FAQ

Badlands is a privately operated Matrix homeserver. It's volunteer-run — not a company, not a startup, not backed by investors. There's no monetization model because there's nothing to monetize. The server exists because federated, private communication infrastructure should exist.

Registration on Badlands requires a token to prevent spam accounts. The current token is BadlandsDocs — enter it exactly as shown, it's case-sensitive. You'll be prompted for it during account creation on the registration screen. If you're having trouble, check the Get Started guide.

For desktop or browser use, Badlands runs a custom Cinny build at cinny.badlands.pw — it supports voice and video and can be installed as a PWA (no app store needed, install from the browser address bar). For mobile, Element X on iOS or Android is the recommended client — point it at matrix.badlands.pw as the homeserver. Any standard Matrix client will work — you're not locked to ours.

Start with the Badlands community room at #badlands:badlands.pw — it's the main gathering space. Beyond that, Matrix is federated: you can join public rooms on any homeserver. The Matrix Space Directory lists thousands of public rooms across the network. Anyone with a Matrix address on any server can be messaged directly.

Encrypted rooms cannot be read by server operators — not even us. Encryption happens on your device before anything leaves it. Public, unencrypted rooms are visible to moderators, the same as any open chat. We strongly recommend enabling encryption in any room where privacy matters.

We don't require any personal identity information — no email, no phone, no real name. Your account is a username and password, nothing more. However, your Matrix address (@you:badlands.pw) is visible to anyone you interact with, and what you say in rooms is visible to the members of those rooms. Anonymity depends on what you share, not just what we collect.

Short answer: very little. We have your username, which rooms you're in, and temporary IP logs for abuse prevention. We do not have your email, phone, real name, or any message content from encrypted rooms — that's encrypted before it reaches us. Passwords are stored as salted hashes, not plaintext. See the Security page for the full breakdown.

No. This server is completely volunteer-run. We will never ask for payment, collect your personal data, or display ads. If the service grows beyond what we can reasonably support, we may limit new registrations to keep infrastructure costs manageable — but the service for existing users will not change.

Because Badlands doesn't collect email addresses, there is no automated password reset. If you lose your password, submit a support request and a server admin can manually reset it. Note that a password reset does not affect your encryption keys — your recovery key is separate, and you'll still need it to access your encrypted message history on new devices.

Yes. Account deactivation is fully supported via your account settings. Keep in mind that encrypted messages already delivered to other devices cannot be retroactively removed — that's a property of end-to-end encryption, not a limitation specific to Badlands.

Yes. You can log in from as many devices as you want. When adding a new device, you'll be asked to verify it using your existing device or your recovery key — this ensures no unauthorized device gains access to your encrypted messages. Until verified, some encrypted history may not load on the new device.

Use the contact page for account issues, reports, or anything that needs admin attention. You can also ask in the main Badlands room once you're set up — the community is small and active. For password resets specifically, a support request gets the fastest response.

Your recovery key is the only way to access your encrypted message history on a new device. We don't store it — it never leaves your control. If you lose it, your encrypted history is gone permanently and cannot be recovered by anyone. Store it somewhere safe: a password manager, encrypted notes app, or a physical printout kept offline. Do not store it in an unencrypted file or a cloud note.

You can reset your recovery key in Element or Cinny under Settings → Security. After a reset, future messages will be recoverable on new devices using the new key. However, any encrypted messages from before the reset are permanently inaccessible on new devices — they're not deleted, just unreadable without the old key. This is by design. Your existing logged-in devices are unaffected.

When you log in on a new device, the client shows an "unverified session" warning. This is normal — it's not a security breach. It means the new device hasn't been confirmed as belonging to you yet. Dismiss it by verifying from an existing logged-in device (look for the verification prompt there), or by entering your recovery key. Until verified, some encrypted messages may not load on the new device.

Cross-signing is how Matrix links all your devices under one verified identity. When you verify a new device using an existing one, you're cross-signing it — confirming to the network that both devices belong to you. Contacts who have verified you will see a single trusted identity rather than a list of unverified devices. It's also how the "unverified session" warning gets cleared. Set it up once and it works automatically for all future devices.

End-to-end encrypted messages can only be decrypted by devices that hold the appropriate session keys. When you add a new device, it doesn't automatically have keys for old sessions. To restore history: verify the new device from an existing logged-in device, or use your recovery key. Without one of those two, old encrypted messages will show as undecryptable on the new device — the content exists on the server as ciphertext, but there's no key to open it.

Yes — this is one of Matrix's core features. You can message or join rooms with anyone on any Matrix homeserver, not just Badlands users. Think of it like email: you have a @you:badlands.pw address, but you can reach @someone:matrix.org or any other federated server. The servers talk to each other automatically.

Discord is a centralized, for-profit platform. They can change rules, ban communities, read messages, sell data, or shut down with no recourse. Matrix is infrastructure — an open protocol, not a product. No single company controls it, your data isn't the revenue model, and no single company can take it away. See the full comparison for a detailed breakdown.

Because Matrix is federated, you can migrate your account to another homeserver if Badlands ever goes away. Your contacts exist across the network, and rooms hosted on other servers remain fully accessible. We'd give as much notice as possible before any shutdown and provide migration instructions. Your community doesn't depend on us staying online — that's the point.

Yes. Badlands runs LiveKit, a self-hosted media server that powers Element Call. You can make encrypted voice and video calls directly inside Cinny or Element — no third-party service involved. One-on-one calls and group calls are both supported. Audio and video never route through a third party.