1# Conversations
2
3Conversations: the very last word in instant messaging
4
5[](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.siacs.conversations&referrer=utm_source%3Dgithub) [](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 [OMEMO](http://conversations.im/omemo/), [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&referrer=utm_source%3Dgithub)
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](http://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0065.html) (or mod_proxy65). Will be used to transfer
43 files if both parties are behind a firewall (NAT).
44* [XEP-0163: Personal Eventing Protocol](http://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0163.html) for avatars and OMEMO.
45* [XEP-0191: Blocking command](http://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0191.html) lets you blacklist spammers or block contacts
46 without removing them from your roster.
47* [XEP-0198: Stream Management](http://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0198.html) allows XMPP to survive small network outages and
48 changes of the underlying TCP connection.
49* [XEP-0280: Message Carbons](http://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0280.html) which automatically syncs the messages you send to
50 your desktop client and thus allows you to switch seamlessly from your mobile
51 client to your desktop client and back within one conversation.
52* [XEP-0237: Roster Versioning](http://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0237.html) mainly to save bandwidth on poor mobile connections
53* [XEP-0313: Message Archive Management](http://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0313.html) synchronize message history with the
54 server. Catch up with messages that were sent while Conversations was
55 offline.
56* [XEP-0352: Client State Indication](http://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0352.html) lets the server know whether or not
57 Conversations is in the background. Allows the server to save bandwidth by
58 withholding unimportant packages.
59* [XEP-0363: HTTP File Upload](http://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0363.html) allows you to share files in conferences and with offline
60 contacts. Requires an [additional component](https://github.com/siacs/HttpUploadComponent)
61 on your server. Alternatively, an [Ejabberd contrib-module](https://github.com/processone/ejabberd-contrib/tree/master/mod_http_upload) and a [Prosody module](http://modules.prosody.im/mod_http_upload.html) are available.
62
63## Team
64
65#### Head of Development
66
67* [Daniel Gultsch](https://github.com/inputmice)
68
69#### Code Contributions
70
71(In order of appearance)
72
73* [Rene Treffer](https://github.com/rtreffer) ([PRs](https://github.com/siacs/Conversations/pulls?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=is%3Apr+author%3Artreffer+is%3Amerged))
74* [Andreas Straub](https://github.com/strb) ([PRs](https://github.com/siacs/Conversations/pulls?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=is%3Apr+author%3Astrb+is%3Amerged))
75* [Alethea Butler](https://github.com/alethea) ([PRs](https://github.com/siacs/Conversations/pulls?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=is%3Apr+author%3Aalethea+is%3Amerged))
76* [M. Dietrich](https://github.com/emdete) ([PRs](https://github.com/siacs/Conversations/pulls?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=is%3Apr+author%3Aemdete+is%3Amerged))
77* [betheg](https://github.com/betheg) ([PRs](https://github.com/siacs/Conversations/pulls?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=is%3Apr+author%3Abetheg+is%3Amerged))
78* [Sam Whited](https://github.com/SamWhited) ([PRs](https://github.com/siacs/Conversations/pulls?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=is%3Apr+author%3ASamWhited+is%3Amerged))
79* [BrianBlade](https://github.com/BrianBlade) ([PRs](https://github.com/siacs/Conversations/pulls?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=is%3Apr+author%3ABrianBlade+is%3Amerged))
80
81#### Logo
82* [Ilia Rostovtsev](https://github.com/qooob) (Progress)
83* [Diego Turtulici](http://efesto.eigenlab.org/~diesys) (Original)
84* [fiaxh](https://github.com/fiaxh) (OMEMO)
85
86#### Translations
87Translations are managed on [Transifex](https://www.transifex.com/projects/p/conversations/)
88
89## FAQ
90
91### General
92
93#### How do I install Conversations?
94
95Conversations is entirely open source and licensed under GPLv3. So if you are a
96software developer you can check out the sources from GitHub and use Gradle to
97build your apk file.
98
99The more convenient way — which not only gives you automatic updates but also
100supports the further development of Conversations — is to buy the App in the
101Google [Play Store](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.siacs.conversations&referrer=utm_source%3Dgithub).
