# Rún – Private Messenger — Private messenger over Tor

> Private messenger over Tor (iPhone/iPad app by Vikstrom Group AB.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/run-private-messenger/id6762006510 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Vikstrom Group AB](https://appshunter.io/developer/1892416823)
- Category: Social Networking
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 16.0 · 29 MB
- Languages: American English, Arabic, Danish, Finnish, French (France), German (Germany), Macedonian, Norwegian Bokmål, Persian, Russian and 3 more
- Released: 2026-07-13
- Data updated: 2026-09-10
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/run-private-messenger/id6762006510/reviews.md

## What is Rún?

Rún is a secure messenger built for people who refuse to compromise on privacy. Every message is end-to-end encrypted before it leaves your device, and the keys ratchet forward as you chat — so even if one key were ever exposed, the rest of the conversation stays sealed. No server, no company, and no government can read your conversations.

Rún requires no account, no phone number, and no email address. There is nothing to link back to your identity. Contacts are added in person by scanning QR codes, or through a vouched introduction from someone you already trust — no central directory, no contact discovery, no social graph.

All traffic is routed through the Tor network, hiding your IP address and location even from Rún's own relay. An observer monitoring your network sees only encrypted Tor traffic — they cannot tell who you are talking to or what you are saying. Messages are padded to fixed sizes, so not even the length of a message leaks.

Messages live in memory only — they are never written to disk. Leave a chat or close the app, and they are gone. There is no message history to scroll through, no archive to subpoena, and no backup to leak. The relay stores only temporary encrypted blobs it cannot read, in inboxes that expire on their own.

Your vault is encrypted at rest with AES-256 via SQLCipher, its key derived with Argon2id and protected by the device keychain, tied to this device only. You choose how hard it is to reach:

• Decent — quick PIN unlock, with relaxed auto-lock and self-wipe timers.
• Secure — the vault key is also bound to the Secure Enclave, behind Face ID or Touch ID. A seized phone strongly resists offline attacks.
• Maximum — the PIN is replaced by a strong passphrase and the timers are at their tightest. Even a fully imaged phone stays shut.

At every level Rún locks itself when idle, wipes after too many wrong unlock attempts, and self-destructs after a long stretch of inactivity — how strict is set by the level you choose. A wipe erases the encryption keys themselves, leaving nothing recoverable.

Group chats live only on their members' phones. Every group message is sent privately to each member — on the wire it is indistinguishable from a one-to-one chat, so no one watching can tell a group exists.

No analytics. No tracking. No advertising. No crash reporting. No cloud backups. Rún never phones home. By default it stays silent — no notifications — and you simply see your messages when you open the app. You can optionally turn notifications on; if you do, a content-free wake-up signal routes through Apple's push servers, which learn only that something arrived and when — never who it is from or what it says — and Rún tells you exactly this before you enable it.

Rún is built for journalists, activists, whistleblowers, and anyone who believes private conversation is a fundamental right.

Key features:
- End-to-end encryption with forward secrecy (AES-256-GCM + Double Ratchet)
- All traffic over Tor — your IP and location stay hidden
- No account, phone number, or email required
- In-person QR contact exchange and vouched introductions
- Group chats that are invisible on the wire
- Messages held in memory only — never stored on disk
- Encrypted local vault (SQLCipher, Argon2id, device keychain)
- Three protection levels: Decent, Secure, Maximum
- Secure Enclave-bound vault key behind Face ID or Touch ID (Secure)
- Passphrase instead of PIN (Maximum)
- Auto-lock, wipe on repeated wrong attempts, self-destruct on inactivity
- Message padding hides even message sizes
- No analytics, tracking, ads, or crash reporting
- No cloud backups — your data never leaves your device

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**One-time purchases**

| Purchase | Price | Type |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Buy me a coffee | $0.99 | one-time |
| Tip | $3.99 | one-time |
| Generous tip | $7.99 | one-time |
| God like tip | $79.99 | one-time |



## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 1.6.11 — 2026-09-07

What's new in this version:

• The runestone lights white when Rún reaches the relay, and your contacts and groups are ready to open right then.
• Connection progress is back on the contact list, with a Reconnect button if the relay stalls.
• Leaving a chat or group is quicker — one round trip to the relay instead of several.
• A group message now lights the unread dot on the group, not on the person who sent it.

### 1.6.10 — 2026-09-04

What's new in this version:

• Five new languages — Arabic, Persian, Somali, Russian and Macedonian — bring Rún to 13; Arabic and Persian lay out right to left.
• Choose the app's language in Settings, whatever the phone is set to.
• New: Report bug — tell us what went wrong, anonymously over Tor.
• The runestone now turns solid red as soon as Tor connects.
• The first contact or group no longer slips under the top bar.

### 1.6.8 — 2026-09-01

• Fixed: on a full contact list, the last contact could sit half-hidden and be hard to tap — it's now fully visible and tappable.
  • Declining a group invitation now sticks — a declined invite won't reappear.
  • Group names can no longer be left blank.
  • More reliable vouched introductions, plus stability and security hardening throughout.

### 1.6.3 — 2026-08-29

• Rún now speaks Swedish, German, French, Spanish, Norwegian, Danish and Finnish. It follows your iPhone's language, or pick one under Settings → Rún → Language. Notification banners appear in your language too.
• Screenshot notice: if a contact takes a screenshot of a conversation, everyone in it is told.
• Vouched introductions are more robust — they now survive the app being closed, arrive through push, and stay valid for seven days.
• Optional app-icon badge when a message is waiting (only if you've turned on notifications).
• A gentle notice when a newer version of Rún is available.
• Maximum level: a periodic passphrase re-check while the app is open.
• Connection status shows the Tor percentage and the relay phase separately, and recovers on its own if Tor stalls.
• Reliability and security hardening throughout.

### 1.4 — 2026-08-21

New
• Screenshot alerts — if someone takes a screenshot of your conversation, you’re both notified.
• Notification setup — a quick prompt after your first unlock helps you turn on message notifications.
• Interrupted-conversation warning — if you leave a chat before it finishes sending, we let you know the next time you open the app.

Faster & more reliable
• Quicker, steadier connections, with live connection progress so you can see it working.
• Messages send and sync faster, with fewer stalls after opening the app.
• Unread indicators now appear almost instantly after you connect.
• More reliable notifications.
• Contact introductions are more dependable and no longer interrupted if the app closes.

Plus various stability improvements and refinements.

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-10.*