Frequently Asked Questions

# Using Wahay

# Do I need to create an account to use Wahay?

No, with Wahay you don’t need to connect to an external server. The person who creates the meeting runs a Mumble server on that computer ,where other users can connect by sharing the meeting ID.

# How can I invite friends to a Wahay conference?

When you start Wahay, you can host a meeting or join a meeting. One of the meeting participants has to host the meeting, so that the others can join. The person hosting the meeting can share the meeting ID that would look similar to: mv6b4b3lkuwovmplfc3hovxzefvcirxlism7ry2dtubncmtv3amfzfid.onion.

# Is my microphone off when I start Wahay?

Yes, by default Wahay uses a push-to-talk model, that means you need to press a key to talk. To activate the microphone, press right control key while you are talking. This is done to simplify the audio configuration in Mumble. You can change this configuration in Mumble, but it won’t be saved.

# In which operating systems can I use Wahay?

At the moment Wahay works only in Linux, but there are plans to make it Windows and Mac compatible in the future.

# Why there is a delay in a conversation?

Wahay uses Tor Onion Services to make it possible that one of the participants run a Mumble in his/her computer. This has security and autonomy benefits, however Tor Onion Services are part of the Tor anonymity network that bounces communications around the world to hide your location. Bouncing around the world takes time and gives this delay.

# Features and Security

# Why is there a delay in a conversation?

Normally voice over IP (VoIP) or video conference systems require one server with a public (fixed) IP, so that the clients can connect to it. The server is managed by a service provider such as Zoom, Skype or others; it can also be managed by a system administrator in systems like Jitsi, Mumble and others. Either way you should trust your service provider or your system administrator not to be monitoring your conversations. They could monitor the metadata of the communication (who talks with whom, how long the conference was, etc.) and most of the cases they could even listen or record the calls without you knowing about it.

Wahay uses the Mumble protocol, but instead of requiring a server with a public IP, it integrates a Mumble server (Grumble) and exposes it to the Tor network with Onion Services.

# What does Wahay protect me from and what it doesn’t protect me from?

When you communicate over the Internet, your communication can be monitored over the network by your Internet service provider (ISP) or by routers between you and your service provider, and it can also be monitored by the server provider itself.

With Wahay there is no service provider, so the risk of being monitored by them does not exist. Someone monitoring the communication over the network traffic can know that you are using the Tor network, but not for what.

The participants of a Wahay conversation are anonymized through the Tor network, so they cannot be easily traced. That means that you can hide the fact the conversation took place. On top of it, the content of the conversation is encrypted between participants.

Wahay does not protect you if your computer is compromised. The security of Wahay conversations depends on the security of the operating system you are using. You should also consider that someone in the conversation could record it. Wahay does not protect you from bad friends!

# What is Mumble?

Mumble is an open source, low-latency, high quality voice conference system that works in a client server model. Mumble works very well with bad Internet connection and can work with the TCP protocol instead of UDP. This makes possible to use Wahay inside the Tor network.

# What are Tor Onion Services?

Tor Onion Services are features of the Tor network that among other things, allow to expose TCP services to the Tor network with Onion URLs that look like: hyqgoac6sbynrab2tvcncdhssv77fwq6cxkwe7ebkqf7uhhlxojiv6id.onion. These connections are encrypted between the Onion Service and the clients.

Wahay uses Onion services to allow the person hosting the meeting to run a Mumble server (Grumble)to which other people can join using the Onion address. To learn how Onion services work, you can refer to the Tor project documentation.