UpBeep for IT

Network

On your office network. Between computers: UDP 45454, multicast 239.255.45.45 plus subnet broadcast. From phones to computers: TCP 45455.

• Each UpBeep binds UDP 0.0.0.0:45454 and joins multicast group 239.255.45.45 (IGMP). Every packet goes to that group and to 255.255.255.255:45454, so offices whose switches drop multicast still work.
• Multicast TTL is 1, so it doesn't cross routers. Keep UpBeep computers on one subnet or VLAN, unless you relay the group on purpose.
• No server between computers. Each computer announces itself every few seconds; pages, clears and office changes are sent as they happen. Packets are at most 60 KB.
• With an office password, every packet between computers is encrypted and authenticated (XChaCha20-Poly1305, key derived from the password with Argon2id), and packets older than ten minutes are dropped. Without one, that traffic is readable on the network and any device on it can join. We recommend a password.
• Phones connect to the computers over TCP 45455 (see Phones and watches).
• Guest and public Wi-Fi usually isolate clients. UpBeep won't work across them.

Talk and voice messages

Inside the office, live Talk travels over the office network. In an office with a password, Talk works live wherever the phone has internet, sealed so only your team hears it, never recorded, while an office computer is on. An office without a password keeps Talk on its own Wi-Fi. Watches take part through their phones.

Away Talk is sealed and passed through UpBeep's relay, which cannot hear it and keeps nothing.

On iPhone, Talk also works from the lock screen, the Action Button and Siri. A locked iPhone is woken for Talk through UpBeep's push server and Apple's push service, which needs the office's internet. The wake carries no audio.

Voice messages are recordings. UpBeep keeps each one only until it's heard, and its written copy for 30 days. Talk is live and never recorded.

With an office password, voice messages to a phone away from the office travel through the sealed relay like other away messages.

Written copies are made on the office's own computers or the phone, never a cloud service.

Windows Firewall

Allow UpBeep on Private (and Domain) networks, and make sure the office network isn't marked Public. On managed computers, create the rules yourself, for example:

New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "UpBeep" -Direction Inbound -Action Allow `
  -Program "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\UpBeep\UpBeep.exe" -Protocol UDP -LocalPort 45454 `
  -Profile Private,Domain
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "UpBeep phones" -Direction Inbound -Action Allow `
  -Program "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\UpBeep\UpBeep.exe" -Protocol TCP -LocalPort 45455 `
  -Profile Private,Domain

The program sits under each user's profile, so rules by port (UDP 45454, TCP 45455) may suit you better. UpBeep's own repair button runs netsh as administrator (Windows asks first) and adds inbound and outbound allow rules named UpBeep for its program, on all profiles.

Phones and watches

• Joining. On any office computer, Settings › Phones & watches › Pair a phone shows a QR code and an eight-letter code. A code lasts ten minutes, works once, and stops working after five wrong tries. The phone then asks for the office password, if there is one, and its person's name. No account or email.
• Connection. Each computer listens on TCP 45455 for its office's phones and accepts only private and link-local addresses. A phone links to one or two office computers at a time, and any office computer can serve any phone. Phones never join the computers' multicast.
• Finding the office. The pairing QR code carries the computers' addresses. Each computer also advertises _upbeep._tcp through Windows' own DNS-SD service (mDNS, UDP 5353; Windows 10 1809 or newer), so a phone finds its office again after addresses change. That needs the phones' Wi‑Fi on the same subnet as the computers, or an mDNS reflector; the phones must be able to reach TCP 45455 either way.
• Encryption. Every phone link is encrypted and authenticated with the Noise protocol (Noise_IK_25519_ChaChaPoly_SHA256) using that phone's own keys; only their public halves leave the phone. Pairing uses Noise_XXpsk3, keyed by the QR code's one-time token or by Argon2id of the eight-letter code. The phone never stores the office password. Without an office password the link is still encrypted, but a device on your Wi‑Fi could pose as the office to a phone, so we recommend a password.
• A locked iPhone. iOS pauses the app's link while the phone is locked, so for a page the link hasn't delivered within five seconds, the office computer asks UpBeep's push server to send an Apple notification. It carries the room, the page name and who sent it, and goes only to an iPhone seen on the office Wi‑Fi in the last 30 minutes. Computers never contact Apple directly.
• Watches. An Apple Watch talks only to its iPhone and opens no connections to your network.
• Messages, tasks and Talk away from the office. In an office with a password, messages, tasks and Talk reach the phone away, sealed through UpBeep's relay so only the office's own devices can read or hear them. The phone can reply wherever it has internet, while an office computer is on. An office without a password keeps them on its own Wi‑Fi. See the sealed relay described above. Pages stay on the office network, except the notification that wakes a locked phone.
• Removing a phone. Any office computer can do it in Settings › Phones & watches. Every computer refuses that phone within 30 seconds.

Updates

Not code-signed yet (Unknown publisher). Updates are signed with UpBeep's own key and checked before they install.

UpBeep checks a signed update feed at startup and every six hours, and shows a quiet notice. An approved update downloads and installs itself after office hours: outside the opening hours in Hours & holidays, or on a closed day. With no hours set, it uses the time between 9 pm and 5 am office time. It never installs while a page is waiting. During office hours, the notice offers Install. The download must match a public key built into UpBeep (a minisign Ed25519 signature) or it is refused. A computer that is busy, for example recording or about to ring an alarm, waits for the next after-hours check, and an unsent message draft is kept through the restart. Cancel update stops a pending install. UpBeep restarts into the same office and room. While an office's trial or subscription has ended, UpBeep stops checking for updates, and the subscription check-in is the only thing its computers send outside the office; once the office subscribes again, it checks for updates straight away.

Installing on many computers

Windows 10 (1803 or newer) and Windows 11, x64. iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.

Per user, in %LOCALAPPDATA%\UpBeep. No admin rights. One NSIS installer, about 140 MB. If Microsoft WebView2 is missing, the installer downloads and installs it silently, which needs internet then. To install offline, put WebView2 on the computer first.

/S installs silently and /R starts UpBeep when it finishes: UpBeep_x.y.z_x64-setup.exe /S /R. It installs for the user who runs it. A per-machine MSI for Intune or Group Policy is planned.

Removing UpBeep

Uninstall from Windows Settings › Apps. The uninstaller's Delete app data box (off by default) also removes both com.lumen.clinic folders; otherwise they stay, so a reinstall returns to the same office. Firewall rules added by the repair button stay too. Remove them as administrator:

Remove-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "UpBeep"

Patient information

UpBeep is not designed to create, receive, maintain or transmit protected health information (PHI) as defined by HIPAA. Offices should not enter patient names or other health information in pages, messages, voice messages, tasks or notes, whether in the office or away. UpBeep does not enter into business associate agreements.

Pages and messages use the office network, with exceptions for iPhone notices. A page for a locked iPhone carries its room, page name and sender through UpBeep's push server and Apple, and they show on the phone's lock screen, so keep patient names out of page names. With an office password, message notices are sealed end to end, so neither our server nor Apple can read them. Setup asks for rooms and names, not patient information. UpBeep doesn't make an office compliant with any regulation by itself; your practice's own risk analysis and policies still apply.

Questions: support@upbeep.app.