No Phone Number
Most messengers ask for your phone number before you can chat. Buzzio does not. Your public address is a Buzzio ID — a randomly generated 12-digit number — plus a 12-word recovery phrase created on your device.
Why we skipped phone numbers
A phone number is a lifelong personal identifier. When chat identity is glued to a SIM:
- Your messaging graph can be tied to carriers, contacts uploads, and spam
- Losing or changing numbers becomes an account crisis
- People who want privacy still have to hand over a real-world endpoint
Buzzio separates reachability from personal contact details. You can chat without giving us a personal phone number or email inbox as your account.
How Buzzio identity works
- At account creation, the app generates a 12-word recovery phrase on your device.
- Separately, it creates a cryptographically random 12-digit Buzzio ID and checks that it is unused.
- Messaging keys are derived locally from the mnemonic — not from the Buzzio ID.
- The Buzzio ID becomes your address; public key material is published so others can encrypt to you.
Important: the Buzzio ID is not mathematically derived from the phrase. Signing in on another device needs both your Buzzio ID and your 12-word phrase.
What it is not tied to
| Identifier | Required? |
|---|---|
| Personal phone number | No |
| Personal email | No |
| Device IMEI as identity | No |
| Government ID | No |
Optional @username (letters, numbers, underscore) can map to the same account for discovery. Contact sync stays off by default.
What you control
Privacy settings let you decide who can see your Buzzio ID, username, photo, bio, last seen, and who may add you to groups.
Tradeoffs (honest)
- There is no “SMS reset” if you lose both your devices and your recovery phrase.
- Keep the phrase offline somewhere safe. Buzzio never receives it and cannot rebuild your private keys without it.