iGap
Platform · this deep dive is built from the official pages of the platform itself and of the tools that support it.
Overview
iGap (آیگپ, "Aygap") is an Iranian messenger with a set of everyday services built around it: paying bills, taxis, buying mobile data, prize draws. The platform describes itself as an Iranian multi-platform messenger released in Aban 1394 in the solar Hijri calendar (autumn 2015) and claimed to be the first and only open-source messenger in Iran and the Middle East; the owner is the intelligent technology development group "Kian Iranian" (کیان ایرانیان). Being first and having open source is the platform's own claim, not an independent check; the source code is published on GitHub.
For work with an audience the key part is not messaging but the "iLand" section (آیلند), which brings together financial services, bill payment, discounts, online taxis and applied bots. People come here for services, and channels and bots live alongside them.
Who's here
The platform names one number: «this messenger currently has more than 20 million users». This is iGap's statement about itself in the help section: there is no measurement date, and the word "users" is not defined. A second number is easy to confuse with the first, but it is about something else: iGap is technically designed to withstand 60 million users — that is infrastructure capacity, not audience size.
There is no country breakdown, but the geography is visible from how the service is built. The activation code is sent to numbers on Iranian carriers; users abroad with an Iranian or foreign number can also receive it. Topping up mobile data works only with the Iranian carriers Hamrah-e Avval, Irancell, Rightel and Shatel, and card-to-card transfers are so far available only from Parsian bank cards. There are two language versions of the site — Persian and English — as the switcher on the home page shows; the platform does not give a full list of the app's languages.
Getting started
After installation you enter a phone number, a confirmation code arrives, and sign-in happens automatically. The app can be installed from the site, by dialling the USSD code *1*80#, from the Cafe Bazaar, Myket, Sibche, Sib Irani, SibApp and iApps stores, or you can use the web version. The username is 5 to 32 characters, unique, and can be changed and deleted. Separately, the platform suggests sending the digit 1 to the number 10004427 to get an installation link. There is no business account with document checks at the entrance.
Channels and groups work in the familiar way: public ones have a unique identifier by which they are found in search, private ones have only a personal link. An owner can hand over ownership by granting someone administrator rights and choosing transfer in the rights settings. If the creator's account is deleted, the channel and the group are deleted entirely. That last point is a real risk if a channel was set up on an employee's personal number.
The conditions for the blue check are published in full and are measurable: it is given only to channels and bots with a unique identifier — a contact or a phone number cannot get one; a channel or bot must have a description and a profile image, and the description must contain ways of contacting the creator; a channel must have at least 500 members and at least 100 published items on its topic; bots must be created by a company, organization or government body, or have an agreement with the iGap team.
What you can publish
The formats are the usual ones: text, photos, video, music and files in chats, groups and channels. There are stories — the "Lahzeha" format (لحظهها, "moments"), which the platform calls the first to appear in an Iranian messenger.
The size limit is stated outright: files up to 500 megabytes; the platform calls the cloud of your own saved messages unlimited. In the shared access editing section you can restrict, for all members, the sending of text, media, GIFs, stickers and links, the pinning of messages, viewing the member list and adding new members. Administrator rights are configured there too, one by one.
There is no list of prohibited content on the pages we checked — only a mechanism: the profile of any channel or group has a "report a violation" item.
How to grow
The platform describes no algorithm and no recommendations. Two mechanisms are named, and both are manual: a public channel is found by searching for its unique identifier, and tapping a hashtag searches for it across the whole messenger and finds every chat and channel where it has been used. There is also message exchange with other Iranian messengers: users of local apps can write to each other without creating an account on the other service; the feature is switched on in the security and privacy settings under "connection with other Iranian messengers", after which you need to tap "sync".
The platform describes no built-in channel statistics anywhere. There is no ad account on the public pages: no rates, no formats and no requirements for advertisers.
Path to monetization
iGap has no programme of payouts to authors for content: no share of advertising revenue, no paid channel subscriptions and no donations are described on the pages we checked.
What does exist is a points system tied to payments: each point in iGap equals 10 rials, and points can be earned for any transaction — a card-to-card transfer, paying a bill, buying data and bundles, charity — as well as for taking part in polls and predictions; stickers are created through the @botsticker bot. This is a loyalty programme for the user, not earnings for a channel owner.
