FAQs

Threema Broadcast is a web interface that allows for convenient top-down communications via Threema. Use Threema Broadcast to communicate with employees, customers, and third parties.

Besides classic distribution lists and central groups, where you add and manage the recipients yourself, Threema Broadcast also offers feeds and bots. Feeds are dynamic newsletters; users can subscribe and unsubscribe at any time. Bots allow to conveniently retrieve information via Threema.

Both feeds and distribution lists are meant for top-down communications.

As far as distribution lists are concerned, you decide who the recipients are. You can add and remove Threema IDs to distribution lists at any time.

Feeds are similar to newsletters. Users can subscribe to and unsubscribe from feeds on their own. As Broadcast administrator, you can also subscribe and unsubscribe users from feeds. A feed’s blacklist allows to prevent certain users from subscribing to the feed.

Activate Availability: Internal only to prevent external users from subscribing to feeds.

Threema Broadcast allows to centrally create and manage group chats. These chats can be managed directly from the Threema Broadcast interface on a desktop computer. Messages sent to such a group chat will also be sent to the Threema Broadcast server since the respective Broadcast ID is also a group member. However, if the setting “Save chat history” (see below) is disabled, the server will discard incoming group messages right away.

Groups can contain up to 256 members. To send messages to more recipients, please use feeds and distribution lists.

To receive incoming group messages in Threema Broadcast, enable “Save chat history”.

By default, “Save chat history” is disabled. When enabled, the group’s name is prefixed with a cloud icon (“☁️”), which serves as permanent indicator to let group members know whether the group chats’ contents are centrally stored or not. If this setting is changed, all group members will automatically be notified.

Please note that it’s currently not possible to receive media and files, only text messages.

Members of centrally managed group chats can send “profile” to the relevant Broadcast ID to query the “Save chat history” setting.

Please note: The “Save chat history” setting does not affect groups created in the app. All groups created in the app are managed in decentralized manner, and only group members have access to the chat history, nobody else.

Currently, the sending of text / image and file messages (50MB) is supported. At this time, it is not possible to create polls using Threema Broadcast.

A Broadcast ID is a Threema ID that can be used exclusively in Threema Broadcast. Broadcast IDs begin with an asterisk (*), followed by “BC”, and consist of eight characters in total. You will receive one randomly generated Broadcast ID per price plan. Example: *BC4W4O3

A custom Broadcast ID will be created for a one-time fee of CHF 490.–.

Like other Broadcast IDs, custom IDs begin with an asterisk (*) and consist of eight characters in total; the seven characters following the asterisk must be letters or digits, special characters are not allowed. Example: *THREEMA

Threema can reject requested Broadcast IDs without stating any reasons. Custom Broadcast IDs that violate the rights of third parties, in particular trademarks and copyrights, or that violate any law may be blocked by Threema at any time.

Yes, Threema Broadcast is accessible via a software interface. The API allows to dispatch Broadcast messages and manage feeds, distribution lists, and groups.

For technical details, please refer to the API documentation.

The most recent versions of Chrome/Chromium, Edge, Firefox, Opera, and Safari are supported.

Internet Explorer ist not supported.

Messages that administrators send with feeds, distribution lists, and in group chats are stored on the Threema Broadcast server and can be accessed by the administrators of the relevant Broadcast ID in the Threema Broadcast web interface.

Messages that Threema users send to a feed or distribution list are not stored and cannot be accessed by administrators of the Broadcast ID. These messages are immediately deleted from the server.

Only centrally managed groups offer the option to save the entire chat history (including incoming messages).

Files are permanently deleted after 30 days, and text messages after 180 days in Threema Broadcast. Polls are closed after 180 days and also permanently deleted (if the poll was still open, the results will be sent to the poll recipients).

Threema users can block senders from whom they receive unwanted messages.

Broadcast administrators are not allowed to add users to distribution lists or groups against their will. In case of abuse, the relevant Broadcast profile will be revoked.

In Threema Broadcast, all messages are always transmitted in encrypted form. On top of that, incoming messages are not stored (unless the option “Save chat history” is enabled in centrally managed group chats).

Messages sent via the Threema Broadcast web interface are protected using TLS while in transit between your browser and the Threema Broadcast server. The Threema Broadcast server then encrypts the messages again using Threema’s regular end-to-end encryption based on NaCl. The private key of a Broadcast ID is stored in symmetrically encrypted form for each customer to prevent unauthorized access by third parties.

For more information, please refer to the section “Usage Data” of Threema Broadcast’s Privacy Policy.

