Dot Dash FAQ

What is a Dot Dash?

A pocket messaging device that sends and receives messages in Morse code. It has a small screen, two buttons, a buzzer and an LED. You tap out a message in Morse — or pick a ready-made phrase — and it arrives on another Dot Dash, or in your phone.

What does it deliberately not have?

No camera. No microphone. No web browser. No location tracking. There is nothing to scroll and nobody new to meet. A Dot Dash can only reach contacts you have approved.

Do I need an app?

Yes, and it is where the account side of things happens: pairing the device, approving contacts, reading the message Log and replying from your phone. Whoever carries the Dot Dash needs no phone and no account of their own.

Do I need to know Morse already?

No. The device teaches it. Train is a set of practice stages built into the device, and it adapts to how fast you actually tap rather than demanding textbook timing. Most people send their first real message using the ready-made phrases and pick up Morse alongside.

How many Dot Dash devices are out there?

Around 60 at the moment. Dot Dash is in a pilot, so you are early — expect the occasional rough edge, and expect us to answer email quickly.

Budget about fifteen minutes for the first device. The order below is the order the app walks you through.

1. Put it on Wi-Fi

A Dot Dash sends over your home Wi-Fi; it has no SIM. You can save up to five networks and the device will use whichever it finds, which is what makes a Dot Dash work at home, at work and anywhere else you go without being set up again each time.

2. Make your account and your base call sign

In the app, choose I have a Dot Dash, then register. You will pick a base call sign — your name plus a couple of digits, like ALEX0101 or SAM99. This is what a Dot Dash shows when you message your own device(s) from the app. It has to be unique across Dot Dash.

3. Pair the device

On the Dot Dash, go to TOOLS → PAIRING. It shows a six-character code. Type that into the app.

4. Name the Dot Dash

Each device gets its own call sign, the same shape as yours — MAYA0101, say. This is the name contacts see and the name they add to reach it.

5. Add the first contacts

In the app, open Approved Friends. Your base call sign will already be there, that is how you message between a Dot Dash and the app. If you have one, add a call sign for another Dot Dash. Each device holds up to 20 contacts.

For someone without a Dot Dash — a relative, a friend — use Add someone by link instead. See Everyday use.

What if I am setting up two at once?

Do one completely, then use Add another device in the app. Add each one to the other's contacts and the pair can start messaging straight away.

How do the two buttons work?

Everywhere on the device, the same two rules hold: SELECT moves to the next thing, ENTER chooses it. That is the whole grammar, and it is why anyone who can work one screen can work all of them.

One shortcut worth knowing: in a long list, hold SELECT for about a second to jump straight to BACK rather than cycling all the way round.

How do you send a message?

From the clock, press a button to wake the menu, then pick who it is going to. You get a choice of how to write it:

• DOT DASH — tap it out in Morse yourself.
• A ready-made phrase — a short list you control from the app.
• An emoji — for when a phrase is more than you want to say.

How do you actually key Morse?

Tap SELECT for each mark: a short tap is a dot, a longer press is a dash. The letter appears as you build it and the dots and dashes show along the top of the screen. The device learns your own rhythm, so a slow tapper and a fast one both get read correctly.

• Tap ENTER after keying a letter's code and the letter is accepted.
• Tap ENTER alone to add a space between words.
• Double-tap ENTER to delete the last character.
• Hold ENTER for about a second to send. The screen says SENT! while you are still holding, so there is no guessing whether it went.

How does a message arrive?

The device buzzes and the message appears. It also sits in INBOX, so nothing is missed because somebody was out of the room. Unread messages are marked, and the app shows an unread count per device.

Can you reply to a message you received?

Yes — open it in INBOX and reply from there. Replies are worth more points than a fresh message, deliberately: answering someone is the habit worth rewarding.

Can I reply from my phone?

You can message from your phone only using your base call sign, and only with the devices you own / have registered to your account.

What about someone without a Dot Dash?

Use Add someone by link in the app. You message or email them a private link; they open it in any browser and chat from that page, no account and no app needed. On that page they can choose to get an SMS notification when a message is waiting — see Privacy and safety.

The app shows you where each invite stands: Link not opened yet, or Left the chat, with the option to send a fresh one.

Someone we don't know messaged the device. What happened?

If an unrecognized call sign tries to reach a Dot Dash, the message is not delivered — you get a request in the app to approve or decline, and nothing reaches the device until you do.

Is there anything else on the device?

TIMER — 5, 15 or 30 minutes, or a custom length. Useful for work sessions, turn-taking, or anything you would otherwise pick up a phone to time — the one feature with nothing to do with messaging.

This is the part that surprises most people, so it is worth reading even if you have not come across it yet.

