Social Networking
Cabin Talk
Chat with invited travel companions over local Wi-Fi or peer-to-peer Wi-Fi, even without cellular service.
$2.99
Available on iPhone, iPad & Mac
- iPhone
- iPad
- Mac
Prices can vary by region. The App Store shows the current price.
A closer look
See more of Cabin Talk.
About Cabin Talk
Travel chat nearby or online
Cabin Talk keeps travel companions connected on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Chat and share photos directly between nearby Apple devices over local or peer-to-peer Wi-Fi, without cellular service or a Cabin Talk account.
When internet access is available, text and photos can also use an end-to-end encrypted relay in Apple CloudKit. An online group member can bridge messages between nearby offline companions and remote family members while Cabin Talk stays open. The developer does not hold the group key needed to read your messages.
Keep trip details together
The shared Trip Board holds gates, seat assignments, hotel details, meeting points, and itinerary notes. Everyone in the conversation can update it. Changes save on your device first and sync through nearby chat or iCloud when a connection is available.
Read more
Invite your group
Private groups are the default. Share the creator QR invitation or complete invitation text with trusted companions. You can also choose a public nearby group that other Cabin Talk users on the local network can discover and join after confirmation. Public groups are not private.
Chat, share, and play
Photos are resized and stripped of original location and camera metadata before sending. Use on-device controls to report, block, react to, edit, or delete content. Enjoy nearby games including Tic-Tac-Toe, Checkers, and Word Battle with your group.
Optional iCloud backup
Choose when to back up, review, restore, or delete a private iCloud backup of retained conversations, photos, trip details, group access, safety choices, read status, and preferences. Retention limits apply. Pending sends, drafts, and device identity keys are not transferred. Cabin Talk never asks for your Apple ID password. Local and nearby features work with backup off.
Help when you need it
Report a problem, send feedback, or request a feature from Help & Feedback. Diagnostics are optional and off by default. Review the exact report and any selected image before choosing whether to send it. No advertising tracking or third-party analytics SDKs.
Keep Cabin Talk open and active for nearby connections, internet catch-up, and bridging. Reopen it after backgrounding or force-quitting to reconnect. Device distance, permissions, network conditions, and airline Wi-Fi restrictions can affect delivery. Cabin Talk is not an emergency or safety-critical service.
Highlights
What Cabin Talk does best.
- 01
Nearby group chat without cellular service or a Cabin Talk account
- 02
Private invitations shared by QR code or invitation text
- 03
Optional end-to-end encrypted CloudKit text relay
How it works
Step by step.
- Create a private group for trusted travel companions.
- Invite companions with a QR code or shared invitation text.
- Keep Cabin Talk open while chatting nearby or catching up through the optional text relay.
Privacy at a glance
What happens to your data.
Cabin Talk is designed to keep conversation content end-to-end encrypted while supporting nearby delivery, an optional CloudKit relay, and an optional private iCloud backup.
What’s new Version 1.1
Plan your trip together with the new Trip Board. Keep gates, seat assignments, hotel details, meeting points, and itinerary notes in one shared place, with offline saving and syncing when a connection is available.
Help & Feedback makes it easier to report a problem, suggest a feature, or contact the developer. Preview your report before sending, choose whether to include diagnostics or an image, and use copy or save options when Mail is unavailable.
This update also improves photo recovery after reconnecting or reopening the app, conversation restore reliability, and error messages.
FAQ
Common questions
Why is a nearby or internet conversation not connecting?
Keep Cabin Talk open in the foreground on participating devices, confirm the invitation was accepted for the intended group, and use compatible app versions. Nearby mode needs Local Network access and working peer connectivity. Internet relay depends on iCloud/CloudKit and uses a 30-day fetch window; delivery can be delayed and is not guaranteed in the background. Cabin Talk is not an emergency, safety, or guaranteed-delivery service.
Why can I not scan an invitation or add a photo?
QR scanning needs Camera permission. Adding a photo uses Apple’s system photo picker, so choose the image again if access was cancelled. Cabin Talk removes ordinary image metadata from a selected image before sending it, but you should still review the visible image itself before sharing.
What happens when I erase Cabin Talk data or delete an iCloud backup?
Settings > Data & Privacy > Erase All App Data removes this device’s groups, messages, local archives, preferences, and keys. It does not recall recipient copies, remove public-relay rows created by other devices, or delete the separate private iCloud backup. Delete that backup separately in Settings > Apple Account & iCloud > Delete iCloud Backup. Relay cleanup is best effort because CloudKit creator ownership can prevent one device from deleting another device’s record.
Who handles App Store billing or refund requests?
Apple processes App Store purchases and eligible refund requests and does not provide Cabin Talk with your full payment-card details. Use Apple’s Report a Problem service or Apple Support for a billing or refund request. Contact Cabin Talk support for an app-function problem.
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