Chats and contacting sellers

Tap Chat on a listing to message the seller about it — the listing is attached so they know what you mean — or Message on anyone's profile. You need to be signed in.

You can search your chats by name, and the tab shows how many are unread.

• Text, which you can edit or delete after sending.
• Photos and videos from your gallery (videos up to 60 seconds).
• Documents: PDF, TXT or DOCX.
• A post: tag one of your listings (or anyone's) into the message.
• An invoice, to take payment through Ahiuwa. See Invoices in chat.

Ticks show when your message has been seen, and you can see when the other person is online. Invoices are records of an agreement, so they cannot be edited or deleted like messages.

In a chat with one person, tap the phone for a voice call or the camera for a video call. Neither of you sees the other's phone number. During a call you can mute yourself, turn your camera on or off, switch to the loudspeaker in the app, and go back to the rest of Ahiuwa while you talk.

A call rings while Ahiuwa is open in the app or in a browser tab. Every call is noted in the chat, missed ones too: tap one to call back. People who have blocked each other cannot call.

During a call, tap Record. Nothing is recorded until the other person taps Allow; if they tap Don't allow, or do not answer within 30 seconds, nothing is recorded and you are told so. While a recording is on, both of you see Recording on the call screen, and either of you can stop it at any time. There is no time limit: it keeps recording for as long as the call lasts.

1. Tap Record on the call screen. The other person is asked to allow it.
2. Once they allow it, you both hear a beep and see Recording with its time.
3. Either of you taps Stop recording, or the call ends.
4. When the call ends, the recording appears in your chat just after the call, for both of you.

To keep a copy, tap the download button on the recording. The app saves it in Downloads › Ahiuwa, and on the website your browser saves it like any other download. The other person is told that you downloaded it.

The app can record on Android phones and in up-to-date browsers. Recording is not available in the iPhone app yet.

Each phone or browser records only its own microphone and locks it before it leaves the device, with a key that only the two devices on the call share. Ahiuwa stores the locked halves but cannot open them, and neither can anyone who gets hold of the files. Your device unlocks both halves and plays them together.

• Only the devices that were on the call can play it. On your other phones or browsers, or after you clear the app's data or your browser's site data, the recording shows as locked.
• Either of you can delete it for both of you, from the recording in the chat. It cannot be brought back.
• It deletes itself after 30 days; the chat shows the date.
• It goes if either of you deletes your account.
• Either of you can download a copy, and the other is told. You get a notification the first time the other person downloads it, and the recording in the chat says who has a copy. A downloaded copy is an ordinary sound file, not locked: it stays on that phone or computer when the recording leaves the chat, and whoever downloaded it can share it.
• Recordings cannot be edited.

If a seller added a phone number, tap Show phone on their listing to see it. Phone calls happen outside Ahiuwa, so we cannot help if something goes wrong on one — keep the important details (price, condition, where you meet) written down in the chat too.

Sellers can see how many people revealed their number in their listing performance.

Blocking someone hides you from each other everywhere on Ahiuwa: they cannot message you, see your posts or find your profile, and you will not see theirs.

1. Open the chat or their profile.
2. Open the menu and choose Block.

If someone is harassing or scamming people, report them as well, so our team can act.

• Keep the conversation on Ahiuwa. If something goes wrong, the chat is what our team looks at.
• Be wary of anyone who pushes to move to another app straight away, or who rushes you.
• Never pay in advance outside Ahiuwa. If you have to pay before you see the item, use an invoice or checkout, where the money is held until delivery.
• Meet in a busy public place, and check the item before you pay.

More in Safety, reporting and account rules.