102
103Buying the App from the Play Store will also give you access to our [beta test](#beta).
104
105#### I don't have a Google Account but I would still like to make a contribution
106
107I accept donations over PayPal, Bitcoin and Flattr. For donations via PayPal you
108can use the email address `donate@siacs.eu` or the button below.
109
110[](https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=CW3SYT3KG5PDL)
111
112**Disclaimer:** I'm not a huge fan of PayPal and their business policies. For
113larger contributions please get in touch with me beforehand and we can talk
114about bank transfer (SEPA).
115
116My Bitcoin Address is: `1NxSU1YxYzJVDpX1rcESAA3NJki7kRgeeu`
117
118
119[](https://flattr.com/submit/auto?user_id=inputmice&url=http%3A%2F%2Fconversations.siacs.eu&title=Conversations&tags=github&category=software)
120
121#### How do I create an account?
122
123XMPP, like email, is a federated protocol which means that there is not one
124company you can create an 'official XMPP account' with. Instead there are
125hundreds, or even thousands, of provider out there. To find one use a web search
126engine of your choice. Or maybe your university has one. Or you can run your
127own. Or ask a friend to run one. Once you've found one, you can use
128Conversations to create an account. Just select 'register new account on server'
129within the create account dialog.
130
131#### Where can I set up a custom hostname / port
132Conversations will automatically look up the SRV records for your domain name
133which can point to any hostname port combination. If your server doesn’t provide
134those please contact your admin and have them read
135[this](http://prosody.im/doc/dns#srv_records)
136
137#### I get 'Incompatible Server'
138
139As regular user you should be picking a different server. The server you selected
140is probably insecure and/or very old.
141
142If you are a server administrator you should make sure that your server provides
143STARTTLS. XMPP over TLS (on a different port) is not sufficient.
144
145On rare occasions this error message might also be caused by a server not providing
146a login (SASL) mechanism that Conversations is able to handle. Conversations supports
147SCRAM-SHA1, PLAIN, EXTERNAL (client certs) and DIGEST-MD5.
148
149#### Conversations doesn't work for me. Where can I get help?
150
151You can join our conference room on `conversations@conference.siacs.eu`.
152A lot of people in there are able to answer basic questions about the usage of
153Conversations or can provide you with tips on running your own XMPP server. If
154you found a bug or your app crashes please read the Developer / Report Bugs
155section of this document.
156
157#### I need professional support with Conversations or setting up my server
158
159I'm available for hire. Contact me at `inputmice@siacs.eu`.
160
161#### How does the address book integration work?
162
163The address book integration was designed to protect your privacy. Conversations
164neither uploads contacts from your address book to your server nor fills your
165address book with unnecessary contacts from your online roster. If you manually
166add a Jabber ID to your phones address book Conversations will use the name and
167the profile picture of this contact. To make the process of adding Jabber IDs to
168your address book easier you can click on the profile picture in the contact
169details within Conversations. This will start an "add to address book" intent
170with the JID as the payload. This doesn't require Conversations to have write
171permissions on your address book but also doesn't require you to copy/paste a
172JID from one app to another.
173
174#### I get 'delivery failed' on my messages
175
176If you get delivery failed on images it's probably because the recipient lost
177network connectivity during reception. In that case you can try it again at a
178later time.
179
180For text messages the answer to your question is a little bit more complex.
181When you see 'delivery failed' on text messages, it is always something that is
182being reported by the server. The most common reason for this is that the
183recipient failed to resume a connection. When a client loses connectivity for a
184short time the client usually has a five minute window to pick up that
185connection again. When the client fails to do so because the network
186connectivity is out for longer than that all messages sent to that client will
187be returned to the sender resulting in a delivery failed.
188
189Other less common reasons are that the message you sent didn't meet some
190criteria enforced by the server (too large, too many). Another reason could be
191that the recipient is offline and the server doesn't provide offline storage.
192
193Usually you are able to distinguish between these two groups in the fact that
194the first one happens always after some time and the second one happens almost
195instantly.
196
197#### Where can I see the status of my contacts? How can I set a status or priority?
198
199Statuses are a horrible metric. