Games, beyond Steam
Emulators, other launchers, that obscure MMO nobody else tracks. If it runs on your machine, your friends can see it — under a name you choose.
Out now on Steam
Your friends,
as a living
constellation.
Open VantGrid and you don't get a list — you get a sky. Every friend is a star that orbits closer the more present they are: what they're really playing, what they're listening to, when they're focusing.
And when you talk, nothing goes through us. Voice, files and screen travel straight between your devices.
- 0
- of our servers store your conversations
- 100%
- of your data lives on your device
- 13
- languages, in the app
Ambient presence
See what your friends are
actually up to.
Not a status someone typed a week ago. Real presence, picked up by the app and shared only with the friends you added — and only if you turn it on.
What you're listening to
Now-playing from your player or your browser, with per-source switches. Spotify on, that one guilty-pleasure tab off. Your call, every time.
Focus, shared quietly
Start a pomodoro and your friends see you're deep in it. No one gets pinged, no one can knock — being focused is visible, not interruptible.
Your week, remembered locally
Hours played, top game, top artist — kept on your own device, never on a server, and shown to friends only if you want it shown.
Presence is glance-only, by design. You look when you feel like it; nobody gets a notification for existing.
What you get
Everything you'd expect.
Plus things you didn't know you wanted.
Voice, chat, screen share, themes, custom emoji — the works. And every feature respects the same rule: nothing leaves your devices unless it's going straight to a friend's device.
Voice that respects you
Crystal-clear peer-to-peer calls with per-friend volume and EQ, push-to-talk, voice filters, and live transcription when you want it.
Chat that feels like home
Text, voice notes, images, files, reactions, replies. Threads stay private to the people you sent them to — nobody else can read along.
Make it look like you
Themes, a full color picker, your own wallpaper, fonts, cursor and even the app's sounds. Build a look, export it as a file, share it in chat.
Screen share with system audio
The one everybody's app gets wrong: share your screen with the game's sound included. Files travel the same way — device to device, never through us.
All your devices, one identity
Pair a second device once and they sync automatically. Messages, friends, settings — everything stays in sync, without ever touching our servers.
Made for hanging out
Watch party, collaborative whiteboard, soundboard, shared pomodoro, a mascot with easter eggs, and emoji packs your friends install in one tap.
New in 1.6
Calls
Rooms that grow with you.
Small calls run as a pure mesh — everyone connected to everyone, no middleman. When a room grows past eight, VantGrid converts it automatically: the member with the strongest connection relays the room, chosen by a real bandwidth check instead of a guess. If no connection can carry it, the app tells you exactly why instead of failing in silence.
No visible cap and no upgrade prompt — the room belongs to the people in it.
Up to 8 · full mesh
Everyone talks to everyone, directly.
More than 8 · auto-relay
The strongest connection carries the room. Still no server of ours.
How it works
Three steps. No servers in the middle.
You don't need to be technical to use VantGrid. But if you're curious how a chat app works without a company in the middle — here it is in plain words.
- 01
You get an identity that only you control
When you open VantGrid for the first time, the app creates a unique address for you — locally, on your device. No email, no phone, no sign-up form. The key that proves you're you never leaves the device unless you choose to back it up.
- 02
You add friends by sharing your address
Send them your address (or scan their QR code) and they do the same. Once both sides have added each other, you're connected. There's no central directory listing you — you're only findable by people you've shared your address with.
- 03
Messages and calls travel directly between you
Talk and chat as much as you want. The voice and text data goes straight from your device to your friend's device. Nobody is in the middle storing what you said, when, or to whom.
The relay network, explained
What are relays, in plain language?
Think of relays as post offices
If you write a letter to a friend across the country, the postal service moves the envelope through a few sorting centers along the way. The sorting workers don't open your letter — they only read the address on the envelope to know where to send it next.
VantGrid relays work the same way
When you first try to reach a friend, your device asks a few public relay computers — scattered around the world, run by volunteers — to help find the friend's device. The relay sees encrypted envelopes and a destination, nothing more. It can't read what's inside.
Once you're connected, the relays step aside
Your voice calls and your chat messages travel directly between your device and your friend's device after that. The relays' only job is the initial handshake — they're not part of the conversation.
And if a relay goes down?
