FAQ

Qbee Chat FAQ

This FAQ provides answers to basic questions about Qbee Chat.
Check out our App on Google play store here or on the Amazon App store here

General Questions

Q: What is Qbee Chat? What do I do here?

Qbee Chat is a messaging app with a focus on speed and security, it’s super-fast, simple and free. You can use Qbee Chat on all your devices at the same time — your messages sync seamlessly across any number of your phones, tablets or computers.

With Qbee Chat, you can send messages, photos, videos and files of any type (doc, zip, mp3, etc), as well as create groups for up to 5000 people or channels for broadcasting to unlimited audiences. You can write to your phone contacts and find people by their usernames. As a result, Qbee Chat is like SMS and email combined — and can take care of all your personal or business messaging needs.

Q: Who is Qbee Chat for?

Qbee Chat is for everyone who wants fast and reliable messaging. Business users and small teams may like the large groups, desktop apps and powerful file sharing options. Since Qbee Chat groups can have up to 5000 members, we support replies, mentions and hashtags that help maintain order and keep communication in large communities efficient.

In case you're more into pictures, Qbee Chat has animated gif search, a state of the art photo editor and an open sticker platform (find some cool stickers here or here). What‘s more, there is no need to worry about disk space on your device. With Qbee’s cloud support and cache management options, Qbee Chat can take up nearly zero space on your phone.

Those looking for extra privacy should check out our advanced settings and rather revolutionary policy. And if you want secrecy, try our device-specific Secret Chats with self-destructing messages, photos, and videos — and lock your app with an additional passcode.

Q: How is Qbee Chat different from WhatsApp?

Unlike WhatsApp, Qbee Chat is a cloud-based messenger with seamless sync. As a result, you can access your messages from several devices at once, including tablets and computers, and share an unlimited number of photos, videos and files (doc, zip, mp3, etc.) of up to 1,5 GB each. And if you don't want to store that data on your device, you can always keep it in the cloud.

Thanks to our multi-data center infrastructure and encryption, Qbee Chat is faster and way more secure. On top of that, Qbee Chat is free and will stay free — no ads, no subscription fees, forever.

And that‘s just the tip of the iceberg. Don’t forget to check out this paragraph for even more exclusive stuff.

Q: How old is Qbee ?

The Project Framework of Qbee started in May,2014 when the three Co-Founders talked of making a World leading app that simplifies chatting and instant messaging. The project was aimed at pleasing the users more and improving chatting.

Q: Which devices can I use?

You can use Qbee  on smartphones and tablets on  Android (2.2 and up).

You can log in to Qbee  from as many of your devices as you like — all at the same time. Just use your main mobile phone number to log in everywhere.

Q: Who are the people behind Qbee Chat?

Qbee Chat is supported by Abel Alabi, Emmanuel Alabi and Allen Brown Eke including the ever-supporting Bros. Soft team. Qbee started as an idea to advance the already present features of Telegram and become Nigeria's lead Instant Messaging app and the World entirely. Qbee chat was built under the architecture of Telegram API making the App a look-a-like but with additional features like 24/7 Sporting News highlights and Hollywood's celebrity briefings including celeb gossips..

Qbee chat is currently seeking partnership and sposorship from investors Worldwide who want to help a group of young developers create the next Whatsapp. 

Q: Who are the Bros. Soft Team ?

Abel (Tyler) Alabi A.

Emmanuel (Joey) Alabi

Allen M. Brown-Eke
Alex Bot-mang
Fredrick Pwol
Raphael Pwol

Q: Will you have ads? Or sell my data? Or steal my beloved and enslave my children?

No. But we may show some less annoying ads.

Q: How are you going to make money out of this?

We believe in fast and secure messaging that is very reliable, secure and a lot of fun, but we need some finance to support the team behind this wonderful app. So we generate our revenue through ads which are not annoying and we also receive donations, investments and through our Bot feature which publishers pay to have a customized Qbee Bot.

Q: What are your thoughts on internet privacy?

Big internet companies like Facebook or Google have effectively hijacked the privacy discourse in the recent years. Their marketers managed to convince the public that the most important things about privacy are superficial tools that allow hiding your public posts or your profile pictures from the people around you. Adding these superficial tools enables companies to calm down the public and change nothing in how they are turning over private data to marketers and other third parties.

At Qbee  we think that the two most important components of Internet privacy should be instead:

1. Protecting your private conversations from snooping third parties, such as officials, employers, etc.
2. Protecting your personal data from third parties, such as marketers, advertisers, etc.