What are points for?

Points are the device's currency, and the games cost them. They are earned by messaging and by practising Morse, and spent on unlocking an arcade game for the day. Nothing else uses them — there is no leaderboard to climb and no score to beat.

How are points earned?

“Real substance” means at least three different characters — so SOS earns the two, and EEEEE does not.

Can points be farmed by spamming?

No, and the limits are deliberately quiet rather than scolding. Only five ordinary sends a day earn anything, and only two of those to any one contact. There is a cool-off between awards, and sending the same message twice in a row to the same person earns nothing the second time. Replies have their own separate daily allowance, so answering people is never crowded out by sending.

Train payouts sit outside those caps — practice is never the thing that runs out.

What is in Train?

Four stages, in order:

1. LETTERS — one letter at a time, with the code shown. Get one wrong and you try that letter again; progress already banked stays banked.
2. WORDS — whole short words.
3. TRAIN — a timed run, where keeping rhythm matters as much as accuracy.
4. TEST — no prompts.

Every stage feeds the same thing: the device's picture of your personal dot-and-dash timing. Practising makes real messages easier to send, which is the point of the whole arrangement.

What games are there?

• TICTACTOE and 20 QS are two-player — played against a contact, a move at a time, over the same connection as messages. Both are free; they cost no points at all, because they are really another way of talking to somebody.
• COUNTER (2 points), BIRD (4), JUMPER (6), DASHER (8) and DEFENDER (10) are single-player. The price buys the game for the day, not for one go.
• LEADERS shows standings and is free.

When is the arcade available?

Out of the box, the arcade closes from 8pm to 7am. You can lift that, or turn off the points cost, or hide the games entirely — see What you control from the app.

Everything here is per device, so two Dot Dash devices on one account can have different rules. If you carry the Dot Dash yourself, treat these as your own preferences. If you set one up for somebody else, they are the limits you are choosing on their behalf.

Approved Friends

Who this Dot Dash can message, up to 20. Nobody reaches the device without being on this list, and a stranger's attempt becomes a request for you rather than a message on the device.

Custom Messages

The ready-made phrases on the device. These are yours to write, and they are worth setting up properly: while Morse is still new, this is how the first dozen messages get sent.

Wi-Fi Networks

Up to five. It's easier to add a new network before you leave, not after you arrive.

Arcade

One switch hides the games entirely, leaving Train and the messaging. Turned on, two further switches:

• Play without points — games open immediately instead of costing points. Points already earned are kept.
• Play after 8pm — lifts the overnight close.

Both are off by default, which is to say a Dot Dash out of the box charges points and shuts the arcade overnight. You are turning limits off, not on.

Dot Dash Mode

How an incoming Morse message appears. On, it plays out mark by mark like a telegraph, which makes reading it practice too. Off, it arrives whole, like any other message. Worth turning off if incoming Morse is more frustrating than fun, and back on later.

Find My Dot Dash

Makes the device ring and light up, for the usual sofa-cushion emergency. It rings loudly for the first ten minutes, then more quietly. There is a Stop ringing button in the app.

The Log

Every message this device sent or received. Not a notification feed you might miss: the full history, readable at any time.

Points

The app shows the device's current balance as the device last reported it.

Advanced settings

Unlinking, connection security and the things most people never open.

One thing to know about changing settings: they reach the device the next time it connects. If a Dot Dash is asleep or out of Wi-Fi range, the app will say so and apply the change when it comes back.

How is it charged?

Over USB. The battery icon on screen shows roughly where it is, and the device notices when it is plugged in.

The screen went blank. Is it broken or asleep?

Almost certainly neither. The screen blanks after about a minute of no button presses to save the display — the device is wide awake and still receiving. Press a button and it comes straight back.

After about an hour untouched it does properly go to sleep, and either button wakes it. A sleeping Dot Dash still collects messages, so nothing is lost while it naps; they are waiting in INBOX.

Does it need Wi-Fi to work?

Yes, for sending and receiving — there is no SIM and no mobile data. Train, the games and the timer all work offline.

What happens when it leaves the house?

If it finds one of its five saved networks, it carries on. If not, it waits. Anything sent to it while it is away is delivered when it reconnects, so a Dot Dash in a bag for a weekend comes home with its messages.

This is why adding the networks in advance matters. A Dot Dash somewhere new, with no saved network there, cannot message home — and the app is the only way to add one remotely, which needs the device online. Add it before you travel.

How do updates work?

We push them. A Dot Dash checks for new firmware and tells you when there is one; you can also force a check with TOOLS → UPDATE. Updates are free and we would rather you were on the current one — several things in this FAQ only exist on recent firmware.

Is there an off switch?

