Traditionally, email, messaging, and phone calls have been separated out into different applications on our smartphones. illumy wants to change that, though. Today, they’re announcing a new service designed to streamline communications for remote workers and consumers.

illumy has been beta tested by over 7,000 customers and is backed by a management team that includes engineering, product management, and marketing leadership from RingCentral and Zoom.

  • Unified Communications in Single App: illumy users can message, group chat, email, voice call, or video call anyone in the world, even if they’re not using illumy.
  • Focus on Privacy and Security:  illumy members have total ownership and control of their information and everything they share, and all communications are encrypted end-to-end.
  • Backward-compatible: illumy works with non-illumy email addresses and also works calling traditional telephone lines (POTS, cell, VoIP, etc).

illumy’s free plan is now open to the public. Additional premium features, including an illumy phone number, are also available for just $3 per month through the i2 plan and $9 per month through the i3 plan.

“People have been tolerating a disjointed and cumbersome mashup of privacy-infringing, fragmented and siloed communication technologies for far too long,” said Matt McGinnis, founder and CEO of illumy. “The way we communicate now is more real-time and multimedia-rich than ever before, but we keep trying to force it into old, two-dimensional tech that doesn’t allow for rich information exchange. illumy is creating a deeper, more connected communication experience that puts people first through its seamless messaging, email and calling features.”

“illumy’s sophisticated, dynamic team has built a full-spectrum communications platform that no one has even come close to creating,” said Levonius. “With next-generation technology — including one of the largest implementations of WebSockets in the world — and industry-leading security, illumy is completely redefining what it means to virtually communicate.”

I’ve been beta testing illumy for the past few weeks, and while it’s a daunting challenge to combine all communication types into a single application, illumy is certainly on to something by offering a traditional phone number. As frequent as Zoom links are for quick calls, the traditional phone number remains the most common use for most people. illumy’s email solution isn’t as fully featured as some of the other clients on the market, but it’ll be an app I continue to watch.