This is what everybody should care about, and these are some of our top priorities. Qbee's aim is to create a truly free messenger, without the usual caveats. This means that instead of diverting public attention with low-impact settings, we can afford to focus on the real privacy issues that exist in the modern world.

Q: There's illegal content on Qbee. How do I take it down?

All Qbee's chats and group chats are private amongst their participants. We do not process any requests related to them.

But sticker sets, channels, and bots on Qbee Chat are publicly available. If you find sticker sets or bots on Qbee Chat that you think are illegal, please send a mail to brosnartinteractive@gmail.com

Q: A bot or channel is infringing on my copyright. What do I do?

All Qbee's chats and group chats are private amongst their participants. We do not process any requests related to them. But sticker sets, channels, and bots on Qbee Chat are publicly available.

If you see a bot, channel, or sticker set that is infringing on your copyright, kindly submit a complaint to brosnartinteractive@gmail.com. Please note that such requests should only be submitted by the copyright owner or an agent authorized to act on the owner’s behalf.

Q: Wait! 0_o Do you process take-down requests from third parties?

Our mission is to provide a secure means of communication that work everywhere on the planet. To do that in the places where it is most needed (and to continue distributing Qbee Chat through the App Store and Google Play), we have to process legitimate requests to take down illegal public content (sticker sets, bots, and channels) within the app. For example, we can take down sticker sets that violate intellectual property rights or porn bots.

User-uploaded stickers sets, channels, and bots by third-party developers are not part of the core Qbee Chat UI. Whenever we receive a complaint at brosnartinteractive@gmail.com  regarding the legality of public content, we perform the necessary legal checks and take it down when deemed appropriate.

Please note that this does not apply to local restrictions on freedom of speech. For example, if criticizing the government is illegal in some country, Qbee Chat won‘t be a part of such politically motivated censorship. This goes against our founders’ principles. While we do block terrorist (e.g. ISIS-related) bots and channels, we will not block anybody who peacefully expresses alternative opinions.

Qbee Chat Basics

Q: Who can I write to?

You can write to people who are in your phone contacts and have a Qbee Chat account and a Qbee Chat account, making it more interactive between both platforms.

You can also select a public username for your Qbee Chat account. Other people will be able to search and find you by that username — and send messages to you even if they don't know your number. 

Q: How do I know who in my contacts has Qbee Chat?

Your contacts, who have Qbee Chat and Qbee Chat, are shown at the top of your Contacts. They also have pictures.

Q: How do I invite my friends?

iOS: The basic invitations are simple SMS messages. They will be charged as standard outgoing SMS by your carrier (unless sent via iMessage). Naturally, you have other options to bring your friends here. Try sending them a download link via any other messaging service: email, Facebook, WhatsApp, an actual Qbee Chat — you name it. 

Android: Open the app menu (swipe right in chats list) — Invite Friends. Then choose an application via which you would like to send out invitations.

Windows Phone: Go to Contacts — Invite Friends. Then choose an application via which you would like to send out invitations.

Q: What do the green checks mean?

One check — message delivered to the Qbee Chat cloud and your friend has been notified if he allows notifications.
Two checks — message read (your friend opened Qbee Chat and opened the conversation with the message).

We don‘t have a ’delivered to device' status for messages because Qbee Chat can run on as many devices as you want. So which particular one would that check mean?

Q: Can I hide my ‘last seen’ time?

You can choose who sees this info in Privacy and Security settings.

Remember that you won‘t see Last Seen timestamps for people with whom you don’t share your own. You will, however, see an approximate last seen value. This keeps stalkers away but makes it possible to understand whether a person is reachable over Qbee Chat. There are four possible approximate values:

• Last seen recently — covers anything between 1 second and 2-3 days
• Last seen within a week — between 2-3 and seven days
• Last seen within a month — between 6-7 days and a month
• Last seen long time ago — more than a month (this is also always shown to blocked users)

Q: Who can see me ‘online’?

The last seen rules apply to your online status as well. People can only see you online if you're sharing your last seen status with them. There is one exception to this: people will be able to see you online for a brief period when you send them a message in a one-on-one chat or in a group where you both are members.

Q: Can I make calls or video calls via Qbee Chat?

We specialize in sending messages, large media and files — and we do this better than anyone out there. There are still many things that we can revolutionize in messaging. And messaging is obviously trending at the moment, so our focus remains in that area for now.

Groups, Supergroups, and Channels

Q: Why are supergroups cool?

