Ghostpad

A notes app that is really a private messenger. It looks like you are writing notes. You are actually texting.

The idea

A friend of mine has a very strict mother who reads her messages. Her phone broke, she is a student, and the two of them needed a way to talk that would not look like talking.

So I built this. On the surface it is a plain notes app. Underneath, every note you write is encrypted into something that reads like a block of Python code. To anyone glancing at the screen it looks like a student studying or writing code. Her mother thought we were always studying. We were texting the whole time.

It is not only for that one situation. Anyone who does not want to trust WhatsApp's encryption, or a platform, or whoever is watching, can use it. Two people share one key and talk in the open without it looking like a conversation.

How it works

Two people agree on one encryption key and each puts the other's number into the app. Then:

1. Open the app. Write your message like a note.
2. Long-press the plus button. The message is encrypted and you jump straight into the other person's WhatsApp chat with it already filled in.
3. Tap send. What lands in WhatsApp looks like Python code, not a message.
4. The other person copies that block, opens their own app, long-presses plus, and it decrypts back to your message.
5. They reply the same way.

It sounds like a lot of back and forth. In practice it is fast. We have held full conversations on it and it holds up.

The jump uses a wa.me deep link, the same trick Telegram and others use with their own links. Nothing custom on the network, just a link and a shared key.

Features

• Shared-key encryption between two people, no accounts, no server
• Messages disguised as Python-looking code
• One long-press to encrypt and hand off straight into WhatsApp
• Works on Android and in the browser, so phone-to-laptop works too
• Copy-paste decode on the other end

Roadmap

• A few disguise templates to switch between (random numbers, code, other cipher styles)
• More messengers beyond WhatsApp using their own deep links

Run it

Mobile (Expo):

npm install
npm start        # scan the QR with Expo Go, or:
npm run android

Web version:

cd web
npm install
npm run dev

Tech

React Native and Expo for the app, crypto-js for the encryption, a Vite and Tailwind build for the web version. Handoff over wa.me deep links.

Why

I build small tools to fix real problems for real people. This one started with one friend who just needed to talk. It works, so I shipped it.