Lowkey

Lowkey Documentation

Privacy Modes

Lowkey supports three privacy modes that control network visibility and connection routing.

On this page

Overview

Mode IP Visibility Latency Use Case
Normal Visible to all peers ~10-50ms Maximum performance
Relay-Only Hidden from peers ~100-300ms Privacy-conscious
Tor Anonymous ~500-2000ms Maximum anonymity

Normal Mode

Default mode - Optimized for performance.

Behavior

  • Direct TCP connections to peers
  • External IP address advertised
  • AutoNAT enabled for NAT detection
  • DCUtR enabled for connection upgrades
+----------+ +----------+ | Your | Direct TCP | Other | | Peer |<------------------>| Peer | | IP: 1.2.3| | | +----------+ +----------+ | | | Your IP is visible | +------------------------------+

Relay-Only Mode

Privacy-focused - Your IP is hidden from other peers.

Behavior

  • All connections routed through relay circuits
  • No external IP advertised
  • AutoNAT disabled
  • Relay reservations on seed node
+----------+ +----------+ +----------+ | Your | | Relay | | Other | | Peer |<---->| (Seed) |<---->| Peer | | IP: ??? | | | | | +----------+ +----------+ +----------+ | Only seed sees your IP

Limitations

  • Seed node sees your IP (but other peers don't)
  • Higher latency due to relay hop
  • Depends on seed node availability
  • Limited circuits per peer (16 max)

Tor Mode

Maximum anonymity - Traffic routed through Tor network.

Behavior

  • All connections via Tor SOCKS5 proxy
  • No external IP advertised
  • AutoNAT disabled
  • Requires external Tor daemon
+----------+ +-----------------------------+ +----------+ | Your | | Tor Network | | Other | | Peer |<->| Guard -> Middle -> Exit |<->| Peer | | IP: ??? | | | | | +----------+ +-----------------------------+ +----------+ | Nobody sees your IP (Seed sees exit node IP)

Prerequisites

# macOS
brew install tor
brew services start tor

# Linux
sudo apt install tor
sudo systemctl start tor

# Verify Tor is running
curl --socks5-hostname 127.0.0.1:9050 https://check.torproject.org/

Limitations

  • High latency (500ms-2s per round trip)
  • Reduced bandwidth (~1-5 Mbps typical)
  • Exit nodes may be blocked by some networks
  • Tor daemon must be running externally

Comparison Table

Feature Normal Relay-Only Tor
IP visible to peers Yes No No
IP visible to seed Yes Yes Exit node IP
Direct connections Yes No No
AutoNAT Enabled Disabled Disabled
External dependency None None Tor daemon
Typical latency 10-50ms 100-300ms 500-2000ms
Max bandwidth Network Network ~5 Mbps

Switching Privacy Modes

Privacy mode changes require application restart:

// Settings.tsx
const handlePrivacyChange = async (mode: PrivacyMode) => {
    await configSave({ ...config, privacyMode: mode });
    await invoke('restart_app');
};

The engine cannot change transport at runtime - it must be reinitialized.

Security Considerations

Mode Trust Model
Normal IP visible to all connected peers
Relay-Only Trusts seed node operator
Tor Anonymity from all parties (vulnerable to timing attacks)

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