Threema Broadcast’s pricing is straightforward; the number of recipients serves as basis for billing. The number of recipients includes all subscribers to your feeds, all members of your groups, and all recipients of your distribution lists. Users who have subscribed to multiple feeds or are present in multiple groups or distribution lists are counted only once.

The available price plans can be found in the pricing overview.

The minimum term is one month. You decide in advance for how many months you want to use Threema Broadcast. Once we have received your payment, your Broadcast ID will be activated automatically.

For more information, please refer to the General Terms and Conditions of Use.

No, subscriptions don’t renew automatically when the term ends.

Yes. Please note, however, that each Broadcast ID requires a separate price plan (and costs increase accordingly).

Yes, you can increase the number of recipients at any time by clicking on “Upgrade now” in the main view of the relevant broadcast ID.

To test Threema Broadcast free of charge and without obligation, activate a Threema Work trial.

Threema Broadcast can be used independently of Threema Work. However, the trial version is only available as part of Threema Work.

Threema supports nonprofit organizations, schools, and other educational institutions in their endeavor to increase privacy protection with preferential terms on Threema Work.

For Threema Broadcast, no discounts are available.

If the setting “Availability: Internal only” is enabled, only internal users can interact with the Broadcast ID in question, i.e., subscribe to feeds and use bots. Internal users are the ones who are present in a distribution list or group.

Availability: Internal only is enabled by default and can be changed in “ID configuration > Availability”.

If Threema Broadcast is used in conjunction with Threema Work, the distribution list “All” gets populated with all contacts of the corresponding Threema Work subscription.

No, when enabling Availability: Internal only, external contacst are labeled, but you have to remove them manually from groups and distribution lists.

Please note that you cannot remove recipients from feeds. If an external contact unsubscribes from a feed after you have enabled Availability: Internal only, they cannot re-subscribe to the feed.

No matter if Availability: Internal only is enabled or not, any Threema user can add any Broadcast ID to their contact list (provided they are aware of it). However, external users are not able to subscribe to feeds or interact with bots if Availability: Internal only is enabled. Thus, a Broadcast ID is useless for external users if Availability: Internal only is enabled.

Yes. You can add as many administrators as necessary, and you can limit their permissions as desired. Navigate to “Access”, and click on “Create new administrator login”.

Yes, navigate to Manage > Logins to get an overview of your Threema Broadcast administrators and their access privileges.

After editing a group (e.g., by adding or removing members), the group needs to be synchronized in order for the changes to become effective in the app.

Open the group in Threema Broadcast, and click the “Synchronize now” button.

Like all automatic system notifications, this notification is in English, and there is no way to switch the language.

Yes, as a password alternative, you can also use a passkey to log in to Threema Broadcast.

Add passkey

In the management cockpit, navigate to “Settings > Your profile > Passkeys” (only available if the admin of your subscription has activated the option). Select “Add passkey,” enter a device name (for your reference), and follow the on-screen instructions. For compatibility reasons, your authenticator needs to support user verification and discoverable credentials.

Once you have added a passkey to your account, you can use it to log in to Threema Broadcast. If your browser supports WebAuthn autofill, you can simply click on one of the fields and choose the corresponding passkey. Otherwise, select “Login with a passkey,” and follow the login wizard.

Remove passkey

To remove a passkey from your account, navigate to “Settings > Your profile > Passkeys,” choose the passkey you want to remove, and click “Remove.”

The Professional price plan of Threema Work includes 1 Threema Broadcast ID, where the number of recipients corresponds to the number of Professional licenses in Threema Work. If, for example, there are 80 Professional licenses in Threema Work, there are 80 recipients available in Threema Broadcast.

The use of multiple Broadcast IDs or the communication with more recipients than Threema Work users is not included and must be purchased by means of a separate Broadcast ID. Additional IDs are not linked with Threema Work.

If Threema Broadcast is used in conjunction with Threema Work, the distribution list “All” gets automatically populated with all contacts of the corresponding Threema Work subscription (synchronization is performed once a day).

This ensures that all internal contacts of your Threema Work subscription are internal contacts in Threema Broadcast (cf. Availability: Internal only).

• A Threema ID that was detached from your Threema Work subscription is still member of a group or recipient of a distribution list.
• You have added a Threema ID that’s not part of your Threema Work subscription to a group or distribution list.

The users in question will be removed from the distribution list “All” and any other distribution lists. However, they will not be removed from groups and feeds. As administrator, you can manually remove them from groups and feeds.

It’s not possible to log in to Threema Broadcast with your Threema Work credentials. Please log in to Threema Work, and use Threema Broadcast via Threema Work’s management cockpit.