Tunnel X to release on Android and iOS at once at the end of June

Tunnel X, the super private and secure messaging service, will release mobile apps with its public launch at the end of June, said cofounder Eric Liftin. Technically Brooklyn met with Liftin inside its offices, which it shares with architecture firms in Dumbo.

Notably, Tunnel X will come out on Android and iOS at once, a move cited as strategically advantageous at the recent dd:Impact conference. Android users appreciate the rare equal treatment.

We covered its recent $350K funding round.

Liftin told us that he believes the Edward Snowden controversy created a space for truly private messaging apps in a way that there wasn’t before. Whereas, once upon a time, he believes, people might have been embarrassed to be seen with an app that’s known for secret messaging, now, he thinks, the Snowden revelations have eliminated that sort of stigma.

There’s no notion of an “address” in Tunnel X‘s messaging scheme. Instead, you create a “tunnel” between two people. The tunnel is secured with an image and a PIN code. To initiate a tunnel, you pick an image and a PIN and then send a code to your intended recipient. This part is the most cumbersome part of the process, as the code is epically long.

Once your recipient receives the code and enters it on the site, they will be prompted to pick their own image and their own PIN.

Then, each time either person wants to access that particular tunnel, they go to the site (or, soon, the app), select the tunnel and enter the PIN to reopen it. Each “tunnel” will have its own unique identity. Checking to see if your interlocutor has sent you something new can be tedious, so the app will have push notifications built in, if the user wants.

Liftin also believes that there is a different quality to communicating over Tunnel X and hopes he can convince people to try it and see.

The company was founded by Liftin and Steve Schneider, its CTO. This week, the team brought on its first staffer, a developer.

The system is available for use over the web now. Eventually, the company expects to charge users for the service, perhaps on a per tunnel or freemium model.