In the distant year of 1997, I was working for a company and had been assigned to a project involving the Internet—a rare and fascinating thing back then. Internet usage was still very limited, and few people had access to it. I happened to be one of them.
One day, I came across a chat application and was absolutely amazed. Within seconds, I could communicate with people thousands of kilometers away, in different countries and even on other continents. That experience left a lasting impression on me.
As a typical engineer, I was curious about how it worked. More than that, I had a strong desire to build something like it myself—my own chat application.
Years later, my brother and I decided to create Brosix — a messaging platform tailored for business communication. It was designed for teams that needed faster decision-making, more efficient internal communication, and a way to keep their conversations focused and organized.
But deep down, I still carried my old dream—to build a messaging app for everyday people, just like the one I had used back in 1997.
That’s why, from the very beginning of Brosix, we’ve always maintained a free version for personal use. It was our way of giving something back to the community. We never intended to make money from it. We simply wanted people to enjoy using something we had built—completely for free.
This free version was fully funded by Brosix. The technology was developed for Brosix, but we made sure that the same core functionality was also available to individual users. No ads, no tracking, no data selling—just a gift from us to the people who wanted to stay connected with their family and friends.
For a long time, we had two offerings on our website: Brosix Enterprise for companies and Brosix Personal for individuals. But it often created confusion. Many people looking for Brosix Personal accidentally signed up for the business version—and vice versa.
In 2021, we decided to separate the two and give the personal version its own identity. That’s how Chatox was born—a standalone brand with the same heart and soul as Brosix Personal, but with a clear message: this is your free messaging app.
To this day, the idea behind Chatox remains unchanged. It is a completely free messaging service for individual users, funded entirely by Brosix. We don’t monetize Chatox. We don’t analyze or sell your data. We don’t use your conversations for any business gain. Chatox is, quite simply, a dream come true from 1997—and a gift from us to you.
About the author
Stefan Chekanov is the co-founder and CEO of Brosix and the creator of Chatox. With a passion for communication technologies and over 25 years of experience in software development, he brings a deeply personal vision to everything he builds. Chatox is one of his longest-standing dreams—now a reality shared freely with the world.
Image by Unsplash