phone.

Only phone numbers are checked, and they aren't stored. Names stay on your phone. Tap Refresh contacts after you add new people.

Open the menu and tap My invite link. Share the link or let them scan your QR code. When they join, you can chat straight away.

• Chat: a 1-to-1 conversation. Start one with New chat and the person's mobile number.
• Group: many people in one conversation. Admins can add or remove people, make others admin, and share a group link or QR code.
• Broadcast list: send one message to many people at once. Each person gets it as a normal 1-to-1 message from you and can't see who else got it. Only people you already chat with can be added.

In a chat you can send text, emoji, photos, files up to 25 MB, voice messages, your location, a contact, a poll, and view-once photos that can be opened only once.

Press and hold a message (or right-click on a computer) to see what you can do with it.

• Edit: your own text messages, within 30 minutes.
• Delete for everyone: your own messages, within 24 hours. After that you can still remove it from your own phone.
• Star: saves it to Starred messages so you can find it later.
• React, Reply, Forward, Copy text, Report.

Jhalak is a short update (text, a photo, or a video up to 30 seconds) that disappears after 24 hours. Only people you have a 1-to-1 chat with can see it. You can see who viewed yours, and delete it early.

Open a chat and tap the phone (voice) or camera (video) button at the top. The other person's phone rings. For a video call they can answer with Video or Voice only. During a call the buttons are Mute, Camera (turn your video on or off), Flip (front or back camera) and End. A small label shows how good the connection is: Good, Fair or Weak.

Ellidiya needs permission to use your microphone (and camera for video). Your phone asks the first time; tap Allow.

• Quiet: silence a chat's alerts for a while or always. Messages still arrive.
• Pin: keep a chat at the top of your list.
• Archive: hide a chat from the main list without deleting it.
• Disappearing messages: new messages delete themselves after 24 hours, 7 days or 90 days. Set it per chat from the chat menu, or for all new chats in Settings.

Open ⚙ Settings → Chat backup to save your chats to your own Google Drive. On a new phone, sign in with the same number; your chats, groups and contacts come back with your account.

Language changes the menus and buttons. Messages always stay exactly as people wrote them.

Data saver downloads photos only when you tap them, and makes the photos you send smaller. Choose On mobile data or Always.

When you make a group, choose Family group (members see each other's phone numbers, like a home or society group) or Business group (numbers stay hidden). An admin can change a family group into a business group later, but not the other way, because people joined it expecting their number to stay private.

In a chat, tap ⋮ → Media, links and docs to find every photo, video, link and document shared there.

Delete chat removes the whole conversation from your account for good. Ellidiya first shows you the photos and files in it so you can save them; ones already saved on your phone stay on your phone. The other person keeps their copy.

Shops and small businesses can use the Ellidiya Business app (download it from ellidiya.com/app, or open business.ellidiya.com), or turn on ⚙ Settings → Ellidiya Business in the normal app. One number is either personal or business; to have both on one phone, use your personal number in Ellidiya and your shop number in Ellidiya Business.

• Business profile: category, about, address, hours, website and email. Customers see it from ⋮ → Business profile and catalogue, with "Open now" or "Closed now".
• Catalogue: items with a photo and price. Customers tap Ask about this to start a message about an item. The free plan has up to 20 items; Business Pro up to 500.
• Labels: press and hold a chat to mark it New customer, New order, Paid, Pending payment or Delivered, then filter by label above your chat list.
• Quick replies: type / and a shortcut (like /thx) to send a saved message. Greeting and away messages are sent for you automatically and are marked "Automatic reply".

Automatic replies and messages with businesses that use bots are sent through Ellidiya's servers and are not end-to-end encrypted. Ordinary messages you type yourself are.

In ⚙ Settings → Bots you can set reminders, get calendar alerts, forward email to a chat, and make simple bots of your own.

Messages, photos, voice notes, videos, documents, locations and contacts in your 1-to-1 chats, groups and broadcast lists are locked on your phone before they are sent. Only the phones of the people in that chat, and your own linked computers, can unlock them.

• Check it: in a 1-to-1 chat, tap ⋮ then Encryption · security code. Compare the 60 digits with the other person, in person or on a call. If they match, tap They match.
• "Security code changed": usually they got a new phone or signed in again. If you are unsure, check the code with them again.
• Not encrypted: chats with bots and businesses (their service reads your messages to answer them), votes, Jhalak, names and profile photos.
• 🔒 "Can't be shown on this device": the message was sent before this phone or computer had your keys, for example on a new phone without a backup PIN, or on a computer linked before October 2026. Link the computer again from your phone.

Your keys live on your phone. A backup PIN saves them, locked with that PIN, so a new phone can unlock your earlier messages. Set it in Settings → Backup PIN.

• Use at least 6 digits, and not an easy one like 123456. Ellidiya never sees your PIN.
• On a new phone, sign in with your number and enter the PIN when Ellidiya asks.
• After 5 wrong PINs you wait an hour. After 10 the backup is erased for your safety.
• If you forget the PIN, nobody can recover your earlier messages, not even Ellidiya. New messages work as usual.
• Chat backup to Google Drive is separate: it saves a copy of your chats in your own Drive.

Open the chat → menu → Block. A blocked person can't message or call you, and can't see your online status or Jhalak. Unblock any time from ⚙ Settings → Blocked people.

To report a message, press and hold it → Report. To report a person, use Report in the chat menu. Reports go to the Ellidiya team for review.

⚙ Settings → Delete my account removes your name, number, photo, Jhalak, groups, broadcast lists, bots and reminders for good. Messages you already sent stay with the people who received them. This can't be undone.

