ChatMeld Gets an Update: New Profiles, Single Sign-On, and More Control Over Notifications

ChatMeld is now more convenient: new profiles, single sign-on, and more control over conversations

ChatMeld has received a major update, adding permanent usernames, public profiles, MeldID sign-in, and more ways to manage notifications. The developers have made the app more convenient for everyday conversations while preserving its original principles: participants’ contact details remain private, messages do not become a permanent archive, and security is maintained independently of a user’s public name.

In previous articles, I’ve already written about ChatMeld, an unusual service where conversations revolve not around a contact list but around a place, a language, and the conditions for joining a conversation.

We looked at location-based chats, Wi-Fi spaces, automatic translation, temporary message storage, and a security system that can enforce restrictions even without conventional registration.

Now ChatMeld has received one of the most significant updates to its user system.

The app now includes features it was genuinely missing: permanent usernames, public profiles, and unified sign-in. The developers have also expanded notification controls, allowing users to decide for themselves how often and when the app should get their attention.

At first glance, all of this looks like the usual evolution of a modern messaging app.

But what’s more interesting in ChatMeld’s case is how to add familiar features without changing the service’s core idea.

From colored numbers to permanent usernames

Previously, ChatMeld participants were assigned automatically generated labels made up of a number and a color.

That was enough within a single chat. Users could tell participants apart and address one another without revealing any additional information.

However, this model had a limitation.

Imagine someone who uses ChatMeld regularly. In the morning, they chat with passengers on a train, in the afternoon they join a discussion near a university, and in the evening they visit their neighborhood chat.

In each conversation, their label could be different.

This didn’t matter to the internal security system: ChatMeld had already been using its own technical identifiers.

But for ordinary participants, it was a different story. It was practically impossible to recognize a familiar person in another chat.

That problem has now been solved.

Each registered user gets one unique username that works throughout ChatMeld, regardless of language, location, or chat selected.

If someone uses the username Bobr, they remain Bobr in both a German-language chat in Berlin and a Russian-language conversation in Munich.

At the same time, a username is not a technical user identifier.

It can be changed in accordance with the features of the user’s current plan, but changing it does not create a new registration or undo previously imposed restrictions.

This separates two functions: a username helps people recognize one another, while the internal system remains responsible for security.

A profile that doesn’t require you to share your contact details

Public profiles have arrived in ChatMeld alongside usernames.

You can now open another participant’s profile and see the information the app makes available about them.

A profile displays a name and username. If a user has special permissions, their role may also be shown, such as moderator.

The information available may expand, but the key difference from familiar social platforms is already clear.

ChatMeld does not require you to publish your phone number, email address, or links to other messaging apps.

What’s more, the existing conversation rules still restrict the sharing of contact details in messages.

This is especially important for a service where people can join a conversation without knowing one another beforehand.

Imagine people attending an event.

They are in the same place, see an available chat, and start discussing what’s going on. Now participants can address one another by their permanent usernames and open public profiles.

But they don’t need to exchange phone numbers or give each other access to their personal contacts to do so.

Users enter their name directly in ChatMeld. It becomes part of their public profile, but does not, by itself, verify their real-world identity.

In this way, profiles make conversations clearer without turning the app into a system that requires users to disclose their personal contact details.

MeldID: one sign-in, but not one shared profile across all services

The most significant technical change concerns sign-in.

ChatMeld now uses MeldID, the unified sign-in system for the DigiMeld ecosystem.

In a previous article, I explained in detail how ChatMeld worked without a conventional registration form.

At the time, the app created a technical profile and device identifier on its own. Users didn’t need to enter an email address, come up with a password, or fill out a form.

This architecture made it possible to provide security without a traditional account.

The system now also supports MeldID sign-in.

When you sign in, ChatMeld receives only two values from MeldID: an email address and a unique account identifier.

No other personal information is requested from MeldID.

Users enter their name and username directly in ChatMeld.

This means unified sign-in does not automatically merge public profiles across different apps.

