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* [Aizaz AZ](http://www.linkedin.com/in/aizazhaider) (Chinese)
73
74##FAQ
75###General
76####How do I install Conversations?
77Conversations is entirely open source and licensed under GPLv3. So if you are a
78software developer you can check out the sources from github and use ant to
79build your apk file.
80
81The more convenient way - which not only gives you automatic updates but also
82supports the further development of Conversations - is to buy the App in the Google
83[Play Store](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.siacs.conversations).
84####I don't have a Google Account but I would still like to make a contribution
85I accept donations over PayPal and BitCoin. For donations via PayPal you can use the email address donate@siacs.eu or the button below.
86
87[](https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=CW3SYT3KG5PDL)
88
89**Disclaimer:** I'm not a huge fan of PayPal and their business policies. For larger
90contributions please get in touch with me beforehand and we can talk about bank
91transfer (SEPA).
92
93My Bitcoin Address is: 1NxSU1YxYzJVDpX1rcESAA3NJki7kRgeeu
94
95####How do I create an account?
96XMPP like email for example is a federated protocol which means that there is
97not one company you can create your 'official xmpp account' with but there are
98hundreds or even thousands of provider out there. To find one use a web search
99engine of your choice. Or maybe your university has one. Or you can run your own.
100Or ask a friend to run one. Once you found one you can use Conversations to
101create an account. Just select 'register new account on server' within the
102create account dialog.
103
104####Conversations doesn't work for me. Where can I get help?
105You can join our conference room on conversations@conference.siacs.eu A lot of
106people in there are able to answer basic questions about the usage of
107Conversations or can provide you with tips on running your own XMPP server. If
108you found a bug or your app crashes please read the Developer / Report Bugs
109section of this document.
110
111####I need professional support with Conversations or setting up my server
112I'm available for hire. Contact me at inputmice@siacs.eu
113
114####How does the address book integration work?
115The address bock integration was designed to protect your privacy. Conversations
116neither uploads contacts from your address book to your server nor fills your
117address book with unnecessary contacts from your online roster. If you manually
118add a Jabber ID to your phones address book Conversations will use the name and
119the profile picture of this contact. To make the process of adding Jabber IDs to
120your address book easier you can click on the profile picture in the contact
121details within Conversations. This will start an add to address book intent with the jabber ID
122as payload. This doesn’t require Conversations to have write permissions on your
123address book but also doesn’t require you to copy past Jabber ID from one app to
124another.
125
126####I get 'delivery failed' on my messages
127If you get delivery failed on images it’s probably because the recipient lost
128network connectivity during recepiton. In that case you can try it again at a
129later time.
130
131For text messages the answer to your question is a little bit more complex.
132'delivery failed' on text messages is always something that is being reported by
133the server. The most common reason for this is that the recipient failed to
134resume a connection. When a client loses connectivity for a short time the client
135usually has a five minute window to pick up that connection again. When the
136client fails to do so because the network connectivity is out for longer than
137that all messages sent to that client will be returned to the sender resulting
138in a delivery failed.
139
140Other less common reasons are that the message you sent didn’t meet some
141criterias enforced by the server. (Too large, too many) Another reason could be
142that the recipient is offline and the server doesn’t provide offline storage.
143
144Usually you are able to distinguish between these two groups in the fact that
145the first one happens always after some time and the second one happens almost
146instantly.
147
148####Where can I see the status of my contacts? How can I set a status or priority
149Status are a horrible metric. Setting them manually to a proper value rarely
150works because users are either lazy or just forget about them. Setting them
151automatically does not provide quality results either. Keyboard or mouse
152activity as indicator for example fails when the user is just looking at
153something (reading an article, watching a movie). Furthermore automatic setting
154of status always implies an impact on your privacy. (Are you sure you want
155everybody in your contact list to know that you have been using your computer at
1564am?!)
157
158In the past status has been used to judge the likelihood of whether or not your
159messages are being read. This is no longer necessary. With Chat Markers
160(XEP-0333, supported by Conversations since 0.4) we have the ability to **know**
161whether or not your messages are being read.
162Similar things can be said for priorities. In the past priorities have been used
163(By servers, not by clients!) to route your messages to one specific client.
164With carbon messages (XEP-0280, supported by Conversations since 0.1) this is no
165longer necessary. Using priorities to route OTR messages isn't pratical either
166because they are not changeable on the fly. Metrics like last active client
167(the client which sent the last message) are much better.
168
169Unfortunately these modern replacements for legacy XMPP features are not widely
170adopted. However Conversations should be an instant messenger for the future and
171instead of making Conversations compatible with the past we should work on
172implementing new, improved technologies into other XMPP clients as well.
173
174Making these status and priority optional isn't a solution either because
175Conversations is trying to get rid of old behaviours and set an example for
176other clients.
177
178####Conversations is missing a certain feature
179I'm open for new feature suggestions. You can use the issue tracker on github.
180Please take some time to browse through the issues to see if someone else
181already suggested it. Be assured that I read each and every ticket. If I like it
182I will leave it open until it's implemented. If I don't like it I will close
183it. (Usually with a short comment). If I don't comment on an feature request
184that's probably a good sign because this means I agree with you. Commenting with
185+1 on either open or closed issues won't change my mind nor will it accelerate the
186development.
187
188####You closed my feature request but I want it really really badly
189Just write it yourself and send me a pull request. If I like it I will happily
190merge it if I don't at least you and like minded people get to enjoy it.
191
192####I need a feature and I need it now!
193I am available for hire. Contact me JID: inputmice@siacs.eu
194
195###Security
196####Why are there two end-to-end encryption methods and which one should I choose?
197In 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.
198However PGP can be in some cases (carbonated messages to multiple clients) be
199more flexible.
200####How do I use openPGP
201Before you continue reading you should notice that the openPGP support in
202Conversations is marked as experimental. This is not because it will make the app
203unstable but because the fundamental concepts of PGP aren't ready for a
204widespread 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.
205
206To 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.
207####How does the encryption for conferences work?
208For conferences the only supported encryption method is OpenPGP. (OTR does not
209work with multiple participants.) Every participant has to announce their
210OpenPGP key. (See answer above). If you would like to send encrypted messages to
211a conference you have to make sure that you have every participant's public key
212in your OpenKeychain. Right now there is no check in Conversations to ensure
213that. You have to take care of that yourself. Go to the conference details and
214touch every key id (The hexadecimal number below a contact). This will send you
215to OpenKeychain which will assist you on adding the key.
216This works best in very small conferences with contacts you are already using
217OpenPGP with. This feature is regarded experimental. Conversations is the only
218client that uses XEP-0027 with conferences. (The XEP neither specifically allows
219nor disallows this.)
220###Development
221####How do I build Conversations
222Make sure to have ANDROID_HOME point to your Android SDK
223```
224git clone https://github.com/siacs/Conversations.git
225cd Conversations
226git submodule update --init --recursive
227ant clean
228ant debug
229```
230####How do I debug Conversations
231If something goes wrong Conversations usually exposes very little information in
232the UI. (Other than the fact that something didn't work)
233However with adb (android debug bridge) you squeeze some more information out of
234Conversations. These information are especially useful if you are experiencing
235troubles with your connection or with file transfer.
236````
237adb -d logcat -v time -s conversations
238````
239####I found a bug
240Please report it to our issue tracker. If your app crashes please provide a
241stack trace. If you are experiencing missbehaviour please provide detailed
242steps to reproduce.
243Always mention whether you are running the latest Play Store version or the
244current HEAD.
245If you are having problems connecting to your XMPP server your file transfer
246doesn’t work as expected please always include a logcat debug output with your
247issue. (See above)