This feels weird to say because it should be obvious: Don’t download random #Conversations_im forks from the PlayStore!

I don’t know why people install apps with no website or source code. If you’re reading this, you’re likely not one of them—but server stats show they exist.

Yesterday, I warned one such fork about massive security issues and asked them to take it down. They refused.

Should #Conversations_im add stun.conversations.im as a fallback for #XMPP servers missing XEP-0215: External Service Discovery?

I’ve hesitated to add anything resembling "calling home" (no update checker, no metrics).

However, the main goal here wouldn’t be improving A/V call success (though it helps) but making P2P file transfers more reliable. Many servers still lack HTTP Upload, and the refactored Jingle File Transfer would benefit greatly from a fallback STUN server.

• Yes (72%, 63 votes)
• No (27%, 24 votes)

At the #XMPP Summit − after a topic is well-discussed and a rough consensus reached − someone needs to volunteer to write the XEP.

Last year, I volunteered to write the XEP for synchronizing read states across devices.

It's called Message Displayed Synchronization and is now in Last Call, where community feedback is gathered before a XEP becomes 'stable.'

xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0490.h…

Prototype implementations are in @Monal and #Conversations_im.

For those who can’t wait for Emoji Reactions I made #Conversations_im available for free on Google Play for the next couple of days.

play.google.com/store/apps/det…

(Note that the Google Play version has some drawbacks like no address book integration and no public channel discovery. For channel discovery you can use search.jabber.network directly.)

Conversations (Jabber / XMPP) - Apps on Google Play

An encrypted, user friendly XMPP instant messaging client optimized for mobile

^{play.google.com}

#Conversations_im has just surpassed 250,000 installs on Google Play. 🥳

The official, publicly visible, install badges are handed out for 100k and 500k. Growth has been very linear over the last ten years so stay tuned for the next big milestone in 2034! 😜

Continuing a tradition #Conversations_im is available for free on the Google Play Store for the next 7 days.

play.google.com/store/apps/det…

Conversations (Jabber / XMPP) - Apps on Google Play

An encrypted, user friendly XMPP instant messaging client optimized for mobile

^{play.google.com}

@daniel

Thank you for sharing your insights, and for your excellent XMPP app #conversations_IM!

Does anyone know about implementation plans for @dino?

/cc @larma

I don’t use the tablet UI in #Conversations_im. To be honest I hardly think about the fact that Conversations even has one.
However if you are using Conversations on a tablet and have suggestions for low hanging fruit / quality of life improvements I’m happy to implement them.
Recently someone suggested using the chat title as the activity title. (Apparently the highlighted chat is not enough of an indication of what chat you are currently in.)

#XMPP #android

Ten years ago today I released version 0.1 of #Conversations_im on the Google Play Store as a paid app.

I believe that I have contributed significantly to normalizing the pay-for-the-binary business model for open source apps.

Ten years ago Conversations was one of the first apps to do this and definitely raised some eyebrows. Nowadays it feels like a pretty common thing.

I actually already do something like this based on the #app SMS to URL forwarder (f-droid.org/packages/tech.bogo…). The URL corresponds to a very simple endpoint (a CGI written in Bash!) that receives the SMS details and resends it to a #XMPP MUC.

My use case is that I have a mobile phone with an overseas SIM card that I keep at home while I want to know when it receives a SMS.

So having this functionality as part of #Conversations_im would be great.

SMS to URL Forwarder | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository

simple incoming SMS to URL forwarder

^f-droid.org

I just read a review of Beeper¹ and I’m now thinking about SMS integration into #Conversations_im in the form of forwarding (mirroring) your SMS to your other #XMPP clients. (For example your desktop client or a tablet that runs Conversations but doesn’t have a SIM card.)

Obviously this would need buy in from at least one desktop client to display forwarded messages (@gajim, @dino).

Do you think this is something you would use?

¹: theverge.com/2024/3/20/2410621…

Beeper couldn’t bring iMessage to Android — but it can still make a great chat app

After taking on Apple, Beeper has returned to its original goal of building a chat app for Android that encompasses messages from social platforms and your RCS / SMS service.

^{Emma Roth (The Verge)}

• Yes (48%, 59 votes)
• No (I don’t use SMS) (41%, 51 votes)
• No (other reasons. see reply) (9%, 12 votes)

Google had accepted a version of #Conversations_im with address book integration that explicitly asks the user for consent to process the contact list locally on their device before requesting contacts permission. Our privacy policy included explicit wording w.r.t. local processing of the contact list.

However it’s unthinkable for Google that someone would request contacts permission and then not upload them. A few days later they changed their mind and threatened to remove the app again.
#XMPP

A bunch of XMPP developers and I (@dino, @Monal, #Conversations_im) will have a booth at the Chemnitzer Linux Tage (March 16th & 17th 2024).

Come talk to us about #XMPP and collect some merch.

chemnitzer.linux-tage.de/2024/…

@clt_news

Does anyone have a working Android 6 or Android 7 device in a drawer somewhere that they want to donate to the #Conversations_im project? (Anything higher or lower doesn’t work unfortunately)

While refactoring A/V calls I got myself into a situation where I can no longer verify that calls are working on these devices without access to a physical devices. (Emulator has knows issues when it comes to A/V calls.)

The oldest device I have access to *shipped* with Android 8 (and runs Lineage OS 17)

I just finished a refactor of the Jingle File Transfer code in #Conversations_im.
The P2P file transfer code was probably one of the oldest code in Conversations.
The new code should be a lot more resilient and brings support for XEP-0343: Signaling WebRTC datachannels in Jingle¹. This means we should be able to exchange files directly with #XMPP web clients.
Due to the better NAT hole punching of WebRTC vs Socks Bytestreams we now have a higher chance of actual P2P.

¹: xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0343.h…

Work on #Conversations_im 3.0 has officially begun. 🥳
Funding got cleared in November 2022 but I had customer projects that I couldn’t just stop working on from one day to another.

C3 is a complete architecture overhaul. New database; new UI toolkit; improved XML (de)serialization.

Among other things this means we can have proper Unit Tests now. 😍

Those familiar with how Conversations used to construct stanzas will make the new API (as shown in this test) very happy: codeberg.org/iNPUTmice/Convers…

We might not have an incentive to do a blog post on every single institution that uses #XMPP but #Conversations_im seems to be doing its job at the German Federal Police.

bundespolizei.de/Web/DE/Servic…