Qbee Chat Supergroups can have up to 5000 members each and are extremely powerful communication tools. Here are a few key features that make them stand out in the messaging world:

Unified history
Edit your messages after posting, delete them so that they disappear for everyone.

Cross-platform availability
Access your messages anytime, from any number of your mobile or desktop devices.

Instant search
Find the message you're looking for, even among millions.

Replies, mentions, hashtags
Easily trace a conversation and keep communication efficient, no matter the group size.

Smart notifications
Mute the group to get notifications only when people mention you or reply to your messages.

File sharing
Send and receive files of any type, up to 1,5 GB in size each, access them instantly on your other devices.

Q: What's the difference between groups, supergroups, and channels?

Qbee Chat groups are ideal for sharing stuff with friends and family or collaboration in small teams, they can have up to 200 members and by default everyone can add new people and edit the name and group photo.

If your group grows to a very large community, you can upgrade it into a more centralized supergroup. Supergroups can have up to 5000 members and have a unified history, deleted messages will disappear for everyone.

Channels are a tool for broadcasting public messages to large audiences. In fact, a channel can have an unlimited number of members. When you post in a channel, the message is signed with the channel's name and photo and not your own.

Q: How do I create a group?

On your Android Device: Tap the circular pencil icon in the chats list. Then ‘New Group’.

Q: Can I assign administrators?

Qbee Chat groups are democratic by design. Everyone can invite new members and change the group‘s name and photo, which is ideal for small bands of friends or coworkers. For larger communities that need more administration, we’ve introduced a special restricted mode.

In the restricted mode, only administrators can add new people and change the name and photo of the group. Admins also have the power to remove other members from the group.

Android: Go to Group Info (tap the name in the header) — … (in the top right corner) — Set Admins. Disable ‘All Members Are Admins’ and appoint admins from the list.

Q: How do I add more members? What's an invite link?

You can add your contacts, or using search by username.

It is easy to migrate existing groups to Qbee Chat by sending people an invite link. To create an invite link, go to Group Info — Add Member — Invite to Group via Link.

Anyone who has Qbee  installed will be able to join your group by following this link. If you choose to revoke the link, it will stop working immediately.

Q: What can I use as my username?

You can use a-z, 0-9 and underscores. Usernames are case-insensitive, but Qbee Chat will store your capitalization preferences (e.g. Qbee  and Qbee is the same user). The username must be at least five characters long.

Q: Do I need a username?

You don‘t have to get one. Remember that Qbee usernames are public and choosing a username on Qbee  makes it possible for people to find you in global search and send you messages even if they don’t have your number. If you are not comfortable with this, we advise against setting up a username.

Q: How do I delete my username?

Go to Settings and save an empty username. This will remove your username; people will no longer be able to find you via search. This will not affect existing conversations.

Q: What do I do if my username is taken?

Qbee  usernames are distributed on a first come — first serve basis.

We understand that certain usernames are part of an online identity for some of us. If your desired username is already taken, we will be happy to help you acquire it for your account or channel, provided that you have that same username on at least two of these services: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.

Due to the fact that one account can register multiple bot and channel usernames, we reserve the right to recall usernames assigned to unused bots and channels, as well as openly squatted usernames.

Please contact our in-app Support if you have more questions (Settings — Ask a question). Notice that we rely on volunteers support in Qbee  (so please be nice). Ping us on Twitter if you get no response within a day or so.

Security

Q: How secure is Qbee Chat?

Qbee Chat is more secure than mass market messengers like WhatsApp and Line. We are based on the MTProto protocol (see description and advanced FAQ), built upon time-tested algorithms to make security compatible with high-speed delivery and reliability on weak connections. We are continuously working with the community to improve the security of our protocol and clients.

Q: What if I’m more paranoid than your regular user?

We've got you covered. Qbee’s special secret chats use end-to-end encryption, leave no trace on our servers, support self-destructing messages and don’t allow forwarding. On top of this, secret chats are not part of the Qbee Chat cloud and can only be accessed on their devices of origin.

Q: So how do you encrypt data?

We support two layers of secure encryption. Server-client encryption is used in Cloud Chats (private and group chats), Secret Chats use an additional layer of client-client encryption. All data, regardless of type, is encrypted in the same way — be it text, media or files.

Our encryption is based on 256-bit symmetric AES encryption, 2048-bit RSA encryption, and Diffie–Hellman secure key exchange. You can find more info in the Advanced FAQ.

Q: Do I need to trust Qbee Chat for this to be secure?

