Help with Decrumb.

Install Decrumb, open it, and choose Connect Signal. On your phone, go to Signal → Settings → Linked Devices → Link a New Device, then scan Decrumb’s QR code. If it expires, generate a new one.

Decrumb becomes another linked device. Keep using Signal on your phone as usual. Cleaning starts automatically after connecting. You can change the rules at any time.

Yes—Decrumb’s helper needs its Mac awake, online, and logged in, with cleaning enabled. An always-on Mac, such as a Mac mini, is the best fit for continuous cleaning. Its screen can be off.

A MacBook works while it’s awake and online. When it sleeps, goes offline, or shuts down, Decrumb stops cleaning. The helper runs on that Mac, so using Signal on your phone doesn’t keep it running.

Closing the window or choosing Hide Decrumb keeps cleaning running. In version 1.1.3 or later, Quit Decrumb stops the helper and closes the app. Opening Decrumb starts cleaning again. Pause cleaning stops it until you reopen Decrumb or choose Resume cleaning.

Enable Start Decrumb at login to open it automatically when you log in. This does not keep your Mac awake.

No. Decrumb is an independent, open-source app that connects through the unofficial signal-cli client. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Signal.

Open Note to Self in Signal. Decrumb sends only to that chat, never to your contacts or groups.

Notes include a searchable Decrumb code and, by default, the sender’s available display name. You can turn sender names off. A display name is not a verified identity.

Decrumb saves a note only when it removes tracking tags. A link may already be clean, fall outside your chosen sites, or be protected by a keep rule or a recognized signature.

It skips view-once content, spoilers, edits, story replies, ordinary outgoing or synced messages, and bare links in Note to Self. Optional phone commands are the explicit exception. It also skips messages from before cleaning first started, messages over 24 hours old, and messages with unsupported privacy information.

Check your rules and try a made-up example in Try a link. Heavy bursts or uncertain sends can still lose work; Decrumb is not a message archive.

Yes. In Decrumb 1.1.2 or later, incoming links from chats with disappearing messages follow the same cleaning rules as ordinary messages. Generated notes follow the disappearing-message timer set in Note to Self and your Decrumb note-cleanup settings. They do not copy the source chat’s timer and can remain after the original message disappears.

View-once content and spoilers are still skipped. Decrumb does not change either chat’s timer.

On Mac, open Settings → Cleaning rules → View domains and rules. The list comes from the rules bundled with your app and shows common tracking tags removed across sites, additional Instagram and X/Twitter rules, protected links, and exceptions.

Your selected sites, exclusions, and custom rules also affect cleaning. Decrumb removes recognized tracking parameters without visiting links. It does not expand shortened links, and unknown parameters stay in place.

No. It shows what your draft rules would change, locally on your Mac. It does not open, send, or save your sample. Background cleaning doesn’t visit or expand links either.

On Mac, open Cleaning rules, turn on Enable commands from Note to Self, and save. On Pi, run decrumb phone-commands enable. On Windows, run .\decrumb.exe phone-commands enable. The feature is off by default.

• /decrumb clean followed by a link: apply your current cleaning rules and reply with the result.
• /decrumb status: check whether the helper received your request, see its version and build, and check queue counts.
• /decrumb help: show the command list.

Only your own self-to-self commands are accepted. The helper must be running and online; commands sent while it was stopped are skipped. Commands work with Note to Self’s disappearing-message timer in Decrumb 1.1.2 or later. View-once, spoiler, group and edited commands are excluded. Replies follow Note to Self’s timer and your note-cleanup settings.

These commands cannot execute programs, read files, open links, or call an AI provider.

Signal applies the disappearing-message timer you set in Note to Self. Decrumb’s own removal is manual by default; you can also enable its automatic cleanup.

You can give new notes a lifetime of 1, 6, 12, or 23 hours, or schedule cleanup every 1, 6, or 12 hours. Each note can have its own lifetime. Choose Keep to cancel its Decrumb deadline and exclude it from scheduled cleanup; you can still request manual removal. Keep does not override Note to Self’s Signal timer.

Changing the default lifetime affects new notes. Existing deadlines stay until you change them.

Only notes this installation recorded successfully sending to your linked account. Your personal notes and notes without that local record are left alone. A matching link, name, or Decrumb code is not enough.

Removal is limited to eligible notes sent within the last 24 hours. Older notes, uncertain sends, or missing records may need manual removal in Signal.

No. Signal’s client accepted the request, but deletion is best effort. Decrumb stops requests shortly before the 24-hour limit to leave time for sending them.

A deleted-message marker may remain, as can quotes, saved copies, and backups. Deleting the original incoming message does not delete Decrumb’s note.

Automatic cleanup pauses too. A note may pass the removal deadline while the Mac is asleep, offline, or paused. Decrumb reports an old or unconfirmed request instead of claiming success.

In the Mac app, you can request removal while paused. Each action attempts up to three requests; repeat it or resume cleaning if more remain queued. Manual removal does not turn incoming-message processing back on. On Pi and Windows, cleanup requests stay queued until you resume the worker.

It discards links still waiting to be sent. It does not remove notes already in Signal.

Pause normally keeps valid queued links. Discard queued links on pause is optional and off by default. Saving changes to cleaning rules clears links queued under the old rules.

On Mac, choose Check for Updates… from the Decrumb menu. You can turn on automatic checks and installation in App updates; both are off by default.

Updates are verified before installation. Finish pairing and save or discard pending settings first. Choosing Install and Relaunch reopens Decrumb afterward and starts cleaning automatically, including if it was paused. If you choose Quit Decrumb while an update is ready, it can finish without reopening the app. Once installation has started, let it finish before quitting. Your linked account, rules, queued work, and receipts remain on your Mac.

In 1.1.3 or later, App updates shows why installation is waiting or preparation failed. Finish the requested action, then choose Install and Relaunch there to retry. If an older version’s updater remains stuck, use the manual update steps. RC1 also needs a manual update once.

If cleaning fails to start after reopening, choose Retry connection.

On Pi, download the new archive and rerun its installer as the same user. It preserves the linked account and settings. Pi upgrade instructions ↗

The Signal client stores keys, contacts, account state, and some message data on your Mac, Pi, Umbrel server, or Windows PC. Decrumb also keeps a local queue of cleaned links and command replies waiting to be sent. That queue is not encrypted.

Read what’s stored and for how long →

In Signal on your phone, open Linked Devices and unlink Decrumb’s device. Also pause Decrumb on the machine running it.

Unlinking does not erase local files or notes already delivered to your Signal devices. See the data removal details.

The Windows 1.1.3 CLI is a source-build preview for technical users. Follow the Windows build and setup guide, keep the complete bundle together, then run .\decrumb.exe setup in PowerShell. Scan the terminal QR from Signal on your phone. Setup starts background cleaning; you can close the terminal.

The first target is Windows 11 on Intel/AMD 64-bit. Builds are unsigned. Automated native tests pass; live pairing and sleep/wake testing remain.

No. Keep your PC awake, online, and signed in. Enable optional login startup with .\decrumb.exe start-at-login enable. Use status, pause, and resume to control it. Pause stays in effect through restart.

Pause the old copy and run .\decrumb.exe start-at-login disable. Place the complete new bundle in its final folder, then run setup; add --start-at-login if wanted. Setup keeps the linked account and settings and starts cleaning.

To remove the program, pause it, disable startup, and delete the extracted folder. Private state remains in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Decrumb until you deliberately delete it. Unlink Decrumb in Signal’s Linked devices if you no longer use it. Deleting local state requires pairing again and does not retract delivered notes.