Help, FAQs, and how to reach us.

Real encryption uses math that even powerful computers can't crack without the key. Decoder Ring uses a public dictionary lookup — every word is replaced with another based upon the selected Cipher number. Anyone who figures out which dictionary you used and the Cipher number can decode your messages. It's a toy cipher built for fun, not a tool for anything you actually need to keep private.

Three things to check, in order: (1) Is your friend using the same cipher number you used to encode? (2) Is your friend using the same dictionary? (3) Is your friend in Decode mode, not Encode? If they're encoding your already-encoded text, they'll just push it further into gibberish. Switch to Decode and try again.

Tap the gear icon in the top-right of the main screen to open Settings, then drag the Magnitude slider or use the ± buttons next to the value. Plus tier required for any cipher number other than the default.

When you turn on Auto-Shift for a contact, the app remembers the date you turned it on and the magnitude you set. Every calendar day after that, the contact's effective cipher number increases by one — so if you set it to 100 on Monday, it's 101 on Tuesday, 102 on Wednesday, and so on. Editing the magnitude resets the anchor to today. Both you and your friend need the same anchor date for the codes to line up; the simplest way is to enable Auto-Shift on the same day.

Requires iOS 26. The setup uses a Shortcuts UI flow that only exists on iOS 26 and later — if your phone is on iOS 18 or earlier, the steps below won't match what you see and the feature won't work reliably.

In Decoder Ring, open Settings → Automation → Messages Auto-Import. The wizard walks you through it:

1. Open Apple's Shortcuts app and create a Personal Automation for "Message from <friend>".
2. When prompted, tap Create New Shortcut (not "New Blank Automation" — that route hides the action's fields on iOS 26).
3. Search for the Decode Message action and add it.
4. Bind Message Text to Shortcut Input, then type your friend's phone number as plain text into the Sender field (10 digits, no spaces or dashes — e.g. 5558675309).
5. In Decoder Ring, edit that contact and add the same number to their Linked handles. The app normalizes phone formats, so +1 (555) 867-5309 in the contact will match 5558675309 in the automation.

When your friend texts you, the app foregrounds and decodes their message automatically. The mechanism works on every plan; per-friend routing (using each contact's own cipher number and dictionary) is part of the Contacts tier.

Not yet, but it's on the roadmap. The app currently ships with a default English dictionary and (with Plus) British English. If you'd like specific dictionaries — Spanish, Klingon, kid-friendly, technical jargon — let us know.

Install Decoder Ring, open the paywall (Settings → Subscription → Change plan), and tap Restore Purchases. Anything tied to your Apple ID will come back automatically. You don't need a receipt or a sign-in.

Subscriptions are managed by Apple. On your iPhone: Settings → [your name] → Subscriptions, then tap Decoder Ring and choose Cancel Subscription. Your access continues until the end of the current billing period.

You shouldn't be — Plus removes ads. If they're still showing after a purchase: (1) Force-quit the app and relaunch. (2) If they persist, open the paywall and tap Restore Purchases. (3) If they still persist, email us with your Apple ID's email and we'll dig into it.

No. The "contacts" feature inside the app is just a private list of names you type in yourself — we never read your iOS Contacts list and never ask for permission to.

No, and that's by design — the encoded message is just words, deliberately shareable through any chat app. Whether the chat app encrypts the message in transit (Messages, WhatsApp, Signal: yes; SMS, Email: usually no) is up to that app, not Decoder Ring.

Everything. Saved contacts, cipher numbers, dictionary preferences, auto-shift anchors — all of it lives in iOS's private app storage, and iOS purges it when you delete Decoder Ring. There's no cloud copy and we don't keep a backup.

Email support@decoderring.app with what you tapped, what you expected, and what happened instead. Screenshots help. We respond to every report.