Blog

Hello, Iraq.

1 June 2026 · by The Ashlonk team · 3 min read

Ashlonk?" is how every phone call home starts. It is also the name of the app we have spent the last two years building. Here is the short version of why.

01What Ashlonk is

A messenger for Iraq: chats, voice notes, voice and video calls, and groups of up to 500, in Iraqi Arabic first. Every personal message and call is end-to-end encrypted. It is free, and there are no ads.

It is built for the network we have — messages queue and send when the signal returns — and for the way we talk, which is mostly by voice note.

02What Ashlonk is not

  • Not an advertising company. There is no ad profile of you because there are no ads.
  • Not a data broker. We do not sell, rent or share your data.
  • Not a copy. Arabic-first layout, Arabic-aware search and a design language drawn from Iraqi materials — zangar, lapis, carnelian, brick.

03What happens next

We are in closed testing with a few hundred people across Baghdad, Basra, Mosul and Erbil. Public launch on Google Play and the App Store follows once the numbers on 2G and 3G are where we want them. Until then, the Get the app page will tell you how to hear about it first.

Write to us at hello@ashlonk.com. In Arabic or English — we answer both.