Iran chat app: what Iranians use, inside and outside Iran
Looking for an Iran chat app? Here is what people in Iran actually use, what the diaspora uses, why the answers differ, and how to talk across the gap safely.
There is no single Iran chat app. Inside Iran, the apps people use most are the ones that survive the filtering: Telegram, used through a VPN by a huge number of people, WhatsApp when it is reachable, and the domestic apps the government promotes, such as Eitaa, Rubika and Bale. Outside Iran, the diaspora lives on WhatsApp, Telegram and Instagram, and the people who miss the old Persian chat rooms are looking for something with rooms in it. I am Connery. I am Armenian-Iranian, I live in Los Angeles, and I built Hashti, a chat app with public rooms. I will tell you where it fits and where it does not, and I will be honest about the rest.
Why the answer depends on which side of the border you are on
Iran filters the internet. That is not a political statement, it is the daily fact that shapes every choice about a chat app there. Telegram has been officially blocked since 2018 and is still one of the most used apps in the country, because people use VPNs. WhatsApp and Instagram were blocked during the 2022 protests, and their status has changed since then and may change again. During big protests the whole country's connection has been cut for days at a time.
So a person in Tehran picks an app by two questions: does it work right now, and who can read it. A person in Los Angeles or Toronto picks by one question: which app does my family in Iran answer on. Those two lists overlap, but they are not the same, and most "Iran chat app" articles written from outside the country miss that.
I will not pretend to know today's filtering status of any app. It moves. Check with someone inside before you rely on anything I say about reachability.
What people inside Iran actually use
Telegram. This is the big one. Groups, channels, news, shopping, family. It is blocked and it is everywhere, which tells you how much the block matters in practice. If you need to reach someone in Iran and you only try one app, try this one first.
WhatsApp. Widely used for family calls when it is reachable. When it is blocked, people route around it or fall back to Telegram.
Domestic apps. Eitaa, Rubika, Bale and Soroush are Iranian-built messengers that work without a VPN, because they are not filtered. Some government services and official channels only exist on them. Many people have one installed for exactly that reason. Here is my honest opinion, and it is an opinion: a messenger that runs on servers under Iranian jurisdiction is not where I would hold a private conversation. Plenty of Iranians feel the same way and keep those apps for official notices and nothing else.
Instagram. Not a chat app, but a huge amount of Iranian social life and small business ran through Instagram direct messages for years, and much of it still does.
Signal. Used by people who care about privacy specifically. It is a smaller crowd, and it has been blocked at times, so it is not a reliable first contact.
What the diaspora uses
Outside Iran, the pattern is simpler. WhatsApp for family, Telegram for news and the larger community, Instagram for everything social. In Los Angeles, where I am, a family group chat is almost always WhatsApp, and the cousins in Iran are in it through whatever route works that month.
The thing the diaspora does not have, and keeps searching for, is a place to meet other Persian speakers they do not already know. The old rooms are mostly gone. I wrote about that separately in my piece on Persian chat rooms and where Iranians talk online now. The short version is that Paltalk still has rooms, Telegram has groups the size of cities, and there was no app built around rooms for adults who want to talk out loud in Farsi with people who have been checked. That is the gap I built Hashti into.
Where Hashti fits
Hashti is a free chat app, 18+, out now on the App Store. Android is in its closed test. It has public rooms with names and topics, plus private chats, calls and a walkie-talkie. For Iranians abroad, and for anyone who wants to talk with Persian speakers, the rooms are the point. You open the app, you see a room with a topic, and you walk in and talk.
A few things I built with Iranians specifically in mind.
Identity is checked once. Every account that hosts a room, speaks in a voice room or messages a stranger has been checked against a government document one time. The photo is deleted. A fingerprint of the document stays, so the same document cannot open a second account. If you spent any time in the old Persian rooms, you know why. Fake accounts, repeat harassers who came back under a new name, people who were not who they said. The check ends most of that. You can read the full approach on the safety page.
