Welcome to GistUp: chat built for Nigeria and Africa
Most of us live on our phones. We gist with family, run businesses, plan church programmes, sell in estate groups and keep up with old school friends, all through chat. But the apps we use were not built with our realities in mind: expensive data, phones with little storage, and a steady stream of scammers who know exactly how to sound like a friend or a bank.
GistUp is our answer. It is a chat app made in Nigeria, by Macvertech, for Nigeria, Africa and Africans everywhere.
Private from the first message
Every chat, group, photo and voice note on GistUp is end-to-end encrypted with the Signal Protocol. There is no setting to switch on. Our servers carry sealed messages from one phone to another and cannot open them. Even our notifications only say "New message", so nobody looking at your lock screen, and nobody at Google, sees who wrote to you or what they said.
Light on data and on your phone
A one-minute voice note on GistUp uses about 180 KB. Data saver is on from the start, so photos are sent smaller and media only downloads on mobile data when you tap it. You can set a storage limit so GistUp never fills your phone, and it runs on Android 8.0 and newer, including older, lower-cost phones.
Safe by design
People you have never chatted with land in Message requests, not your main chats, and they cannot see that you read their message. GistUp warns you when a message asks for a code, your BVN, NIN, PIN or money. Your phone number stays hidden: people find you by username.
More than chat
Communities bring a church, mosque, school, estate or business together in one place, with announcement channels, polls and events. Live Rooms let you join public conversations on topics like football, jobs and Lagos traffic. And Gist lets you share what's happening with everyone, while your private chats stay private.
What's next
GistUp is coming soon to Google Play. Until then, have a look at everything GistUp does and how to use it. We're glad you're here.