Everything PawTalk does

Chat and messages

Talk one to one, in a small group, or in a server's channels. Everything you write stays where you wrote it, in order, with no feed deciding what you see.

Direct messages and group chats

Private conversations with one person or a small group of friends. Add friends by username or share your friend link.

Writing messages

• Formatting: bold, italics, code, quotes, spoilers and links.
• Replies, reactions and pins: reply to a specific message, react with any emoji and pin the important ones.
• Edit and delete: fix a typo after sending. Edited messages are marked as edited.
• Voice messages: record and send a short clip instead of typing.
• Link previews and invite cards: links show a preview, and server invites show a card you can join from.
• Search: find old messages again.

Notifications

Choose per server and per channel whether you hear about everything, only mentions, or nothing. Muted channels can be hidden from the list until you want them back.

Servers and channels

A server is a home for a community: its own channels, roles, rules and look. Anyone can create one.

Channel types

• Text: ordinary chat.
• Voice: drop in to talk, share video or your screen.
• Announcements: news people can follow. Other servers can follow it too, and each new post is copied into their channel.
• Forum: titled posts, each with its own thread of replies.
• FAQ: questions and answers that staff keep tidy.
• Files: a download library. See below.
• Gallery: a picture and video wall. See below.

Categories, roles and permissions

Group channels into categories and decide, per role, who can see, read, post or manage each one. Private channels and categories are only visible to the people and roles you add. Channel names only need to be unique within their category.

Self-service roles

Servers can let members pick their own roles, like pronouns, games or ping roles. Roles that carry moderation powers can never be self-assigned.

Onboarding and rules screening

Ask new members a few questions when they join, and give them roles based on the answers. Rules screening asks people to accept the server's rules before they can post.

Templates and Discover

Start a server from a template with channels and roles already in place, or share your own layout as a template. Public servers can be listed in Discover, where people browse by category.

Files, galleries and forums

Files channels

A Files channel turns a server into a download library, made for things like avatars, mods, maps and project files.

• Versions: publish an update without losing the old one. People always see the newest version first.
• Details: each file has a name, a version, notes and preview pictures under the file.
• Edit: fix the name, version, notes or category without uploading again.
• Categories: the channel's managers set categories, and people filter the list with one click.
• Collaborators: invite others to publish new versions of a file with you.
• Comments: every file has its own thread for questions and feedback.

Gallery channels

Pictures and videos in a grid. Members star their favourites, and the most-starred post each month is announced as the best of the month.

Forums

Each post has a title and its own replies, so long discussions don't get lost in chat.

Voice and video

• Calls: voice and video in DMs, group chats and voice channels.
• Screen share: share your screen or a window while you talk.
• Reconnects on its own: if your connection drops, you're put back in the call without doing anything.
• Moderation: server moderators can move, mute, deafen or disconnect people in voice.
• Device status: people can see whether you're on your phone, computer or the web.

Profiles and expression

• Profile: banner, avatar, bio and the badges you've earned.
• Status: set a custom status, or a list that rotates by itself, from every ten seconds to once a day.
• Custom emoji and stickers: each server uploads its own. Being in a server lets you use its emoji everywhere.
• GIFs: search GIFs, favourite them and sort your own collection into folders.
• Server tag: levelled servers can give members a small tag to wear next to their name.

Games, polls and giveaways

Hangman

Type /hangman and pick a word. Everyone guesses in the game's own room, so nobody gets pinged for every letter, and the card in chat shows the latest guess and the score. The person who started the game can reveal letters to help, but never the last one.

Spin the wheel

Type /wheel, add your options and post it. The wheel spins for everyone at once and points at the same answer on every screen before the result is shown. Re-spin as often as you like, or remove the option it landed on and spin again. When you make it, you choose who can spin: only you (and moderators), or everyone who can post.

Polls and giveaways

Ask the server a question, or run a giveaway that picks winners automatically when it ends. Both start from the message box.

How uploads work

Your upload size is your plan's size plus the server's level bonus. In DMs and group chats it's your plan's size on its own.

• Big files work: large files are sent in small pieces, so they get through even on a slow connection.
• Keep chatting: uploads run in the background. Close the window and they carry on in the upload list at the bottom.
• Several at once: start more uploads while others are still going.
• Retry: a failed upload can be tried again with one click.
• Progress: every upload shows how far it's got.

Pawprints and server levels

Pawprints are how you back a server you love. Everyone gets at least 1, and Foxfire gives more. Each Pawprint placed on a server counts towards its level, and every level gives everyone in that server more.

• Placed, not spent: a Pawprint stays yours. After 7 days you can take it back and move it to another server.
• Leaving gives them back: leave a server, or get kicked or banned from it, and every Pawprint you put there comes straight back to you. No waiting.
• Stack them: put several on one server to carry it up a level yourself.
• Recognition: backers get the server's Pawprint Supporter role.

Foxfire plans

Every feature on this page is free. Foxfire is for people who want to support PawTalk, and gives bigger uploads, more Pawprints and a mark on your profile.

See Foxfire in full

Moderation and safety

For server staff

• AutoMod: catches unwanted words, links and spam before they're posted.
• Raid protection: slows down or stops sudden waves of new accounts.
• Timeouts, kicks and bans: with reasons, and with an end time for timeouts.
• Slowmode: limit how often people can post in a busy channel.
• Audit log: see who changed what, and when.
• Age-restricted channels: people confirm they're 18 or older before they can see them.

For everyone

• Reports: report a message or a person to the PawTalk team.
• Link safety: dangerous links are removed or shown behind a warning, and you're told before you leave PawTalk.
• Appeals: if you disagree with a decision about your account, you can appeal through the Help Center.

Community Guidelines · How moderation works

Following the law

PawTalk is run from Sweden and follows the EU Digital Services Act and the Swedish E-commerce Act. As a very small service, some of those rules don't strictly apply to us yet. We follow them anyway, because they protect the people using it.

• You can see who runs it: the Legal information page says who operates PawTalk and how to reach us formally.
• Terms with a history: every change to the Terms keeps the earlier version, so we can always show what applied on a given date.
• Reasons for every decision: if we act on your content or account, you're told what we did and why.
• A way to appeal: you can challenge any decision about your account through the Help Center, and a person looks at it.
• Report illegal content: anyone can report a message or a person to the team.
• Your data: the Privacy Policy explains what we keep, why and for how long, and you can delete your account at any time.

Legal information · Terms of Service · Privacy Policy

Your account

• Two-factor sign-in: add a code from an authenticator app.
• QR sign-in: sign in on a computer by scanning a code with the phone app.
• Several accounts: switch between accounts without signing out.
• Delete your account: any time, from your settings.

Bots and developers

Add bots to your server from the public bot directory, or build your own. Bots can answer slash commands, and servers can post into channels from other services with webhooks.

For developers

Apps

Use PawTalk in your browser, in the Windows app or on Android. It's the same account and the same conversations everywhere.

Get the apps