1#Conversations
2Conversations - the very last word in instant messaging
3
4[](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.siacs.conversations)
5
6
7
8##Design principles
9* Be as beautiful and easy to use as possible without sacrificing security or
10 privacy
11* Rely on existing, well established protocols (XMPP)
12* Do not require a Google Account or specifically Google Cloud Messaging (GCM)
13* Require as little permissons as possible
14
15##Features
16* End-to-end encryption with either OTR or openPGP
17* Sending and receiving images
18* Indication when your contact has read your message
19* Intuitive UI that follows Android Design guidelines
20* Pictures / Avatars for your Contacts
21* Syncs with desktop client
22* Conferences (with support for bookmarks)
23* Address book integration
24* Multiple Accounts / unified inbox
25* Very low impact on battery life
26
27
28###XMPP Features
29Conversations works with every XMPP server out there. However XMPP is an extensible
30protocol. These extensions are standardized as well in so called XEP’s.
31Conversations supports a couple of those to make the overall user experience better. There is a
32chance that your current XMPP server does not support these extensions.
33Therefore to get the most out of Conversations you should consider either switching to an
34XMPP server that does or - even better - run your own XMPP server for you and
35your friends.
36These XEPs are - as of now:
37* XEP-0065: SOCKS5 Bytestreams - or rather mod_proxy65. Will be used to transfer files if both parties are behind a firewall (NAT).
38* XEP-0138: Stream Compression saves bandwidth
39* XEP-0163: Personal Eventing Protocol for avatars
40* XEP-0198: Stream Management allows XMPP to survive small network outages and changes of the underlying TCP connection.
41* XEP-0280: Message Carbons which automatically syncs the messages you send to
42 your desktop client and thus allows you to switch seamlessly from your mobile
43 client to your desktop client and back within one conversation.
44* XEP-0237: Roster Versioning mainly to save bandwidth on poor mobile connections
45* XEP-0352: Client State Indication let the server know whether or not
46 Conversations is in the background. Allows the server to save bandwidth by
47 withholding unimportent packages.
48
49##Team
50####Head of Development
51* [Daniel Gultsch](https://github.com/inputmice)
52
53####Code Contributions
54(In order of appearance)
55* [Rene Treffer](https://github.com/rtreffer)
56* [Andreas Straub](https://github.com/strb)
57* [Alethea Butler](https://github.com/alethea)
58* [M. Dietrich](https://github.com/emdete)
59* [betheg](https://github.com/betheg)
60
61####Logo
62* [Diego Turtulici](http://efesto.eigenlab.org/~diesys)
63
64####Translations
65* [Sergio Cárdenas](https://github.com/kruks23) (Spanish)
66* [Benoit Bouvarel](https://github.com/BenoitBouvarel) (French)
67* [Daniel Gultsch](https://github.com/iNPUTmice) (German)
68* [Aitor Beriain](https://github.com/beriain) (Basque)
69* [Ilia Rostovtsev](https://github.com/qooob) (Russian)
70* [Jelmer Vernooij](https://github.com/jelmer) (Dutch)
71* [Anders Sandblad](https://github.com/andersruneson) (Swedish)
72
73##FAQ
74###General
75####How do I install Conversations?
76Conversations is entirely open source and licensed under GPLv3. So if you are a
77software developer you can check out the sources from github and use ant to
78build your apk file.
79
80The more convenient way - which not only gives you automatic updates but also
81supports the further development of Conversations - is to buy the App in the Google
82[Play Store](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.siacs.conversations).
83####I don't have a Google Account but I would still like to make a contribution
84I accept donations over PayPal and BitCoin. For donations via PayPal you can use the email address donate@siacs.eu or the button below.
85
86[](https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=CW3SYT3KG5PDL)
87
88**Disclaimer:** I'm not a huge fan of PayPal and their business policies. For larger
89contributions please get in touch with me beforehand and we can talk about bank
90transfer (SEPA).
91
92My Bitcoin Address is: 1NxSU1YxYzJVDpX1rcESAA3NJki7kRgeeu
93
94####How do I create an account?
95XMPP like email for example is a federated protocol which means that there is
96not one company you can create your 'official xmpp account' with but there are
97hundreds or even thousands of provider out there. To find one use a web search
98engine of your choice. Or maybe your university has one. Or you can run your own.
99Or ask a friend to run one. Once you found one you can use Conversations to
100create an account. Just select 'register new account on server' within the
101create account dialog.
102
103####Conversations doesn't work for me. Where can I get help?
104You can join our conference room on conversations@conference.siacs.eu A lot of
105people in there are able to answer basic questions about the usage of
106Conversations or can provide you with tips on running your own XMPP server. If
107you found a bug or your app crashes please read the Developer / Report Bugs
108section of this document.
109
110####I need professional support with Conversations or setting up my server
111I'm available for hire. Contact me at inputmice@siacs.eu
112
113####How does the address book integration work?
114The address bock integration was designed to protect your privacy. Conversations
115neither uploads contacts from your address book to your server nor fills your
116address book with unnecessary contacts from your online roster. If you manually
117add a Jabber ID to your phones address book Conversations will use the name and
118the profile picture of this contact. To make the process of adding Jabber IDs to
119your address book easier you can click on the profile picture in the contact
120details within Conversations. This will start an add to address book intent with the jabber ID
121as payload. This doesn’t require Conversations to have write permissions on your
122address book but also doesn’t require you to copy past Jabber ID from one app to
123another.
124
125####I get 'delivery failed' on my messages
126If you get delivery failed on images it’s probably because the recipient lost
127network connectivity during recepiton. In that case you can try it again at a
128later time.
129
130For text messages the answer to your question is a little bit more complex.