Current devices have one, but it does less than you would expect: sleeping and being switched off draw nearly the same power. Leaving a Dot Dash on is fine, and it will put itself to sleep. We are moving towards no switch at all.

What can the device see or hear?

Nothing. There is no camera, no microphone and no location tracking, and there is no browser — so there is no way to reach the open internet from a Dot Dash, intentionally or otherwise.

Who can message a Dot Dash?

Only the contacts you have approved, and only up to 20 of them. There is no discovery, no friend suggestions and no way for a stranger to find a device. An unknown call sign that tries becomes a request in your app; nothing appears on the device unless you approve it.

Who can see the messages?

The account a device is linked to can see all of it, in the Log, including both sides of every conversation. If you have set a Dot Dash up for somebody else to carry, it is worth telling them that plainly.

Who runs the service?

We do. Every message a Dot Dash sends or receives is carried by Dot Dash's own servers, which also handle updates, contact approvals and the Log. There are no ads and no trackers, and we do not sell or share messages or numbers for marketing.

How do SMS notifications work?

This is optional and only applies to contacts using a chat link rather than a device. On their chat page, that person can enter their own mobile number and tick the box to be notified when a message is waiting.

• Notifications come from (866) 786-1245.
• They say only that a message is waiting, and link back to the chat. They never contain what anyone wrote.
• At most one notification until they have looked at the chat again.
• STOP at any time to stop; HELP for help.
• Numbers are stored encrypted, never shared or sold for marketing, and turning notifications off deletes the number.

We never message a number that was not signed up this way, and nobody has to receive SMS messages to use Dot Dash. Message and data rates may apply, and carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.

What if I want everything deleted?

Deleting your account releases every Dot Dash you have linked, erases your message history and removes your base call sign. It is permanent, and the app asks you to type DELETE to confirm.

Full details are in our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

The app says the Dot Dash is offline.

In order of likelihood: it is asleep (press a button), it is out of range of every saved network, or the Wi-Fi password changed. For the last one, add the network again in the app — or, if the device cannot get online at all to receive that, use TOOLS → WIFI on the device itself.

A message did not arrive.

First check whether the destination is online — a Dot Dash that is away will collect it when it reconnects, which can look like a failure in the meantime. If it stays missing, and especially if messages go one way but not the other, email us: that specific pattern is usually something on our side and we can see it in the logs.

It is sending dots when I mean dashes.

The device learns rhythm from use, so the fix is usually Train rather than a setting: a few rounds of LETTERS teaches it your timing. All four Train stages feed the same picture, so any practice helps.

A button feels unresponsive, or presses register as the wrong thing.

Try a firmer, fully-seated press first — a half press can behave oddly. If it persists, get in touch with the device's call sign and what exactly misbehaves; this is one we have specific diagnostics for.

We can't find the device.

Use Find My Dot Dash in the app. It rings loudly and lights the screen for ten minutes, then more quietly. A Dot Dash that is flat or out of Wi-Fi range cannot ring, so this works best early.

We forgot the pairing code / the screen does not show PAIRING.

It is under TOOLS → PAIRING, and it is the same six characters every time — it does not expire. If that row is not there, run TOOLS → UPDATE first.

The device won't turn on at all.

Charge it over USB for a while first. If nothing, go to Advanced settings → Device won't turn on? Replace or remove it in the app, which lets you remove it from your account properly, then email us.

Everything looks strange after an update.

Try TOOLS → RESTART. If a screen seems wrong rather than just new, tell us — we are a small pilot and that kind of report is genuinely useful.

Can I add a second Dot Dash to the same account?

Yes — Add another device in the app, then pair it the same way. Each device keeps its own contacts, settings and arcade rules. One account can look after several devices.

Can two people manage the same Dot Dash?

A device is linked to one account. If you both need access, share the sign-in for now and tell us if that is awkward — it is the kind of thing we would build if enough people ask.

Can my phone be a contact on someone else's Dot Dash?

No, currently a base call sign on a phone can only be used to message devices registered to that account.

How do I hand a Dot Dash to someone else?

Unlink it first, in Advanced settings → Unlink Device, and have the new owner pair it afterwards. Doing it in that order matters — releasing before re-pairing is what keeps the two accounts from fighting over the same device. If you are handing one on, email us and we will make sure it is cleanly released.

What happens if I delete my account?

It releases every Dot Dash you have linked, erases your message history and removes your base call sign. Permanent, and the app asks you to type DELETE first. The devices themselves are fine and can be paired again by anyone.

Where do I get help?

support@dotdashdevice.com — a real person reads it, and during the pilot usually the person who built the thing.

We are also on Instagram at @dotdashdevice, which is the quickest way to see a Dot Dash actually being used.