You also don’t need to install the separate MeldID app to sign in to ChatMeld.

In practice, users get a familiar way to sign in, while ChatMeld can manage permanent usernames and profiles without creating its own independent password system.

One sign-in does not mean one shared ban system

There’s one aspect of unified sign-in worth noting.

When several apps use the same sign-in system, the question may arise: what happens if a user is banned in one of them?

ChatMeld addresses this by separating responsibilities.

MeldID is used for registration and sign-in.

ChatMeld manages profiles, usernames, moderation, and access restrictions independently.

If a user violates ChatMeld’s rules, sanctions apply only within that app.

Their MeldID account is not blocked.

Their ability to use other DigiMeld services is not affected either.

At the same time, having a MeldID account does not allow users to bypass ChatMeld restrictions.

The system continues to use internal identifiers and technical security measures that were in place even before the new sign-in option was introduced.

So changing a username or signing in again does not remove responsibility for violations.

This is an important architectural distinction: a unified sign-in makes access easier, but does not turn different apps into one shared system of sanctions.

Usernames are moderated too

Previously, ChatMeld’s automated moderation focused primarily on messages and chat names.

Now it also applies to usernames.

This is a logical extension of the existing system.

After all, other participants can see a permanent username. That means it could also be used for insults, provocation, sharing prohibited language, or impersonating a service representative.

ChatMeld therefore checks usernames against its rules.

It uses SprachMeld and other automated review tools to do so.

The system takes into account not only specific prohibited words but also attempts to conceal them by changing their spelling.

Users can also report an inappropriate username.

At the same time, username moderation does not replace message moderation.

All messages are still reviewed before publication, and individual violations may be referred to moderators when necessary.

In other words, the new features have not created a separate, unprotected area of the app. They are subject to the same security principles ChatMeld already uses.

Notifications that adapt to the user

Another notable change concerns push notifications.

At first glance, this is a standard feature in any messaging app. But it has particular importance in ChatMeld.

Users can participate in several location-based, Wi-Fi, or hybrid chats at once. If discussions are active in all of them, the number of new messages can quickly add up.

In a typical messaging app, this often turns into a continuous stream of notifications.

ChatMeld’s developers have introduced several levels of notification control.

Users can turn notification sounds, haptic feedback, and notifications displayed while the app is open on or off independently.

They can also adjust how push notifications behave while they’re in chats.

For example, they can turn off notifications from an active chat while continuing to receive messages from other conversations.

But the option to limit repeated notifications is especially interesting.

Instead of receiving a separate push notification for every new message, users can choose a mode where ChatMeld sends just one notification per chat.

New messages continue to arrive, but no further notifications are sent until the user opens that conversation.

Imagine a chat where fifty messages arrive in a few minutes.

Instead of fifty notifications, the user gets one.

They know there are new messages in the chat, but their phone doesn’t alert them after every new reply.

This is especially useful for active discussions where users need to know that new messages have arrived, but don’t need an immediate notification for each one.

Quiet mode on a schedule

ChatMeld now has another feature: quiet mode.

Users choose when the period starts and ends during which notifications should arrive without sound.

For example, from 10:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m.

Notifications aren’t blocked or removed. They continue to arrive, but without sound alerts.

The schedule follows the phone’s time zone and is confirmed by the server.

This lets users adjust not only the number of notifications they receive, but also when the app should avoid distracting them with sound alerts.

I think this is a particularly good addition to ChatMeld’s concept.

The service lets people join conversations connected to their surroundings, but doesn’t require them to keep an eye on every message.

Conversations remain accessible, while users stay in control of their attention.

What about privacy?

This is probably the main question raised by the introduction of registration and public profiles.

Previously, ChatMeld did not require users to provide an email address. Now one is used when signing in through MeldID.

This is a real change in the data being processed.

However, it’s important to understand what this information is used for and who can access it.

The email address is needed to operate the sign-in system and link the registration to a ChatMeld profile.

Other participants can’t see it.

The unique MeldID identifier also remains an internal technical value.