When it comes to secret chats, you don‘t — just make sure that the visualized key of your secret chat matches the one in your friend’s secret chat settings. More about this below.

Q: Can Qbee Chat protect me against everything?

Qbee Chat can help when it comes to data transfer and secure communication. This means that all data (including media and files) that you send and receive via Qbee Chat cannot be deciphered when intercepted by your ISP, network administrator or other third parties.

But please remember that we cannot protect you from your own mother if she takes your unlocked phone without a passcode. Or from your IT-department if they access your computer at work. Or from any other people that get physical or root access to your phones or computers running Qbee Chat.

If you have reasons to worry about your personal security, we strongly recommend using only Secret Chats in official or at least verifiable open-source apps for sensitive information, preferably with a self-destruct timer. We also recommend enabling 2-Step Verification and setting up a strong passcode to lock your app, you will find both options in Settings — Privacy and Security.

Q: How does 2-Step Verification work?

Logging in with an SMS code is an industry standard in messaging, but if you're looking for more security or have reasons to doubt your mobile carrier or government, we recommend protecting your cloud chats with an additional password.

You can do this in Settings – Privacy and Security – 2-Step Verification. Once enabled, you will need both an SMS code and a password to log in. You can also set up a recovery email address that will help regain access, should you forget your password. If you do so, please remember that it's important that the recovery email account is also protected with a strong password and 2-Step Verification when possible.

Secret Chats

Q: How are secret chats different?

Secret chats are meant for people who want more secrecy than the average fella. All messages in secret chats use end-to-end encryption. This means only you and the recipient can read those messages — nobody else can decipher them, including us here at Qbee Chat (more on this here). Messages cannot be forwarded from secret chats. And when you delete messages on your side of the conversation, the app on the other side of the secret chat will be ordered to delete them as well.

You can order your messages, photos, videos and files to self-destruct in a set amount of time after they have been read or opened by the recipient. The message will then disappear from both your and your friend's devices.

All secret chats in Qbee Chat are device-specific and are not part of the Qbee Chat cloud. This means you can only access messages in a secret chat from their device of origin. They are safe for as long as your device is safe in your pocket.

Q: How do I start a secret chat?

Android: Swipe right to open the menu, then ‘New secret chat’.

Remember that Qbee Chat secret chats are device-specific. If you start a secret chat with a friend on one of your devices, this chat will only be available on that device. If you log out, you will lose all your secret chats. You can create as many different secret chats with the same contact as you like.

Q: Why not just make all chats ‘secret’?

All Qbee Chat messages are always securely encrypted. Messages in Secret Chats use client-client encryption, while Cloud Chats use client-server/server-client encryption and are stored encrypted in the Qbee Chat Cloud . This enables your cloud messages to be both secure and immediately accessible from any of your devices – even if you lose your device altogether.

The problem of restoring access to your chat history on a newly connected device (e.g. when you lose your phone) does not have an elegant solution in the end-to-end encryption paradigm. At the same time, reliable backups are an essential feature for any mass-market messenger. To solve this problem, some applications (like Whatsapp and Viber) allow unencrypted backups that put their users' privacy at risk – even if they do not enable backups themselves. Other apps ignore the need for backups altogether and fade into oblivion before ever reaching a million users.

We opted for a third approach by offering two distinct types of chats. Qbee Chat disables default system backups and provides all users with an integrated security-focused backup solution in the form of Cloud Chats. Meanwhile, the separate entity of Secret Chats gives you full control over the data you do not want to be stored.

This allows Qbee Chat to be widely adopted in broad circles, not just by activists and dissidents so that the simple fact of using Qbee Chat does not mark users as targets for heightened surveillance in certain countries. We are convinced that the separation of conversations into Cloud and Secret chats represents the most secure solution currently possible for a massively popular messaging application.

Your Account

Q: How do I log out?

Remember, that you can use Qbee Chat on as many devices at the same time, as you like. If you log out, you don't lose your cloud messages. However, you will lose all your Secret Chats and all messages inside them when you log out. Note that logging out doesn‘t trigger remote deletion of your secret chat messages on your partner’s device — to do that, choose ‘clear history’ first.

Android: Go to Settings, then Log out.

Q: How do I change my phone number?

You can change your number in Qbee Chat and keep everything, including all your contacts, messages, and media from the Qbee Chat cloud, as well as all your Secret Chats on all devices.

Important: Your mutual contacts (people in your contacts who also have your number) will get your new number added to your contact in their address book unless you have blocked them in Qbee Chat. This makes changing numbers even easier.