The wallet is described separately: it is topped up with bank cards and spent on services — paying for a taxi, purchases in shops and so on. You can earn through it by selling your own goods inside iLand, but the platform does not name the conditions for onboarding a seller, the commissions or the thresholds.
Tools and automation
There is an official interface, and the documentation is public. Bots are third-party programs running inside iGap; users interact with them through messages, commands and inline queries, while the developer controls the bot through HTTPS requests to an intermediary the platform calls "Bot Land". Bots are special accounts that do not need a separate phone number; you can talk to a bot by opening a chat with it or adding it to a group, and you can also call it straight from the input field by its username to send content to any chat, group or channel. The scenarios named are notifications and news, paid services and a shop front, and applied tools such as a weather forecast and a translator. The introductory documentation page names no numeric limits — no request rates, no attachment sizes for a bot.
Among ready-made bots the platform names @botsticker for assembling a sticker set and @tgbot — a Telegram mirror Bot for moving content from Telegram into iGap. The second one covers the typical task of moving a channel from another platform.
Limits and rules
- Files. Up to 500 MB per file; when exchanging with other Iranian messengers — up to 100 MB, and so far only text, files, photos, video and sound are available, with stickers promised later.
- Account. By default an account that has not been used for a year is deleted automatically; the period can be changed in the settings; after deletion all data is erased and the message history cannot be restored, and the channels and groups created are deleted along with it. A working owner account must not be abandoned.
- Privacy. Only those who already have your number can see it; who may invite you to groups and channels is configurable, and by default it is anyone who has your number or username.
There is no age threshold, no list of prohibited content and no description of the consequences of violations on the pages we checked.
Who it's for
It suits projects aimed at an Iranian audience and tied to local payments: payment services, shops, and organizations that need a verified channel. The verification conditions are transparent and achievable — 500 members and 100 posts.
It suits developers who need a bot with notifications and payments: the documentation is public and a bot does not require a separate number, and the client source code is published, which is rare for a messenger of this size.
It does not suit you if you need to monetize content: the platform does not pay authors and offers no ad account. It does not suit international projects: the money loop is entirely Iranian. And it does not suit those planning to measure results: there are no channel statistics here.
Verified data
The checked data this deep dive rests on.
About the platform
the platform describes itself as follows: «آی گپ نرم افزاری پیام رسان است که توسط شرکت کیان ایرانیان برای تلفن های هوشمند (اندروید و iOS)، تبلت ها و رایانه های شخصی طراحی شده است.»
Self-description: this is the platform's claim about itself, not an independent assessment
source, checked 2026-07-28
the owner is the intelligent technology development group «Kian Iranian» (کیان ایرانیان); the launch was in Aban 1394 in the solar Hijri calendar (autumn 2015)
source, checked 2026-07-28
the platform calls itself the first and only open-source messenger in Iran and the Middle East
The platform's claim about itself; we did not examine the contents and licences of the repositories
source, checked 2026-07-28
Who's here
iGap is technically designed to withstand 60 million users
THIS IS INFRASTRUCTURE CAPACITY, not audience size — the two numbers are easy to confuse
source, checked 2026-07-28
the activation code is sent to numbers on Iranian carriers, but users abroad with an Iranian or foreign number can also receive it
source, checked 2026-07-28
the platform states: «this messenger currently has more than 20 million users»
A platform claim with no measurement date and no definition of a "user"
source, checked 2026-07-28
Getting started
Sign-in is by mobile phone number with a confirmation code: «پس از نصب و اجرای اپلیکیشن، با واردکردن شماره موبایل، کد تائید برای شما ارسال میشود» (our translation: after installing and launching the app you enter your mobile number and a confirmation code is sent to you)
The Persian quotation is given as in the source, and the translation is ours. No application or approval for ordinary registration is described in the FAQ section.
source, checked 2026-08-07
installation from the site, by dialling the USSD code *1*80#, from the Cafe Bazaar, Myket, Sibche, «Sib Irani», SibApp and iApps stores, or through the web version; separately, sending the digit 1 to the number 10004427 to get a link
The number 10004427 is given on the home page
source, checked 2026-07-28
Account and access
The blue tick requires a measurable threshold: «کانال باید حداقل دارای ۵۰۰ عضو و ۱۰۰ محتوای منتشر شده در حوزه فعالیت خود داشته باشد» (our translation: the channel must have at least 500 members and 100 published items in its subject area). A description with a profile image and ways to contact the creator are also required
The figures are named by iGap itself. This is a verification threshold, not a monetisation one: the tick is not linked to money in the document. The threshold was rechecked on 7 August 2026 and matched what was recorded in the database earlier.
