Connect with Vommet

This guide takes you from an invite to chatting on nether.im with Vommet, our recommended Matrix client. No Matrix experience assumed. Fifteen minutes, one non-skippable step (you’ll know it when you get there).

Before you start

You’ll need:

Joining means you’ve agreed to the Code of Conduct and you’re 18+.

Not joining nether.im? This guide still works: pick a server from recommended homeservers and substitute it wherever we say nether.im — and skip the invite parts.

Step 1 — Install Vommet

Grab the newest release from nether.codes/nether/vommet/releases (or via vommet.app):

Every file has a checksum next to it on the releases page.

Step 2 — Create your account on nether.im

nether.im accounts are Nether accounts: one login, run on our own single sign-on, that also opens our other services.

  1. Open the invite the member gave you and create your account with it.
  2. Pick your username. This becomes your permanent Matrix ID — @yourname:nether.im — and cannot be changed later (your display name can, so don’t overthink the capitalization).
  3. Set a strong password. Save it in your password manager now — that’s thing one of two.

Then open Vommet, enter the homeserver nether.im and tap Continue. Vommet opens the Nether sign-in page in your browser; sign in there with the account you just made, and you land back in Vommet, signed in.

Step 3 — Save your recovery key (do not skip)

This is the step. Your messages on Matrix are end-to-end encrypted, and the recovery key is what lets a future device — new phone, reinstall, stolen laptop replaced — read your message history. Lose it (and all your signed-in devices) and that history is unrecoverable by anyone, including us. The encryption page explains the whole picture; right now, just get the key saved.

Vommet walks you through this right after your first sign-in:

  1. When it offers to set up secure messaging, say yes. (If you closed it, it’s under Settings → Security.)
  2. It shows your recovery key. Copy it into your password manager as an entry like “Matrix recovery key — nether.im”. That’s thing two of two.

Do this now, in the same sitting as registration. Two minutes now saves your entire history later.

Step 4 — Make yourself presentable

In Settings, set your display name (this one you can change anytime) and an avatar. Do it before you start talking — a name and a face is half of not looking like a spammer.

Step 5 — Join the rooms

Nether’s rooms are organized in a space — Matrix’s version of a Discord server, a folder of rooms. Your account is added to the main space when it’s created, so it should already be sitting in your room list.

Open it and browse the room list, then join whatever fits. Mind each room’s labels — see the Code of Conduct on content labeling. If the space isn’t there, or you’re not sure where to start, ask in #meta:nether.im.

Step 6 — Add your other devices

Install Vommet (or any client) on your other devices and sign in with the same account. Each new sign-in must be verified — the new device proves it’s really you, either by comparing emoji with an already-signed-in device or by entering your recovery key. Do it when prompted; an unverified session can’t read encrypted history and shows up with a warning to everyone else.

If the new session gets stuck at verification, the fixes live on the encryption page.

One caveat: Vommet’s Android notifications are newer than the rest of the app. If you need dependable mobile pings and they let you down, run Element X on the phone alongside — same account, both signed in, no conflict — and tell us in #vommet:nether.im.

Done — and if anything went sideways

You’re on Matrix. If something above didn’t match what you saw, or a message says “unable to decrypt”, or verification loops forever: encryption covers the crypto weirdness, help covers everything else, and #meta:nether.im is full of people who did this last month.