MyCitadel

Your Digital Fortress

Every social platform you use sells your attention. We built one that doesn't. Your posts, your messages, your personal information — encrypted at rest, sealed behind keys derived just for you, and never sold, shared, or fed to an AI trainer. No trackers. No ad networks. No compromise.

Enter the Citadel See Free vs Premium
  • 0 third-party trackers
  • 0 ad networks
  • 0 data sold
  • 0 AI training

Free forever. Premium at $10/month if you want higher limits.

Take The Citadel With You

The native Android app talks to the same encrypted backend as the web. Same account, same posts, same privacy — in your pocket. The app is currently in Play Store closed testing. We need 12 active testers for 14 days to unlock the public production release — and you can be one of them.

MyCitadel for Android

CLOSED TESTING
  • Version v0.4.0
  • Requires Android 8.0+
  • Size ~15 MB
  • Updated Oct 2026

The app is live on Google Play as a closed test. Closed testing means you must opt in with your Google account before the app appears on your device's Play Store. Once you opt in, you get the same app everyone else will get — just earlier, and with a direct line to the developer for bug reports.

Join the Closed Test on Google Play How to Install

Joining the Closed Test

Closed tests require a Google Account and a few minutes of patience. Follow these steps on your Android phone:

  1. Open the opt-in link on the device where you'll use the app: play.google.com/apps/testing/lol.mycitadel.app
  2. Sign in with your Google Account if you aren't already. This must be the same account you use on the Play Store app on your phone.
  3. Tap "Become a tester". You'll see a confirmation screen. Wait 5–10 minutes — Google Play takes a moment to register your opt-in.
  4. Open Google Play on your phone. Search for MyCitadel, or open the opt-in link again from your phone's browser — a link to the Play Store listing will appear.
  5. Install the app. You'll see a "Beta" tag next to the app name. Install it like any other Play Store app.
  6. Open the app once a day for 14 days. Google requires testers to open the app at least once daily for 14 consecutive days for their participation to count. This is a Google Play requirement, not ours — but it directly determines when MyCitadel becomes publicly available.
💡 Why this matters. Google requires every new personal developer account to complete a closed test with at least 12 testers active for 14 consecutive days before the app can be published to production. Every tester who opts in and opens the app daily moves the app one step closer to launch. This is the fastest path to getting MyCitadel on the Play Store for everyone.

Preferred: The Play Store (Closed Test)

The opt-in flow above is the recommended path. Once you've joined the closed test, updates install automatically through the Play Store, just like any other app. You'll receive a notification when the production release goes live.

Sideloading the APK (Legacy Fallback)

If you cannot join the closed test — for example, if you don't use Google Play services — the beta APK is still available below. This is the older distribution method and requires manual installation.

Download Legacy APK

⚠️ Sideloading warning: Installing apps outside of the Play Store carries risk. Only install from sources you trust. Every APK from MyCitadel is served from mycitadel.lol over HTTPS. Never install an APK that claims to be MyCitadel from any other source.

Why We Built This

Every social platform you have ever used sells your attention. Here is what the public record shows about how they treat your data — and what it costs them when they get caught.

Meta (Facebook & Instagram)

43.8M Privacy Violations Found by Jury
  • Jury found Facebook liable for 43.8 million violations of consumer protection law. Source
  • Ranked the most invasive app, collecting 32 of 35 possible data types. Source
  • Caught using a covert tracking tool on Android to link browsing data to identities even in incognito mode. Source
  • Fined €1.2 billion for illegally transferring user data to the US. Source
Their Premium Fee: $11.99 – $14.99/month

TikTok

$400M Settlement for Children's Privacy Violations
  • Agreed to a $400 million settlement for violating children's privacy laws. Source
  • Fined €345 million under GDPR for its handling of children's personal data. Source
Their Ad-Free Fee: ~$5.50/month

X (formerly Twitter)

$150M FTC Fine for Deceptive Data Use
  • Fined $150 million for using phone numbers and emails provided for security to target ads, affecting 140 million users. Source
  • Under an FTC order that requires independent audits until 2042. Source
Their Premium Fee: $3 – $40/month

LinkedIn

€310M GDPR Fine for Targeted Advertising
  • Fined €310 million for unlawfully processing personal data for behavioral analysis and targeted advertising without consent. Source
Their Premium Fee: $29.99+/month
"Why should you pay for a social media site, just to have them harvest your data, sell it to advertisers and political parties, and track your every move? They get your money and your data. That is not a business model. That is a shakedown."

The Mechanism

This is not marketing. This is how the platform is actually built. Every claim below has a corresponding line of code published for audit.

Encrypted at Rest

Email, phone, real name, address — every piece of personal data is envelope-encrypted with a key derived just for you. Posts, comments, and messages are encrypted under the same architecture. A stolen database yields ciphertext, not a dossier.

Argon2id Authentication

256 MiB of memory cost per password hash. Even with our entire database in hand, offline cracking is economically infeasible. Sessions are fingerprinted, HMAC-verified, and rotated on every privilege change.

Zero Tracking

No analytics scripts. No third-party cookies. No fingerprinting. The only cookies we set are the ones that keep you logged in and protect your session — and they never leave our domain.

Source-Available

Every line of our code is published on GitHub for inspection. Read it. Test it. Hire someone to break it. Our license permits auditing and security research — not cloning and relaunching. Security through architecture, not promises.

Audit Our Source Code Read Our Security Promise

The Arsenal

Everything you need to actually live online — without giving your life away to do it. All features below are live today.

