Which way

Result

The link opens a page that reads it. Without the key, your friend has to crack it. The message travels after the # in the link, which a browser never sends to our server.

NATO alphabet chart

Every letter, A to Z.

Where it comes from

A word for every letter, so a call sign survives a bad radio line. The alphabet in use today was adopted for aviation in 1956 and spread to ships, armies and help desks. Alfa and Juliett are spelled that way on purpose, so speakers of every language say them alike.

Learn it by heart

This is the cipher desk from Covert Mail, our free app for learning codes. The app teaches NATO alphabet a few characters at a time, plans practice around the ones you miss, and keeps an archive of famous real messages to unlock. It is coming soon to the App Store and Google Play.

Coming soon to the App Store and Google Play

More codes and ciphers: