1# Conversations
2
3Conversations: the very last word in instant messaging
4
5[](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.siacs.conversations) [](http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WD35AAC/)
6
7
8
9## Design principles
10
11* Be as beautiful and easy to use as possible without sacrificing security or
12 privacy
13* Rely on existing, well established protocols (XMPP)
14* Do not require a Google Account or specifically Google Cloud Messaging (GCM)
15* Require as few permissions as possible
16
17## Features
18
19* End-to-end encryption with either [OTR](https://otr.cypherpunks.ca/) or [OpenPGP](http://www.openpgp.org/about_openpgp/)
20* Send and receive images as well as other kind of files
21* Share your location via an external [plug-in](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.siacs.conversations.sharelocation)
22* Indication when your contact has read your message
23* Intuitive UI that follows Android Design guidelines
24* Pictures / Avatars for your Contacts
25* Syncs with desktop client
26* Conferences (with support for bookmarks)
27* Address book integration
28* Multiple accounts / unified inbox
29* Very low impact on battery life
30
31
32### XMPP Features
33
34Conversations works with every XMPP server out there. However XMPP is an
35extensible protocol. These extensions are standardized as well in so called
36XEP's. Conversations supports a couple of these to make the overall user
37experience better. There is a chance that your current XMPP server does not
38support these extensions; therefore to get the most out of Conversations you
39should consider either switching to an XMPP server that does or — even better —
40run your own XMPP server for you and your friends. These XEP's are:
41
42* XEP-0065: SOCKS5 Bytestreams (or mod_proxy65). Will be used to transfer
43 files if both parties are behind a firewall (NAT).
44* XEP-0163: Personal Eventing Protocol for avatars
45* XEP-0198: Stream Management allows XMPP to survive small network outages and
46 changes of the underlying TCP connection.
47* XEP-0280: Message Carbons which automatically syncs the messages you send to
48 your desktop client and thus allows you to switch seamlessly from your mobile
49 client to your desktop client and back within one conversation.
50* XEP-0237: Roster Versioning mainly to save bandwidth on poor mobile connections
51* XEP-0313: Message Archive Management synchronize message history with the
52 server. Catch up with messages that were sent while Conversations was
53 offline.
54* XEP-0352: Client State Indication lets the server know whether or not
55 Conversations is in the background. Allows the server to save bandwidth by
56 withholding unimportant packages.
57* XEP-0191: Blocking command lets you blacklist spammers or block contacts
58 without removing them from your roster.
59
60## Team
61
62#### Head of Development
63
64* [Daniel Gultsch](https://github.com/inputmice)
65
66#### Code Contributions
67
68(In order of appearance)
69
70* [Rene Treffer](https://github.com/rtreffer) ([PRs](https://github.com/siacs/Conversations/pulls?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=is%3Apr+author%3Artreffer+is%3Amerged))
71* [Andreas Straub](https://github.com/strb) ([PRs](https://github.com/siacs/Conversations/pulls?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=is%3Apr+author%3Astrb+is%3Amerged))
72* [Alethea Butler](https://github.com/alethea) ([PRs](https://github.com/siacs/Conversations/pulls?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=is%3Apr+author%3Aalethea+is%3Amerged))
73* [M. Dietrich](https://github.com/emdete) ([PRs](https://github.com/siacs/Conversations/pulls?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=is%3Apr+author%3Aemdete+is%3Amerged))
74* [betheg](https://github.com/betheg) ([PRs](https://github.com/siacs/Conversations/pulls?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=is%3Apr+author%3Abetheg+is%3Amerged))
75* [Sam Whited](https://github.com/SamWhited) ([PRs](https://github.com/siacs/Conversations/pulls?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=is%3Apr+author%3ASamWhited+is%3Amerged))
76* [BrianBlade](https://github.com/BrianBlade) ([PRs](https://github.com/siacs/Conversations/pulls?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=is%3Apr+author%3ABrianBlade+is%3Amerged))
77
78#### Logo
79* [Ilia Rostovtsev](https://github.com/qooob) (Progress)
80* [Diego Turtulici](http://efesto.eigenlab.org/~diesys) (Original)
81
82#### Translations
83Translations are managed on [Transifex](https://www.transifex.com/projects/p/conversations/)
84
85## FAQ
86
87### General
88
89#### How do I install Conversations?
90
91Conversations is entirely open source and licensed under GPLv3. So if you are a
92software developer you can check out the sources from GitHub and use ant to
93build your apk file.
94
95The more convenient way — which not only gives you automatic updates but also
96supports the further development of Conversations — is to buy the App in the
97Google [Play Store](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.siacs.conversations).
98
99Buying the App from the Play Store will also give you access to our [beta test](#beta).
100
101#### I don't have a Google Account but I would still like to make a contribution
102
103I accept donations over PayPal, Bitcoin and Flattr. For donations via PayPal you
104can use the email address `donate@siacs.eu` or the button below.