⚔ Connections, Not Followers

Mutual by design. Nobody sees your profile, posts, or comments unless you accept them first — and vice versa. Blocking is silent, mutual, and permanent.

📡 Posts With Real Privacy

Every post carries its own visibility — public, connections-only, or private to yourself. Attach images, video, audio, documents, or archives. Edit freely. Delete for real.

💬 Threaded Comments

Reply to replies. The conversation stays coherent. Comment visibility follows the post's own visibility — no leaks, no gotchas.

❤ Reactions That Say Something

Like, dislike, heart, angry. Real emotional vocabulary, not just a binary thumb. Reaction counts on every post.

✉ Encrypted Messaging

Direct conversations with your connections. Attach files. Every message encrypted at rest under a key derived for that conversation. Delete a message and it's gone for both parties — no recovery, no archive, no lingering copy.

🔔 Real-Time Notifications

Web Push to your browser. Know when someone connects, comments, or reacts — without a tab open. No tracking pixel hiding in the notification payload.

🏆 Reputation & Badges

Earn reputation for posting, commenting, connecting, and helping. Unlock badges for milestones. Every award is recorded in an immutable ledger you can inspect.

🎨 Full Profile Control

Avatar, banner, wallpaper, accent color, fonts, borders, background music. 60+ fields. Every piece of PII optional and encrypted. Your space, your rules.

Discovery Without Exposure

Search by username or display name. Blocked users never appear. Hidden accounts return 404 — never "you cannot view this user." No existence leak.

Free vs Premium

MyCitadel is free forever. Premium is for Citizens who want more room, more reach, and more tools — and it is the only thing keeping this platform alive. No ads. No data sales. No AI training. Just $10/month if you choose it.

Free

Forever

$0/month

The full platform. Free is not a demo — it is the Citadel, and it always will be.

  • Post up to 50 characters + 1 image
  • Comment up to 25 characters
  • Like & dislike reactions
  • 1-on-1 encrypted messaging
  • All privacy & connection controls
Create free account
Premium

Citadel+

$10/month

Higher limits, all four reactions, group messaging with admin controls, and a badge that announces itself everywhere you appear.

  • Post up to 1,500 chars + 10 attachments
  • Comment up to 1,500 chars + 5 attachments
  • All reactions: like, dislike, heart, angry
  • Group messaging + admin moderation
  • +2,500 reputation every month
Go Premium
Free
Premium
Posts
Post length
50 characters
1,500 characters
Attachments per post
1 image
Up to 10 — images, video, audio, documents, archives
Post visibility
✓ Public · Connections · Private
✓ Public · Connections · Private
Comments
Comment length
25 characters
1,500 characters
Attachments per comment
1 image
Up to 5 — all file types
Reactions
Available reactions
Like · Dislike
Like · Dislike · Heart · Angry
Messaging
Start conversations
1-on-1 only
1-on-1 and group
Be invited to groups
✓
✓
Attachments per message
1 image
Up to 10 — all file types
Delete own messages
✓
✓
Delete conversations you created
—
Full destruction for all participants
Group admins can delete any message
—
Hard delete — gone for everyone
Profile & Standing
Premium badge
—
✓ Everywhere you appear
Monthly reputation bonus
—
+2,500 rep on every renewal
Priority support
Standard
Priority queue

Downgrading is not punishment. If you cancel Premium, everything you created while subscribed stays exactly as it is — posts, comments, attachments, deleted conversations. You lose the badge, the monthly bonus, and the higher limits on new activity. Nothing you have made is destroyed.

Stalker Shield

The most dangerous feature of any social platform is the ease with which a stranger can find, watch, and follow someone. We built against that from day one.

Visibility Is a Choice

Nothing about you is public by default. Every profile, every post, every comment sits behind an accepted connection. You decide who sees what, per person, at any time.

Silent, Permanent Blocks

Blocking is mutual, immediate, and silent. The blocked party gets no notification — they simply vanish from your world, and you from theirs. No escalation, no "user X blocked you" message.

Invisible Mode

Set your account to hidden and you become invisible to everyone but yourself. Even a direct ID guess returns 404 — no existence leak. This is a permanent option, not a temporary state.

No Cold Contact

Messaging requires an accepted connection. Connection requests require mutual acceptance. There is no way for a stranger to reach you. Not one. No cold DMs, ever.

Read the Full Stalker Shield

How It Works

Four steps from outsider to citizen.

  1. 01

    Register

    Choose a username, provide an email, set a strong password. Verify ownership through a signed link.

  2. 02

    Harden

    Enable two-factor authentication. Scan the QR code with any TOTP app. Save your recovery codes offline.

  3. 03

    Connect

    Send connection requests to people you trust. Nobody sees your profile until you accept them — and vice versa.

  4. 04

    Engage

    Post, comment, react. Every interaction is connection-gated and every privacy setting is honored completely.

Our Promises

We do not sell your data. Ever.

We have no business model that depends on knowing anything about you. Premium subscriptions are how this platform stays alive — not advertising, not data brokerage, not AI training contracts.

You can leave at any time.

Account deletion removes your posts, comments, reactions, and connections from the platform — and our systems are built to not keep what you have asked us to remove.

Free is not a demo.

Everything you need to actually use the platform is available for free, forever. Premium exists for people who want more — not to hold the basic experience hostage.

We pay for bugs.

We run a HackerOne bug bounty program. Security researchers are invited — and rewarded.

Security you can verify.

Our source code is published for audit. Our threat model is documented. Our limits are published. Verify us.

ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚨ ᚱ ᚲ

Your Data Should Be Yours Alone.

Join the citizens building a better internet.

Enter the Citadel Compare Free vs Premium