Never share your 6-digit code with anyone, not even someone who says they are from Ellidiya. We never ask for it. Anyone with your code can sign in as you. If you shared it by mistake, sign in again on your own phone straight away and check Linked devices.

Calling… and it never changes to Ringing:

• Usually your own internet. Check that other apps can go online. Switch between Wi-Fi and mobile data and try again.

Ringing… but the other person's phone doesn't ring:

• Their phone may be off, have no internet, or be in battery saver.
• They need Message alerts turned on in Ellidiya (Settings → Notifications) for calls to ring when the app is closed.
• Send them a message first. If it stays at one grey tick, their phone isn't online.

Connecting… after they answer, and it hangs (then says Call could not connect):

1. Switch networks. Turn Wi-Fi off and try on mobile data (or the other way round). Some office, college, hotel and public Wi-Fi networks block calls.
2. Turn off VPN, ad blockers or "data saver" apps on both phones, then try again.
3. Close and reopen Ellidiya on both phones so both have the latest version.
4. Try a voice call first. If voice works but video doesn't, the connection is too weak for video right now.
5. Call someone else. If other calls work, the problem is on the other person's side: ask them to try these steps too.

On another call: the person is already on a call. Try again later.

No answer or Declined: the phone rang but they didn't pick up, or they pressed decline.

Ellidiya was blocked from the camera or mic (usually by tapping Don't allow once). Turn it back on:

• Android: press and hold the Ellidiya icon on your home screen → Site settings → set Camera and Microphone to Allow. Then close and reopen Ellidiya.
• iPhone: open the Settings app → Safari → Camera and Microphone → Allow. Then close and reopen Ellidiya.
• Computer: click the small icon at the left end of the address bar at the top → allow Camera and Microphone. On Windows also check Settings → Privacy → Camera / Microphone → "Let desktop apps access". On Mac check System Settings → Privacy & Security → Camera / Microphone.

If only the camera is blocked, Ellidiya still connects the call as voice: you see the other person, and they see your photo.

Another app is using it: a phone call, WhatsApp, Zoom, Meet, Teams or a camera app. Close that app (or end the other call) and try again. On a computer, also close other windows that use the camera.

• Look at the label on the call screen. Weak connection means the internet on one side is slow. Move closer to the Wi-Fi router, or go where mobile signal is better.
• Turn video off. Voice needs very little data and stays clear on weak networks.
• Pause big downloads, video streaming or phone backups while you talk.
• On a computer with a plug-in USB Wi-Fi adapter, a cable or a better adapter often helps a lot.
• For smoother calls on weak networks you can turn off Protect my IP address in calls in Settings. The other person may then be able to see your internet address.
• Echo? Use earphones, or lower the speaker volume.

When the network blinks (for example, moving from Wi-Fi to mobile data), Ellidiya tries to bring the call back on its own. Stay on the call for a few seconds. If it ends, call again. If it happens often, check the tips for poor quality above.

On a computer, open Ellidiya in an up-to-date Chrome, Edge or Safari (ellidiya.com/computer). On phones, always use the Ellidiya app, and keep your phone's apps updated from the Play Store or App Store.

• Check the number, and that the right country is chosen (tap the flag next to the number).
• Wait 30 seconds, then tap Resend code.
• Make sure your phone has signal, and isn't blocking messages from businesses (some phones have a "spam" or "promotions" folder; look there too).
• In India, codes arrive even with DND on. If they don't, try again after a few minutes.
• Using a computer? Link it from your phone with the QR code instead; no SMS needed.

• Clock: your phone has no internet. It sends by itself when you are back online.
• One tick for a long time: the other person's phone is offline or switched off. It changes to two ticks when they come online.
• Never get past one tick with one person? They may have blocked you.

1. In Ellidiya, open ⚙ Settings → Message alerts and tap Turn on. Allow notifications when asked.
2. On iPhone, open Ellidiya from its home screen icon.
3. Check the chat isn't set to Quiet.
4. Android: phone Settings → Apps → Ellidiya → Notifications → allowed. Turn off battery saver, and set Battery to Unrestricted for Ellidiya.
5. Check the phone isn't on Do Not Disturb.

• With Data saver on, photos show blurred until you tap them. That's normal.
• Files can be up to 25 MB. For bigger files, share a link instead.
• Jhalak videos can be up to 30 seconds.
• On a slow network, wait a moment or switch to Wi-Fi.

• Use your phone's Ellidiya: ⚙ Settings → Linked devices → Link a computer. Not the phone's normal camera app.
• Allow the camera when asked. Clean the lens, make the computer screen brighter, and hold the phone 20–30 cm away.
• The code refreshes after a while. If it has changed, scan the new one.
• Or click Sign in with an SMS code instead on the computer.

Sign in again with your number and SMS code; your chats are still there. On a computer, link it again from your phone. If you didn't sign out yourself, check Linked devices and remove anything you don't recognise.

Ellidiya updates itself. Close it completely (swipe it away from recent apps) and open it again. On a computer, press Ctrl+Shift+R (Mac: Cmd+Shift+R).

• "Install blocked" or "For your security…": tap Settings on that message and turn on Allow from this source, then go back and tap Install.
• "Unsafe app blocked" or a Play Protect message: tap More details → Install anyway. Ellidiya isn't on the Play Store yet, which is why your phone asks.
• "App not installed": free up some space, delete the old download, and download it again from ellidiya.com/app.
• Ellidiya may already be installed: look for it on your home screen.
• iPhone: there is no download; use Safari's Share → Add to Home Screen.

Most problems go away if you try these, in order:

1. Check your internet: see if other apps can go online.
2. Close and reopen Ellidiya.
3. Switch between Wi-Fi and mobile data.
4. Restart your phone.
5. Update your phone's apps from the Play Store or App Store.