131'delivery failed' on text messages is always something that is being reported by
132the server. The most common reason for this is that the recipient failed to
133resume a connection. When a client loses connectivity for a short time the client
134usually has a five minute window to pick up that connection again. When the
135client fails to do so because the network connectivity is out for longer than
136that all messages sent to that client will be returned to the sender resulting
137in a delivery failed.
138
139Other less common reasons are that the message you sent didn’t meet some
140criterias enforced by the server. (Too large, too many) Another reason could be
141that the recipient is offline and the server doesn’t provide offline storage.
142
143Usually you are able to distinguish between these two groups in the fact that
144the first one happens always after some time and the second one happens almost
145instantly.
146
147####Where can I see the status of my contacts? How can I set a status or priority
148Status are a horrible metric. Setting them manually to a proper value rarely
149works because users are either lazy or just forget about them. Setting them
150automatically does not provide quality results either. Keyboard or mouse
151activity as indicator for example fails when the user is just looking at
152something (reading an article, watching a movie). Furthermore automatic setting
153of status always implies an impact on your privacy. (Are you sure you want
154everybody in your contact list to know that you have been using your computer at
1554am?!)
156
157In the past status has been used to judge the likelihood of whether or not your
158messages are being read. This is no longer necessary. With Chat Markers
159(XEP-0333, supported by Conversations since 0.4) we have the ability to **know**
160whether or not your messages are being read.
161Similar things can be said for priorities. In the past priorities have been used
162(By servers, not by clients!) to route your messages to one specific client.
163With carbon messages (XEP-0280, supported by Conversations since 0.1) this is no
164longer necessary. Using priorities to route OTR messages isn't pratical either
165because they are not changeable on the fly. Metrics like last active client
166(the client which sent the last message) are much better.
167
168Unfortunately these modern replacements for legacy XMPP features are not widely
169adopted. However Conversations should be an instant messenger for the future and
170instead of making Conversations compatible with the past we should work on
171implementing new, improved technologies into other XMPP clients as well.
172
173Making these status and priority optional isn't a solution either because
174Conversations is trying to get rid of old behaviours and set an example for
175other clients.
176
177####Conversations is missing a certain feature
178I'm open for new feature suggestions. You can use the issue tracker on github.
179Please take some time to browse through the issues to see if someone else
180already suggested it. Be assured that I read each and every ticket. If I like it
181I will leave it open until it's implemented. If I don't like it I will close
182it. (Usually with a short comment). If I don't comment on an feature request
183that's probably a good sign because this means I agree with you. Commenting with
184+1 on either open or closed issues won't change my mind nor will it accelerate the
185development.
186
187####You closed my feature request but I want it really really badly
188Just write it yourself and send me a pull request. If I like it I will happily
189merge it if I don't at least you and like minded people get to enjoy it.
190
191####I need a feature and I need it now!
192I am available for hire. Contact me JID: inputmice@siacs.eu
193
194###Security
195####Why are there two end-to-end encryption methods and which one should I choose?
196In most cases OTR should be the encryption method of choice. It works out of the box with most contacts as long as they are online.
197However PGP can be in some cases (carbonated messages to multiple clients) be
198more flexible.
199####How do I use openPGP
200Before you continue reading you should notice that the openPGP support in
201Conversations is marked as experimental. This is not because it will make the app
202unstable but because the fundamental concepts of PGP aren't ready for a
203widespread use. The way PGP works is that you trust Key IDs instead of XMPP- or email addresses. So in theory your contact list should consist of Public-Key-IDs instead of email addresses. But of course no email or xmpp client out there implements these concepts. Plus PGP in the context of instant messaging has a couple of downsides. It is vulnerable to replay attacks, it is rather verbose, and decrypting and encrypting takes longer than OTR. It is however asynchronous and works well with carbonated messages.
204
205To use openpgp you have to install the opensource app OpenKeychain (www.openkeychain.org) and then long press on the account in manage accounts and choose renew PGP announcement from the contextual menu.
206####How does the encryption for conferences work?
207For conferences the only supported encryption method is OpenPGP. (OTR does not
208work with multiple participants.) Every participant has to announce their
209OpenPGP key. (See answer above). If you would like to send encrypted messages to
210a conference you have to make sure that you have every participant's public key
211in your OpenKeychain. Right now there is no check in Conversations to ensure
212that. You have to take care of that yourself. Go to the conference details and
213touch every key id (The hexadecimal number below a contact). This will send you
214to OpenKeychain which will assist you on adding the key.
215This works best in very small conferences with contacts you are already using
216OpenPGP with. This feature is regarded experimental. Conversations is the only
217client that uses XEP-0027 with conferences. (The XEP neither specifically allows
218nor disallows this.)
219###Development
220####How do I build Conversations
221Make sure to have ANDROID_HOME point to your Android SDK
222```
223git clone https://github.com/siacs/Conversations.git
224cd Conversations
225git submodule update --init --recursive
226ant clean
227ant debug
228```
229####How do I debug Conversations
230If something goes wrong Conversations usually exposes very little information in
231the UI. (Other than the fact that something didn't work)
232However with adb (android debug bridge) you squeeze some more information out of
233Conversations. These information are especially useful if you are experiencing
234troubles with your connection or with file transfer.
235````
236adb -d logcat -v time -s conversations
237````
238####I found a bug
239Please report it to our issue tracker. If your app crashes please provide a
240stack trace. If you are experiencing missbehaviour please provide detailed
241steps to reproduce.
242Always mention whether you are running the latest Play Store version or the
243current HEAD.
244If you are having problems connecting to your XMPP server your file transfer
245doesn’t work as expected please always include a logcat debug output with your
246issue. (See above)