Now available on both iOS and Android, the app combines Signal’s open-source encryption with Lightning transfers inside chats and is tied to the team behind Cake Wallet.
Radar Chat has launched on iOS and Android as a mobile app that combines end-to-end encrypted messaging with self-custodial Bitcoin payments over the Lightning Network. The app lets users send sats directly inside chat conversations, aiming to remove the friction of switching between separate messaging and wallet apps. Radar is built on Signal’s open-source protocol for encrypted messaging, and the team says the payment flow works like sending a photo or voice note: users enter an amount in sats and the recipient receives it instantly via Lightning. The company says it does not hold customer funds or private keys, positioning the product as an alternative to custodial payment apps. The team behind Radar includes COO Seth for Privacy and has direct ties to Cake Wallet, a multi-currency wallet with two million users. Radar is open-source, free of ads and trackers, and the team says it financially supports Signal’s operations. The launch revives a concept that has struggled to gain traction in the past, including Signal’s 2021 MobileCoin integration, but Radar is betting that pairing private messaging with Bitcoin’s Lightning Network will prove more compelling. The product also enters a politically sensitive area. By combining encrypted communications with pseudonymous Bitcoin payments, Radar may face regulatory scrutiny across multiple jurisdictions. Its connection to Cake Wallet’s user base is an immediate adoption metric to watch, as migration from even a small share of those users could lift Lightning transaction volumes.