It helps to include your iPhone model, your iOS version, the app version (Settings, under About) and what you were doing when it went wrong.
Reporting something you saw
Press and hold the message and choose Report Message, then pick a reason. The message is hidden on your device straight away (you can switch that off in the sheet), and you can block the sender in the same step. The app then opens an email to the developer with the server address, channel, sender name and ID, and the message’s ID and text filled in.
What happens next
Every report is read and acted on within 24 hours:
- The report is checked against the Community Standards.
- If it breaks them, the developer contacts that server’s administrator with the details and asks them to remove the content and suspend or ban the account. Haven servers have built-in tools for this.
- Content that suggests a child is at risk, or a credible threat of violence, is also reported to the appropriate authorities (in the US, the NCMEC CyberTipline for child sexual abuse material).
The developer doesn’t run the servers people use the app with. Each server’s administrator is responsible for what’s posted there and is the only person who can remove content or accounts on it. Administrators can set their own terms, and the app shows them when you sign in.
Blocking someone
Press and hold any of their messages and choose Block. Their messages disappear from your view straight away. Settings, Blocked People lists everyone you’ve blocked and lets you undo it. Blocks are kept on this device only: they aren’t sent to the server and don’t carry over to your other devices.
Filtering what you see
Go to Settings, Content Filter. Offensive words are masked by default, and you can add your own. You can also blur pictures until you tap them, and stop pictures hosted on other websites from loading automatically.
Common problems
“Couldn’t reach the server.”
Check the address, including https://, and that the server is running. Servers on a private network or VPN are only reachable when your phone is on that network too.
The server is at a subpath
The app expects Haven at the root of its address (https://haven.example.com), not at a path like https://example.com/haven. Ask the administrator for a root address, such as its own subdomain.
A warning about the certificate
Self-hosted servers often use a certificate your iPhone doesn’t recognize. The app shows you its fingerprint once and remembers your answer.
If the fingerprint later changes, the app refuses to connect, because that can mean someone is intercepting the connection. Check with your server’s administrator before trusting it again.
Two-factor codes are rejected
Your phone’s clock and the server’s must agree. Turn on Set Automatically under Settings, General, Date & Time.
How do I delete my account?
Settings, Delete Account. It asks for your password, then permanently erases your account from that server. The Privacy Policy covers exactly what’s removed.
Copyright complaints
The app doesn’t host any content. Messages, pictures and files are stored on a Haven server run by someone else, or on another website linked from a message, and the developer can’t remove content from servers they don’t run.
If your work is posted on a Haven server, send your notice to that server’s administrator. If you can’t find who runs it, email [email protected] with:
- the server address and channel (a screenshot from the app is fine),
- the work you believe is infringed,
- your contact details,
- a statement that you believe in good faith the use isn’t authorized by the owner, its agent or the law, and that your notice is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you’re the owner or authorized to act for them,
- your physical or electronic signature.
Complete notices are passed to the server’s administrator within 24 hours, and you’ll hear back when that’s done.
If your work is in the app itself (its code, icons or text), email the same address and it will be dealt with directly.
Licenses and source code
The app’s own license, and the full notices for the open-source software inside it (WebRTC), are in the app under Settings, About, Acknowledgements. The app’s source code hasn’t been published yet.