source, checked 2026-08-07
the username is 5 to 32 characters, unique, and can be changed and deleted
source, checked 2026-07-28
the blue check is given only to channels and bots with a unique identifier; what is required is a description, a profile image, ways of contacting the creator, at least 500 members and at least 100 published items; bots must be created by a company, organization or government body, or have an agreement with the iGap team
KEY FACT: a measurable verification threshold
source, checked 2026-07-28
Business terms
the «iLand» section (آیلند) brings together financial services, bill payment, discounts, online taxis and applied bots; the wallet is topped up with bank cards
The platform does not name the seller onboarding conditions, commissions or thresholds
source, checked 2026-07-28
Content
message exchange with other Iranian messengers: text, files, photos, video and sound, with stickers promised later; it is switched on in the security and privacy settings, followed by a sync
source, checked 2026-07-28
stories were released under the name «Lahzeha» (لحظهها, «moments»); the platform calls them the first in an Iranian messenger
Being first is a claim by the platform
source, checked 2026-07-28
Promotion
only two manual mechanisms are described: finding a public channel by its unique identifier, and a cross-platform hashtag search
The platform describes no algorithm and no recommendations
source, checked 2026-07-28
How the money works here
Where it is available. Registration is not limited to Iran: the FAQ section says that those who may register include «کاربران خارج از کشور با شماره موبایل ایرانی یا شماره های خارجی» (our translation: users outside the country, with either an Iranian mobile number or a foreign one)
This concerns admission to registration. The paid traffic top-up services, however, are tied to Iranian operators — a separate fact in the database.
source, checked 2026-08-07
each point in iGap equals 10 rials; points are credited for card-to-card transfers, paying a bill, buying data and bundles, charity, and also for polls and predictions
A loyalty programme for the user, not earnings for a channel owner
source, checked 2026-07-28
Pricing
The platform takes no payment for use: the English page states «iGap has always been, is and will be free.» No separate charge for creating a channel or for publishing is named in the documents that were read
This is iGap's own statement on its site. It concerns use of the app; about a commission on paid services inside the app the page says nothing.
source, checked 2026-08-07
topping up mobile data is available only with the Iranian carriers «Hamrah-e Avval», «Irancell», «Rightel» and «Shatel»; card-to-card transfers are so far available only from «Parsian» bank cards
The money loop is entirely Iranian
source, checked 2026-07-28
Limits and restrictions
files up to 500 megabytes; when exchanging with other Iranian messengers — up to 100 megabytes
source, checked 2026-07-28
the platform calls the cloud of your own saved messages unlimited
The platform's claim
source, checked 2026-07-28
Restrictions
by default an account that has not been used for a year is deleted automatically; the period can be changed in the settings
source, checked 2026-07-28
if the creator's account is deleted, the channel and the group are deleted entirely and the message history cannot be restored
A risk for a corporate channel run on a personal number
source, checked 2026-07-28
API access
the source code is published under the KianIranian-STDG organization on GitHub
The organization exists and opens; its contents were not verified
source, checked 2026-07-28
bots are third-party programs inside iGap; the developer controls a bot through HTTPS requests to the «Bot Land» intermediary, which handles encryption and communication with the internal API
The simplified interface is called the iGap Bot API
source, checked 2026-07-28
bots are special accounts that do not need a separate phone number; they can be called from a chat, from a group, and straight from the input field by username
source, checked 2026-07-28
utility bots: @botsticker for assembling a sticker set and @tgbot (Telegram mirror Bot) for moving content from Telegram into iGap
source, checked 2026-07-28
Languages
the home page interface language is fa-ir; the language versions declared are en-gb and fa-ir
The language is taken from the markup attribute, the versions from hreflang
source, checked 2026-07-28
there are two language versions of the site — Persian and English; the help section is available only in Persian
The English version is a short presentation with no reference data
source, checked 2026-07-28
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