01
Start a session
Open SemaBuzz and host a new session. You get a short token to share with one other person.
Live text · 1:1 · Free
Chat where you see
every letter.
Most chat apps make you wait for a send button. SemaBuzz streams every keystroke live — you see the other person typing character by character, the moment it happens. PowWow pioneered live-text chat in 1996. ICQ carried it forward. Then everyone dropped it. We brought it back.
What makes it different
Live text — not just “typing…”
PowWow (1996) was one of the first chat apps to stream live text — every keystroke, visible in real time. ICQ followed. Then, in the late ’90s and early 2000s, every major chat app replaced it with a bland “typing…” indicator. SemaBuzz brings it back.
You see each character as it's pressed — no waiting, no send button, no message bubble appearing only when the other person is done. The conversation feels immediate and present, like sitting side by side.
URL Walk — a nod to PowWow
Type or paste a URL and it appears on the other person’s screen character by character — live, like everything else. One click opens it in their browser. PowWow called this URL Walk back in 1996. SemaBuzz keeps the tradition alive.
The filament
SemaBuzz also visualises keystroke velocity in real time — a waveform that pulses with the pace and intensity of typing. Fast, excited typing looks different from slow, deliberate words.
Feature
SemaBuzz
Others
See letters as typed
✓
✗
Keystroke intensity visualisation
✓
✗
No send button
✓
✗
End-to-end encrypted
✓
varies
No account required
✓
✗
No message storage
✓
✗
Buzz for attention
✓
✗
URL Walk (share links live)
✓
✗
How it works
Four steps to a live session
No accounts. No persistent threads. No data left behind.
02
Approve the request
Incoming connections require your approval. Nobody joins without your say-so.
03
Type live
Each keystroke streams instantly. No send button. The other person sees every letter the moment you press it.
04
Leave cleanly
No chat history, no account to delete, nothing to clean up. The conversation ends when you close it.
Why people use it
Sits between texting and a call
Faster than email. More private than a group chat. More deliberate than a phone call.
Fast catch-ups
Say what you need and leave — no thread hanging around forever.
Private by default
Encrypted on your device. The relay only carries ciphertext it cannot read.
Expressive
Built-in emoticon picker — faces, gestures, symbols, food, travel, activities — 100+ emoji, no copy-paste needed.
Built for 1:1
No groups, no feeds, no algorithmic noise. One private line between two people.
Private by design
Encrypted before it leaves your machine
SemaBuzz uses ECDH P-256 key exchange and AES-256-GCM encryption. Your keys are negotiated locally — the relay never has them.
Direct when possible
SemaBuzz attempts STUN-based peer-to-peer routing so your traffic can bypass the relay entirely.
Encrypted on device
Messages are encrypted before they leave your machine. The relay only forwards ciphertext it cannot read.
No accounts required
Install, share a token, approve the connection, start talking. Nothing to sign up for.
- End-to-end encryption with ECDH P-256 + AES-256-GCM
- Direct peer-to-peer when network conditions allow — relay drops out entirely
- Relay fallback for harder NAT and firewall cases
- Custom relay URL encoded into session tokens — guests connect through the right relay automatically
- Host auto-resumes after a peer disconnects — no need to restart the session
- No message storage on any server
- No sign-up or account system
- Buzz button — grab attention without switching to voice
- Built-in emoticon picker — 7 categories, 100+ emoji
Quick FAQ
- How is this different from a “typing…” indicator? A typing indicator just tells you someone is writing. SemaBuzz streams the actual characters live — you see each letter the moment it's pressed, not after they hit send.
- Does SemaBuzz store chat logs? No. Sessions have no persistent history. When you close the session, nothing is saved on any server.
- Can the relay read messages? No. The relay only forwards encrypted payloads — it never has the keys to decrypt them. When a direct peer-to-peer connection is possible, the relay isn't involved at all.
- Does it support group chat? No. SemaBuzz is intentionally one-to-one. No groups, no feeds, no threads.
- Does it support emoji and emoticons? Yes. The built-in picker has 7 categories — faces, gestures, symbols, animals & nature, food & drink, travel & places, activities, and objects — 100+ emoji total. Click the smiley icon next to the input bar.
- What happens when the other person disconnects? If you're hosting, SemaBuzz automatically resumes listening so new incoming connections can reach you without restarting the app.
- Can I use my own relay? Yes. Start a session with a custom relay URL and the token will include it — whoever joins using that token is automatically routed through your relay, no manual setup on their end.
Self-host
Run your own relay — free
Don't want to use the default relay? Run your own on any Windows or Linux machine. Blind pass-through — the relay never reads or stores message content.
Windows
Single .exe — no install, no runtime required. Double-click or run from PowerShell.
Linux
Single binary for x64. Works on Ubuntu, Debian, Rocky, and most distributions.
Download for Linux- Blind pass-through — the relay never reads or stores message content
- IP addresses held in memory for the session only — nothing written to disk
- Defaults to port 7171 — override with
--port 8080or thePORTenvironment variable - Stop with
Ctrl+C, orpkill/Stop-Processfor background use - No runtime required — single self-contained binary
Let's get Buzzing.
Start a session, share a token, and you're live in under a minute. No accounts, no installs, just conversation.