To change your number, go to Settings, then tap on your phone number (just above the username), then ‘Change Number’. If you already have a different Qbee Chat account on the target number, you'll need to delete that account first.

Q: How do I delete my account?

If you would like to delete your account, you can do this on the deactivation page. Deleting your account permanently removes all your messages, groups and contacts. This action must be confirmed via your Qbee Chat account and cannot be undone.

We recommend using a non-mobile browser for this process.
Note that you'll receive the code via Qbee Chat, not SMS.

Q: What happens if I delete my account?

As was just mentioned above, all your data will be flushed from our system: all messages, groups, and contacts associated with your account will be deleted. That said, your contacts will still be able to chat in the groups that you have created, and they will still have their copy of the messages you sent them. So if you want to send messages that can vanish without a trace, try using our self-destruct timer instead.

Your supergroups, bots, and channels will be deleted completely, together with all the messages for all users. All usernames associated with your account, including bot and channel usernames, will be freed.

Termination of a Qbee Chat account is irreversible. If you sign up again, you will appear as a new user and will not get your history, contacts or groups back. People, who have your phone number in their contacts, will be notified. The new user will be displayed as a separate conversation in their messages list and their conversation history with this new user will be empty.

Q: My phone was stolen. What do I do?

First of all, sorry about your phone. Unfortunately, the phone number is the only way for us to identify a Qbee Chat user at the moment. We don‘t collect additional information about you, so whoever has the number, has the account. This means we can’t help you unless you have access either to the phone number or to Qbee Chat itself on any of your devices.

I have access to Qbee Chat on another device

1. Go to Qbee Chat Settings — Privacy and Security and turn on Two-Step Verification. This way the phone number alone will not be enough to log in to your account.
2. Go to Settings — Privacy and Security — Active Sessions and terminate your Qbee Chat session on the old device. Whoever has your phone will not be able to log in again, since they don't know your password.
3. Contact your phone provider, so that they block your old SIM and issue a new one with your number.
4. If you decide to switch to a new phone number, don't forget to go to Settings, tap on your phone number and change your Qbee Chat number to the new one.

I don't have access to Qbee Chat on any other devices

1. First and foremost, you need to contact your phone provider, so that they block your old SIM and issue a new one with your number.
2. Wait till you receive your new SIM with the old number, log in to Qbee Chat, then go to Settings — Privacy and Security — Active Sessions and terminate your Qbee Chat session on the old device.

Troubleshooting

Login and SMS

Please make sure you are entering your mobile phone number in the international format. I.e.: +(country code)(city or carrier code)(your number).

If you are having registration or login problems, 

Notification problems

Android:

We currently have two types of notifications on Android: GCM and our own custom notification service that is independent from Google. Note that Google notifications (GCM) just won‘t work properly on some Android devices. The Qbee Chat notification service is reliable but requires additional battery resources. It doesn’t and shouldn't take much, though, so please report all drastic battery-draining cases immediately.

1. Go to Qbee Chat Settings — Notifications and Sounds, make sure that notifications are ON.
2. Check, whether contact or group is muted.
3. If the Qbee Chat Notifications Service is disabled, make sure Google Play Services are installed on your phone.
4. If the Qbee Chat Notifications Service is enabled and your phone uses some battery saving software, make sure that Qbee Chat is whitelisted in that application.

Problems with contacts

If you know your friends have Qbee Chat, but you can't see them — or they appear as numbers instead of names.

Android:

1. Make sure you are using the latest version of the app.
2. Relaunch the app (by terminating it from processes list and launching again).
3. Temporarily change the name of the contact in phone contacts (add a few symbols, then change back again).
4. If that didn't help, try to re-login.

Deleting contacts on Android 

To delete a contact, open a chat with the person, tap on their profile photo in the top area of the chat screen, then:

Android: Tap on ‘…’ in the top right corner — ‘Delete’.

If you want to delete the contact completely, make sure you also delete them from your phone contacts. Qbee Chat stays in sync and will add the contact back if you don't.

Where did my Secret Chat messages go?

Secret Chats are established between the two devices they were created on. This means that all those messages are not available in the cloud and cannot be accessed on other devices.

Moreover, Secret Chats are also tied to your current login session on the device. If you log out and in again, you will lose all your Secret Chats.

Can't send messages to non-contacts

When users report unwanted messages from a Qbee Chat account, we apply a limit: Reported accounts can only send messages to people who have their number saved as a contact.

This means that if you randomly contact people you don't know and send them annoying messages, you may lose the ability to do so in the future.

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