How UTurn Secures Your Calls with End-to-End Encryption

All audio and video calls on UTurn are protected by end-to-end encryption (E2EE), ensuring that only you and the person you're speaking with can access the content of your conversations. UTurn never has access to the call data—neither its content nor its encryption keys.

How UTurn Call Encryption Works

When you initiate or receive an audio or video call through UTurn, the system first attempts to establish a direct peer-to-peer (P2P) connection between your device and the other participant's device. This is the ideal setup because it allows for:

• Lower latency (faster audio and video transmission)

• Higher quality calls

• Reduced server involvement

If a direct connection is successfully established, encrypted audio and video data flows directly between the two devices. UTurn's servers are only involved in the following limited ways:

• To initiate the call and coordinate device discovery

• To monitor call status and handle disconnection (e.g., if one party hangs up)

• To assist with connection recovery if the call is interrupted (e.g., due to a temporary network issue)

This direct P2P method is UTurn’s preferred approach because it maximizes call performance while maintaining full encryption security.

When Direct Connections Aren’t Possible

In some cases, a direct connection between devices cannot be established. This is most often caused by network configurations, such as:

• Strict NAT (Network Address Translation) settings on routers

• Firewalls or network policies blocking peer-to-peer traffic

When this happens, UTurn seamlessly falls back to using a relay server. In this mode:

• Both devices establish secure connections to a UTurn relay server

• The server forwards the encrypted audio/video data between the devices

Importantly, this relay server does not decrypt, access, or store any of the transmitted data. The call remains fully end-to-end encrypted—the server simply acts as a blind messenger, routing the encrypted data packets without interpreting them.

The encryption protocol and keys remain the same as in direct connections. The only practical difference users may notice is a slight reduction in video or audio quality, depending on network speed and relay server proximity.

Security Assurances and Privacy Protections

UTurn’s call encryption is designed so that:

• Only the devices involved in the call can encrypt or decrypt the media

• UTurn’s servers are technically incapable of accessing the call content

• All encryption keys are stored and managed only on the user devices

• Calls are never recorded, logged, or analyzed by UTurn

Whether your call uses a direct connection or is relayed through a server, your privacy is equally protected. Both methods offer the same strong level of cryptographic assurance, with no compromise in data confidentiality.