People should be able to talk, share and learn without handing over who they are. Droplet Labs is building the infrastructure for that: one identity, carried by your device, that opens every Droplet app and reveals nothing about you.
100,000
people connected without giving their name, by 2028.
In Cameroon first, then across French-speaking Africa. An objective, not a result.
One identifier to connect to every app in the Droplet family. No phone number, no email address, no real name: your device creates a key, keeps it, and uses it to prove it is you.
Today, Droplet ID signs you in to Droplet Messenger and Droplet Web. Bringing it to the other apps is the next step of the roadmap.
Your Droplet ID
an identifier and a key that stays on your device
- Droplet MessengerToday
- Droplet WebToday
- Droplet DropPlanned
- KunfoxPlanned
- ParolePlanned
- NexFleetPlanned
Getting online is expensive. The plan is to bring the cost down in three stages, each one opened with a Droplet ID, without handing over your name, and within the rules of each country.
First01
Shared through the mesh
One connected phone shares its access with the Droplet devices around it. The cost is split, every user stays anonymous behind their own Droplet ID.
Next02
Neighbourhood access points
Wi-Fi points run by local relays, paid in small amounts, opened with a Droplet ID.
In the long run03
Our own connectivity
A company with its own infrastructure, satellite links included, so that access does not depend on a single operator’s prices.
None of these stages exists yet. They come after Droplet ID, in this order.
- 01
Your device creates your key
When you start, the phone generates a key pair. The private half is stored in the phone’s secure storage and never leaves it.
- 02
You receive an identifier
You are known by an identifier and a display name you choose. Nothing else is needed to create the account.
- 03
Every request is signed
Servers check a signature made with your key. They can confirm it is you without ever seeing the key, and they reject any replayed request.
- 04
You decide which devices are yours
Link a computer by scanning a code; remove it at any moment. A removed device can no longer act in your name.
What Droplet ID never asks for
- A phone number
- An email address
- Your real name
- Your date of birth
Privacy
We collect what the service needs and nothing more. Messages are encrypted on the device; servers carry them without being able to read them.
Already in place: end-to-end encryption, an account without personal information.
Security
Proven cryptography, not home-made schemes. Every request is signed, short-lived and single-use; keys stay on the device.
Already in place: X25519 and AES-256-GCM, signed requests, protection against replay.
Reliability
The service keeps working when parts of it fail: the local mesh when there is no internet, a mailbox when the recipient is away.
Next: automated tests on every server and a test environment before each release.
Only the first phase is under way. Each phase has its goal, its concrete steps and the sign that it is done.
01Under way
Independent development and product experimentation
Goal
Prove that the products are useful, with real people, before growing.
Done when
People use the apps every week and Droplet ID works in at least two products.
Steps
- Five projects built and published (Done)
- Droplet ID working in Droplet Messenger and Droplet Web (Done)
- Automated tests for the servers (In progress)
- A test environment separate from production (In progress)
- Droplet ID in Droplet Drop
02Planned
A formal organisation
Goal
Give Droplet Labs a legal existence so it can sign agreements, open accounts and protect its work.
Done when
Droplet Labs is a registered company with its own accounts.
Steps
- Register the company
- Publish clear terms of service and a privacy policy for each app
- Separate personal and company accounts
03Planned
A team and new capabilities
Goal
Do what one person cannot: more products, faster, with reviews and support.
Done when
Every Droplet app signs in with Droplet ID, and its security has been reviewed by someone outside the team.
Steps
- Bring in the first engineers and a designer
- An independent security review of Droplet ID
- Droplet ID in every app of the family
- Internet shared through the mesh: one connected phone serves the Droplet devices around it
04Planned
An international ecosystem
Goal
Let others build on the same foundations: identity, mesh networking, file transfer.
Done when
Apps built by others use Droplet ID, in several countries.
Steps
- Public documentation and a developer kit for Droplet ID
- Third-party apps signing in with Droplet ID
- Partners across French-speaking Africa
- Neighbourhood access points, opened with a Droplet ID