VantGrid connects to several relays at once, so if one disappears another picks up the work. The network keeps running because no single relay is essential.
Y
Your device
Public relays
(just sort encrypted envelopes)
F
Friend's device
Once connected — direct
Our promise
Four things we don't do.
And one thing we do.
No email, no phone, no account
Your VantGrid identity is generated on your device the moment you open the app. You don't sign up for anything.
No server stores your messages
Conversations travel directly between you and your friends. There's no inbox sitting on a corporate server that someone could read or hand over.
No tracking, no ads, no analytics
VantGrid doesn't follow you around the internet, doesn't watch which features you use, and doesn't have a business model that depends on knowing what you do.
One-time purchase — yours forever
Buy it once on Steam. No subscription, no monthly fee, no feature held hostage — and no upsell for the parts that protect you.
Pricing
Pay once. That's the whole model.
There's no subscription anywhere in VantGrid, because the peer-to-peer core runs on your network — not on servers we'd have to bill you for.
VantGrid for desktop
$6.99
One-time purchase on Steam · Windows
- Every core feature, forever — no tiers on privacy
- Voice, chat, files, screen share with system audio
- Ambient presence: games, music, focus
- Themes, custom emoji, soundboard, watch party
- Free updates, including everything in 1.6
VantGrid Plus
Optional$5.99 One-time DLC · not a subscription
- Avatar glow and frames
- Animated avatars and profile banners
- Higher screen-share FPS and bigger file caps
- A dedicated relay for the initial handshake
The Plus relay only speeds up the first handshake. It never sees, stores or transfers your content — that stays peer-to-peer, like everything else.
Android companion
In developmentIt isn't out yet. When it lands it will be free, so friends can join without paying — and once paired with your desktop, both devices sync directly with each other.
Get it
It's out. Go say hi to someone.
VantGrid for desktop is available on Steam as a one-time purchase for Windows. A free Android companion is in development and isn't available yet — it reaches Google Play when it's ready for everyone, not as a half-finished public beta.
Download for PC Steam Available now
Download for Android Google Play Coming Soon
Download for iPhone App Store Soon
Frequently asked
The questions everyone asks first.
How much does it cost?
The desktop app is a one-time purchase on Steam — buy it once, use it for life. That's the whole cost: there is no subscription anywhere in VantGrid. A free Android companion is in development, but it isn't available yet, so today your friends need a Windows PC too.
Is it out yet?
Yes — VantGrid launched on Steam and is updated regularly. Version 1.6 is the current chapter: the friend constellation, deeper presence, and calls that grow past eight people without a server.
Which platforms does it run on?
Desktop is Windows, distributed through Steam. A free Android companion that pairs with your desktop is in development and isn't available yet. macOS, Linux and iOS aren't promised — we'd rather ship one platform well than four badly.
Do I need to give you an email or phone number?
No. There's no sign-up form. The app generates a private identity for you the moment you open it, on your device. We don't have a database of users — there's nothing to give us.
Does everyone see what I'm playing?
Only the friends you added, and only if you switch it on. Game, music and focus presence are separate toggles, music can be enabled per source, and turning any of them off stops the broadcast immediately — including the one that goes to Steam.
Where are my messages stored?
On your device, encrypted. When you send a message to a friend, it travels directly to their device through the relay network — and once it arrives there, it's stored only on their device. We never see it.
What happens if I lose my phone?
If you backed up your identity (a small file you save somewhere safe, or another device you've paired), you can restore everything on a new device. If you didn't back up and your device is gone, your identity is gone too — that's the trade-off of nobody-in-the-middle privacy.
Can my friends see who else I talk to?
No. Each conversation is private to the two of you (or to the members of a group). Your friend list isn't published anywhere. The relays can't tell who's connected to whom.
How is this different from WhatsApp or Signal?
WhatsApp and Signal are end-to-end encrypted too, but they route your messages through their servers and need your phone number. VantGrid removes both — there's no central server with your data, and you don't identify yourself with a phone number.
What is VantGrid Plus?
An optional one-time DLC with cosmetics and quality-of-life extras: avatar glow and frames, animated avatars and banners, higher screen-share FPS, bigger file caps, and a dedicated relay for the initial handshake. It's not a subscription, and it never puts privacy behind a paywall — the relay speeds up the first handshake and never sees your content.