Group chat

1Your group's own group textTap Group chat at the bottom of your group's page. It slides up; the down arrow at the top closes it. Everyone in the group can read and write; nobody outside it can, not even Porchlight. It's end-to-end encrypted.
2ReactPress and hold a message (right-click on a computer) and pick 👍 ❤️ 😂 😮 or 😢. Pick it again to take it back. Double-click for a quick ❤️.
3Mention someoneType @ and the start of their name (@j for Jamie) and pick them from the list. They get a notification, even if they've muted the chat.
4NotificationsNew messages come as a phone notification (never an email). Too chatty? Tap the bell at the top of the chat to mute it. You'll still see a count on the chat bar, and you'll still hear when someone @mentions you.
5OopsPress and hold your message and tap the red trash can to remove it for everyone. It can't be undone. Leaders can remove any message.

Good to know

On a computer, Enter sends and Shift+Enter starts a new line. On a phone, use the send button.
Links turn into tappable links.
Tap the photo button next to the message box to share pictures or videos (up to about a minute each). They're end-to-end encrypted like everything else, and photos are shrunk, with where they were taken stripped out, before they leave your phone.
When there's something you haven't seen, the chat bar grows, turns orange and shows the newest message, with how many are new (the group's tile on your home screen has the count too).
On a trip or retreat, the chat button is on the bar at the bottom of its page, next to your answer.
When someone joins, the chat says so. They see it from when they joined: what was said before stays with the people who were there.
Leaders can pin a message: press and hold it and tap the pin. It stays at the top of the chat for everyone, including people who join later (the one exception to seeing the chat from when you joined). Pinning another replaces it; tap the × to unpin.

Messages (and reflections) are locked on your phone before they're sent, and only phones and computers of people in the group can unlock them. Porchlight's servers only ever see scrambled text.
Joining with the invite link unlocks the chat right away: the key rides along in the link. New people see messages from when they joined on.
Signed in on another phone or computer? It unlocks by itself as soon as one of your other devices, or anyone in the group, opens Porchlight. If notifications are on, your other phone does it in the background and tells you.
When someone leaves the group, new messages use a new key they don't have.
Your keys live in the browser. If you clear its data, or sign out, that device unlocks again the same way next time.