Twelve verified reports closes an account permanently. Rooms police themselves, and the rule has teeth.
Live translation covers 29 languages. That is part of Hashti Plus, at $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year. Everything else is free. In a Persian room this matters more than you might think. The children and grandchildren of Iranians abroad often understand Farsi but cannot write it. A room where one person types in English and another in Persian, and both are understood, is a room where three generations can be in the same conversation. The translation page explains how it works.
What Hashti does not do, and this matters for Iran
I want to be plain here, because the question is "Iran chat app" and I would be lying if I let you think Hashti is the answer for someone inside Iran today.
The app is in English for now. A Farsi interface is being built. Until it ships, the menus and buttons are English, even though the rooms can be in any language.
Apple has no App Store for Iran. People inside Iran who use iPhones generally use an Apple ID from another country, and that is a hassle I cannot fix. Android is in its closed test, so it is not a path yet either.
The identity check needs a government document. I understand that for some people in Iran, showing a document to any app feels like a risk, whatever the app does with it. I will say what Hashti does, which is delete the photo and keep only a fingerprint, and I will respect anyone who decides that is not for them.
I cannot promise reachability inside Iran. I do not control the filtering, and I will not guess at it.
So, honestly: today Hashti is a strong fit for Persian speakers outside Iran, and for anyone who wants to talk with them. For someone inside Iran who needs an app that works tonight, Telegram through a VPN is the realistic answer, and I would rather tell you that than sell you something.
How to talk to someone in Iran from abroad
This is the practical part people actually need.
Ask them which app works this week. Do not assume. The person inside knows what is reachable far better than any article.
Have two apps, not one. Telegram and WhatsApp is the usual pair. When one is blocked, the other sometimes is not.
Expect voice calls to be worse than text. Calls get throttled, dropped or blocked more often than messages. A voice note that arrives is better than a call that does not connect.
Be careful what you say and about whom. Someone inside Iran carries the risk of the conversation, not you. Do not put them in a position they did not choose. This is my opinion and my family's practice, not legal advice.
Keep a way to reach them that is not an app. A phone number for an old-fashioned call. When the internet goes down, apps go with it.
How to find Persian speakers if you are outside Iran
If you are second generation, married into an Iranian family, learning Farsi or just homesick, this is what works.
Telegram groups for your city. Most big diaspora cities have Persian-language groups. They are noisy and the moderation varies, but they exist and they are free.
WhatsApp groups through someone you know. These are invitation-only, which is their strength and their limit.
A room on Hashti. Host one with a clear topic. "Farsi practice for people who understand but cannot speak" will draw a better crowd than "Persian chat." Invite two friends before you invite the public. A room with three people talking looks open.
In-person first, chat second. In Los Angeles the Persian community is big enough that the best group chat I am in started at a dinner table. The app just keeps it going between dinners.
A quick checklist before you trust any Iran chat app
Who runs the servers and under which law. For anything private, this is the first question.
Does it need a phone number, and whose. Iranian numbers and foreign numbers are treated differently by some apps and some networks.
Does it work without a VPN, and do you want it to. The apps that work without one inside Iran are the domestic ones. That is a trade.
Who can message you. Open messaging means spam and worse. Checked accounts mean fewer of both.
What happens when you report someone. If the answer is nothing, the app is not safe, whatever the marketing says.
My honest pick
For reaching family inside Iran: Telegram first, WhatsApp second, and a phone number for when both fail. For a private conversation with someone inside: Signal if it is reachable for them, and an understanding that nothing is guaranteed. For official notices inside the country: one domestic app, used for that and nothing else, which is what most Iranians I know already do. For meeting Persian speakers outside Iran, in rooms, out loud, with people who have been checked: that is what I built Hashti for, and I would be glad to see you host the first Farsi room of your own.
Hashti is free, and it is 18+. Hashti Plus — live translation, writing help and catch-ups — is $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year, and nothing else costs anything. How rooms work is on the rooms page, and how reports and the ID check work is on the safety page.