105
106[](https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=CW3SYT3KG5PDL)
107
108**Disclaimer:** I'm not a huge fan of PayPal and their business policies. For
109larger contributions please get in touch with me beforehand and we can talk
110about bank transfer (SEPA).
111
112My Bitcoin Address is: `1NxSU1YxYzJVDpX1rcESAA3NJki7kRgeeu`
113
114
115[](https://flattr.com/submit/auto?user_id=inputmice&url=http%3A%2F%2Fconversations.siacs.eu&title=Conversations&tags=github&category=software)
116
117#### How do I create an account?
118
119XMPP, like email, is a federated protocol which means that there is not one
120company you can create an 'official XMPP account' with. Instead there are
121hundreds, or even thousands, of provider out there. To find one use a web search
122engine of your choice. Or maybe your university has one. Or you can run your
123own. Or ask a friend to run one. Once you've found one, you can use
124Conversations to create an account. Just select 'register new account on server'
125within the create account dialog.
126
127#### Where can I set up a custom hostname / port
128Conversations will automatically look up the SRV records for your domain name
129which can point to any hostname port combination. If your server doesn’t provide
130those please contact your admin and have them read
131[this](http://prosody.im/doc/dns#srv_records)
132
133#### Conversations doesn't work for me. Where can I get help?
134
135You can join our conference room on `conversations@conference.siacs.eu`.
136A lot of people in there are able to answer basic questions about the usage of
137Conversations or can provide you with tips on running your own XMPP server. If
138you found a bug or your app crashes please read the Developer / Report Bugs
139section of this document.
140
141#### I need professional support with Conversations or setting up my server
142
143I'm available for hire. Contact me at `inputmice@siacs.eu`.
144
145#### How does the address book integration work?
146
147The address book integration was designed to protect your privacy. Conversations
148neither uploads contacts from your address book to your server nor fills your
149address book with unnecessary contacts from your online roster. If you manually
150add a Jabber ID to your phones address book Conversations will use the name and
151the profile picture of this contact. To make the process of adding Jabber IDs to
152your address book easier you can click on the profile picture in the contact
153details within Conversations. This will start an "add to address book" intent
154with the JID as the payload. This doesn't require Conversations to have write
155permissions on your address book but also doesn't require you to copy/paste a
156JID from one app to another.
157
158#### I get 'delivery failed' on my messages
159
160If you get delivery failed on images it's probably because the recipient lost
161network connectivity during reception. In that case you can try it again at a
162later time.
163
164For text messages the answer to your question is a little bit more complex.
165When you see 'delivery failed' on text messages, it is always something that is
166being reported by the server. The most common reason for this is that the
167recipient failed to resume a connection. When a client loses connectivity for a
168short time the client usually has a five minute window to pick up that
169connection again. When the client fails to do so because the network
170connectivity is out for longer than that all messages sent to that client will
171be returned to the sender resulting in a delivery failed.
172
173Other less common reasons are that the message you sent didn't meet some
174criteria enforced by the server (too large, too many). Another reason could be
175that the recipient is offline and the server doesn't provide offline storage.
176
177Usually you are able to distinguish between these two groups in the fact that
178the first one happens always after some time and the second one happens almost
179instantly.
180
181#### Where can I see the status of my contacts? How can I set a status or priority?
182
183Statuses are a horrible metric. Setting them manually to a proper value rarely
184works because users are either lazy or just forget about them. Setting them
185automatically does not provide quality results either. Keyboard or mouse
186activity as indicator for example fails when the user is just looking at
187something (reading an article, watching a movie). Furthermore automatic setting
188of status always implies an impact on your privacy (are you sure you want
189everybody in your contact list to know that you have been using your computer at
1904am‽).
191
192In the past status has been used to judge the likelihood of whether or not your
193messages are being read. This is no longer necessary. With Chat Markers
194(XEP-0333, supported by Conversations since 0.4) we have the ability to **know**
195whether or not your messages are being read. Similar things can be said for
196priorities. In the past priorities have been used (by servers, not by clients!)
197to route your messages to one specific client. With carbon messages (XEP-0280,
198supported by Conversations since 0.1) this is no longer necessary. Using
199priorities to route OTR messages isn't practical either because they are not
200changeable on the fly. Metrics like last active client (the client which sent
201the last message) are much better.
202
203Unfortunately these modern replacements for legacy XMPP features are not widely
204adopted. However Conversations should be an instant messenger for the future and
205instead of making Conversations compatible with the past we should work on
206implementing new, improved technologies and getting them into other XMPP clients
207as well.
208
209Making these status and priority optional isn't a solution either because
210Conversations is trying to get rid of old behaviours and set an example for
211other clients.
