Plain language
What this actually is
No mystery here on purpose. The only thing that is genuinely secret is the exact wording of the directive, and even that is published seven days before the equinox with its hash available from the start. Everything else is written below.
What happens
At one fixed instant — the September equinox — everyone holding this app makes the same sound at the same time. Four seconds of an open vowel, then their own name, then ten seconds of silence. Sixteen seconds in total. Then it is over.
Why the equinox
Because nobody chose it. The equinox is fixed by orbital mechanics, happens twice a year, and belongs to no religion, nation, or calendar. It is the one instant the whole planet shares equal day and night, and it means the same thing in every language.
What is sealed, and what is not
The exact wording of the directive is published seven days before the equinox, in every language at once. Nothing else is hidden. The SHA-256 hash of the sealed text is published now, so afterwards you can verify that what you were given is what was sealed. The structure — tone, name, silence — is written on this page and is not a surprise.
What this app does to your phone
When you arm the moment, it schedules one local alarm on your device with the corrected timestamp baked in. That alarm fires with no signal, no server, and no push notification. Between arming and the equinox this app sends exactly two notifications: the directive unseal, and the moment itself. That is the entire notification budget, on purpose.
The microphone
Recording is optional, off by default, and asked for separately. If you turn it on, the recorder captures a fixed six seconds and stops itself in code. The file stays on your phone. It is never uploaded unless you listen to it and then choose to upload it. There is no automatic-upload setting.
What we do not claim
A billion voices will not move a seismometer, and we do not say otherwise. The waveforms in this app are texture, not measurements. Where we show real seismic data, it comes from IRIS and EMSC and is labelled as such — including when it shows nothing at all.
Why your timing will be "wrong"
Sound travels 343 metres per second, so two people 340 metres apart physically cannot hear each other at the same instant. Perfect global simultaneity is not possible and is not the goal. Your deviation from the global mean is the most interesting thing this app will tell you about yourself.
Who is behind it
A small independent project, not a company, a campaign, or a movement. It sells nothing, collects no advertising identifiers, and is not affiliated with any government, religion, or brand. If you want to ask something directly, write to hello@manouri.ovh.
This page exists because an unexplained countdown app that asks for microphone access and helps organise public gatherings looks, to a reasonable sceptic, like something other than an art project. That suspicion is fair. This is the answer to it.