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Hotline Navigator is a modern, cross-platform client for the classic Hotline protocol — bringing a beloved piece of internet history back to life on macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, iPadOS, and Android.
Hotline was an internet platform that let anyone run their own server — a self-contained community with real-time chat, file sharing, a message board, and a news feed, all in one place. Think of it as an early ancestor of Discord: you'd join a server run by someone else, hang out in the chat room, download files, read and post on the bulletin board, and follow news articles posted by the server operators.
What made Hotline special was how decentralized it was. There was no company controlling what servers existed or what happened on them. Anyone could run a server on their own machine, and trackers (directories of active servers) let you find them. The experience was a bit like walking into a small, independent club on the internet — every server had its own culture, its own crowd, and its own rules.
Hotline was created by Adam Hinkley and released in 1996 for the classic Mac OS. It quickly became hugely popular in the Mac community throughout the late 1990s, hosting everything from software archives and creative communities to niche enthusiast groups. At its peak, thousands of servers were online at any given moment.
As Mac OS X arrived and the broader internet landscape shifted toward the web, Hotline's popularity faded. The original company behind the software, Hotline Communications, eventually shut down. But because the protocol was fully decentralized, the network never went away — dedicated communities kept servers running, and open-source server software like Mobius has since kept the ecosystem alive.
Today Hotline is a quiet corner of the internet with a loyal community of retro-computing fans, Mac enthusiasts, and people who appreciate a slower, more intimate corner of the online world. Servers are still out there, still sharing files, still chatting.
Hotline Navigator is a full-featured Hotline client. Once you connect to a server, you get access to everything the protocol offers:
- Chat — Real-time group chat with all connected users, with support for @mentions, notifications, markdown formatting, and inline image previews.
- Message Boards — A threaded bulletin board for asynchronous discussion, similar to a classic internet forum.
- News — A categorized news feed posted by server operators, with threaded article replies.
- File Sharing — Browse, download, and upload files in a familiar folder hierarchy. Large file transfers (over 4 GB) are supported.
- Private Messaging — Send direct messages to other connected users.
- Tracker Browser — Browse a live directory of active Hotline servers, search by name, and connect with one click.
- Bookmarks — Save your favourite servers for quick access, with per-bookmark settings for login credentials and TLS encryption.
- Secure Connections — TLS encrypted connections for servers that support it, plus HOPE (Hotline One-time Password Extension) secure login on compatible servers.
- Chat History — Messages are stored encrypted on your device so you can scroll back through conversations.
Hotline Navigator is built with Tauri, using a React + TypeScript frontend and a Rust backend, giving it a small footprint and native performance across all supported platforms.
- Download the latest release for your platform.
- Launch Hotline Navigator. The Tracker tab shows a list of active servers — click any server to connect.
- Explore the Chat, Board, News, and Files tabs inside a connected server.
- Visit Settings to set your display name, configure notifications, and customise your experience.
- Preferences — A full guide to every setting in Hotline Navigator.
Hotline Navigator is an open-source project. Contributions and bug reports are welcome on the Issues page.