SHIFROM Embeds VLESS+REALITY as a Relay Route in Its Encrypted Messenger

SHIFROM, an open-source end-to-end encrypted messenger currently at Alpha 2 and built on the assumption of a hostile network, offers a VLESS+REALITY route for reaching its relay, built into the Android app. REALITY makes the connection resemble ordinary TLS 1.3 traffic to a real third-party website, and connections that fail authentication are forwarded to that site, so probers see its genuine certificate. In a single founder-run test on one Android device and one Russian mobile operator on 7 May 2026, the route worked, but the authors stress this is one session, not proof of general evasion. REALITY does not hide that a connection exists, its duration, or its volume, and it is not an anonymity tool. The team chose it because it needs no separate app and avoids protocols they consider fingerprinted and blocked on Russian carriers. The custom cryptographic protocol has not been independently audited.