212
213#### Conversations is missing a certain feature
214
215I'm open for new feature suggestions. You can use the [issue tracker][issues] on
216GitHub. Please take some time to browse through the issues to see if someone
217else already suggested it. Be assured that I read each and every ticket. If I
218like it I will leave it open until it's implemented. If I don't like it I will
219close it (usually with a short comment). If I don't comment on an feature
220request that's probably a good sign because this means I agree with you.
221Commenting with +1 on either open or closed issues won't change my mind, nor
222will it accelerate the development.
223
224#### You closed my feature request but I want it really really badly
225
226Just write it yourself and send me a pull request. If I like it I will happily
227merge it if I don't at least you and like minded people get to enjoy it.
228
229#### I need a feature and I need it now!
230
231I am available for hire. Contact me via XMPP: `inputmice@siacs.eu`
232
233### Security
234
235#### Why are there two end-to-end encryption methods and which one should I choose?
236
237In most cases OTR should be the encryption method of choice. It works out of the
238box with most contacts as long as they are online. However PGP can, in some
239cases, (message carbons to multiple clients) be more flexible.
240
241#### How do I use OpenPGP
242
243Before you continue reading you should note that the OpenPGP support in
244Conversations is experimental. This is not because it will make the app unstable
245but because the fundamental concepts of PGP aren't ready for widespread use.
246The way PGP works is that you trust Key IDs instead of JID's or email addresses.
247So in theory your contact list should consist of Public-Key-IDs instead of
248JID's. But of course no email or XMPP client out there implements these
249concepts. Plus PGP in the context of instant messaging has a couple of
250downsides: It is vulnerable to replay attacks, it is rather verbose, and
251decrypting and encrypting takes longer than OTR. It is however asynchronous and
252works well with message carbons.
253
254To use OpenPGP you have to install the open source app
255[OpenKeychain](www.openkeychain.org) and then long press on the account in
256manage accounts and choose renew PGP announcement from the contextual menu.
257
258#### How does the encryption for conferences work?
259
260For conferences the only supported encryption method is OpenPGP (OTR does not
261work with multiple participants). Every participant has to announce their
262OpenPGP key (see answer above). If you would like to send encrypted messages to
263a conference you have to make sure that you have every participant's public key
264in your OpenKeychain. Right now there is no check in Conversations to ensure
265that. You have to take care of that yourself. Go to the conference details and
266touch every key id (The hexadecimal number below a contact). This will send you
267to OpenKeychain which will assist you on adding the key. This works best in
268very small conferences with contacts you are already using OpenPGP with. This
269feature is regarded experimental. Conversations is the only client that uses
270XEP-0027 with conferences. (The XEP neither specifically allows nor disallows
271this.)
272
273### Development
274
275<a name="beta"></a>
276#### Beta testing
277If you bought the App on [Google Play](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.siacs.conversations)
278you can get access to the latest beta version by joining the
279[Conversations Beta Testers](https://plus.google.com/communities/107649347599361240873)
280community on Google+ and then using [this link](https://play.google.com/apps/testing/eu.siacs.conversations)
281to sign up for the beta test.
282
283#### How do I build Conversations
284
285Make sure to have ANDROID_HOME point to your Android SDK
286
287 git clone https://github.com/siacs/Conversations.git
288 cd Conversations
289 ./gradlew build
290
291
292[](https://travis-ci.org/siacs/Conversations)
293
294### How do I update/add external libraries?
295
296If the library you want to update is in Maven Central or JCenter (or has its own
297Maven repo), add it or update its version in `build.gradle`. If the library is
298in the `libs/` directory, you can update it using a subtree merge by doing the
299following (using `minidns` as an example):
300
301 git remote add minidns https://github.com/rtreffer/minidns.git
302 git fetch minidns
303 git merge -s subtree minidns master
304
305To add a new dependency to the `libs/` directory (replacing "name", "branch" and
306"url" as necessary):
307
308 git remote add name url
309 git merge -s ours --no-commit name/branch
310 git read-tree --prefix=libs/name -u name/branch
311 git commit -m "Subtree merged in name"
312
313#### How do I debug Conversations
314
315If something goes wrong Conversations usually exposes very little information in
316the UI (other than the fact that something didn't work). However with adb
317(android debug bridge) you squeeze some more information out of Conversations.
318These information are especially useful if you are experiencing trouble with
319your connection or with file transfer.
320
321 adb -d logcat -v time -s conversations
322
323#### I found a bug
324
325Please report it to our [issue tracker][issues]. If your app crashes please
326provide a stack trace. If you are experiencing misbehaviour please provide
327detailed steps to reproduce. Always mention whether you are running the latest
328Play Store version or the current HEAD. If you are having problems connecting to
329your XMPP server your file transfer doesn’t work as expected please always
330include a logcat debug output with your issue (see above).
331
332[issues]: https://github.com/siacs/Conversations/issues