The name and username are separate and exist directly in ChatMeld.

Geolocation is still used to determine whether the relevant chats are available, not to build an advertising history of users’ movements.

Messages are not used to create a permanent personal archive of conversations.

Technical identifiers continue to serve security and abuse-prevention purposes.

So the developers haven’t stopped processing personal data—full sign-in and profile functionality would not be possible without it.

But they have preserved the distinction between data the system needs and information available to other participants.

That distinction is what matters in practice for privacy.

A permanent profile doesn’t mean permanent conversations

ChatMeld has a feature that sets it apart from most familiar messaging apps.

Here, a user’s lifespan and a conversation’s lifespan are not directly connected.

A user can have a permanent username and return to the app with the same profile.

But a regular chat continues to exist according to its own expiration period.

If participants continue talking, their activity extends the conversation’s lifespan.

If they stop, the chat is deleted once the set period has elapsed.

The introduction of MeldID has not changed this model.

Registration does not mean that all of a user’s messages are automatically saved.

A permanent username does not create a permanent conversation history.

And being able to open a public profile does not turn a regular chat into a private conversation.

This is one of ChatMeld’s main distinctions: the system retains the profile data needed to operate and maintain security, but does not create an indefinite archive of every conversation.

Profile deletion is now a separate feature

The introduction of permanent registrations also required changes to how user data is managed.

Users can now request the deletion of their ChatMeld profile directly in the app.

When a profile is deleted, its assigned username is freed up, and the associated information is removed in accordance with the established retention rules.

However, deleting ChatMeld does not mean deleting MeldID.

These are separate registrations with different purposes.

If a user wants to delete their MeldID account entirely, they can use the relevant feature in the MeldID app or submit a request through TicketMeld by selecting the appropriate project and deletion form.

There is also an automatic mechanism.

If a ChatMeld registration remains inactive for a year, it is deleted and the username becomes available for reuse.

So a permanent profile does not necessarily mean a user’s registration is stored indefinitely.

What hasn’t changed

With this update, ChatMeld has become much closer to familiar apps in terms of ease of use.

But its core principles remain the same.

Conversations still depend on the language, location, and access conditions of a particular chat.

Location-based rooms remain tied to a specific area.

Wi-Fi chats continue to bring together users on the corresponding network.

Hybrid rooms let users set location-based or network-based access requirements.

Automatic translation helps participants communicate in different languages.

Temporary chats do not turn into permanent groups just because users now have profiles.

Pre-moderation still reviews messages before they are published.

And a public username does not replace the internal security system.

Essentially, the way users interact with the app has changed, but the conversation model itself has not.

Moving forward without abandoning the original idea

When I first wrote about ChatMeld, I was primarily interested in its unusual approach to organizing conversations.

Instead of searching for people they knew, the app offered users a conversation that matched their location, language, and current situation.

Later, I took a closer look at the security system and confirmed that the absence of conventional registration did not mean the absence of technical controls.

Now ChatMeld has taken the next step.

The developers have added features that are genuinely useful for more convenient everyday use: permanent usernames, public profiles, unified sign-in, flexible notification controls, and a straightforward way to delete a registration.

At the same time, they haven’t changed the entire architecture just to provide a familiar interface.

Users can now be recognized across different chats without having to publish their contact details.

Unified sign-in is here, but restrictions in one app do not apply to others.

There is now a permanent profile, but conversations remain temporary.

Notifications are more flexible, but users decide for themselves when and how often the app should get their attention.

Moderation has been expanded, but its purpose remains the same: preventing violations, not monitoring users’ everyday lives.

In my view, this is exactly what the evolution of a product with an original approach to communication should look like.

Rather than abandoning good solutions just because users need additional features, it should expand its capabilities while preserving its original principles.

ChatMeld has become more convenient and easier to understand, but its main idea remains the same: to talk, all you need is a shared place, language, and willingness to chat—without having to exchange personal contact details.

Learn more about ChatMeld: https://chatmeld.de