How encryption works — Glow Meetings docs

Every Glow Meetings meeting is end-to-end encrypted. This page explains what that means for you, in plain terms.

Keys are created on your device#

When you join a meeting, your device creates and holds the keys used to encrypt your audio, video, screen share, chat and files. Those keys stay with the people in the meeting. They aren't sent to us, and we can't recreate them.

Audio and video are encrypted on your device before they leave it. Our servers forward the encrypted media to the other participants, who decrypt it on their own devices. The servers in between can't see or hear it.

Each device has its own identity#

Meetings are encrypted to devices, not to accounts. Each device you sign in on has its own security identity. When you sign a device out, it's removed from every meeting it was in and can no longer decrypt anything new. See Manage your devices.

Guests get a throwaway identity#

Guests who join from a link get a temporary identity created just for that visit. When they leave, it's cleared from their device.

Keys change when people come and go#

When someone joins or leaves, the meeting's keys change. Someone who has been removed can't decrypt what's said after they're out.

Securing the connection#

When you enter a meeting, Glow Meetings shows the steps it's taking: Device verified, Joined the encrypted group, Exchanging keys and Connecting audio & video.

In the meeting, the shield in the top bar shows the encryption status:

End-to-end encrypted — everything is protected.
Securing… — the connection is still being set up.
Some media isn't encrypted or Encryption problem — media can't be verified — something isn't right. Don't share anything sensitive until the shield shows End-to-end encrypted again. Leaving and rejoining often fixes it.

Select the shield to see the meeting's safety number.

The open standard behind it#

Glow Meetings's group encryption follows an open IETF standard, Messaging Layer Security (RFC 9420). It's designed so that a group of devices can agree on shared keys that change as members join and leave, without a server ever holding them.

What Glow Meetings can see#

To run the service, we can see:

Your account details, such as your name, email address, date of birth and company if you gave one.
Your devices, such as their name and type, and when they were last active.
Meeting details, such as the title, schedule, who can get in, and whether there's a passcode (we store a scrambled check value, not the passcode itself).
Who joined a meeting, their display names and roles, when they joined and left, and their network (IP) address.
That a message or file was sent, when, and how large an encrypted file is.
Call ratings you choose to give at the end of a meeting.

For full details, read our Privacy Policy.

What Glow Meetings can't see#

We can't see or hear:

Your audio, video or screen shares.
Your chat messages.
The contents or names of files you share.
The chat history kept on your devices.

We don't offer meeting recording.

Using the web app#

The apps for Windows, macOS, iPhone, iPad and Android are signed packages. The web app is loaded from our servers each time you open it, so it checks its own code against a signed release list before it runs. For extra assurance, you can check it independently. See Verify the web app.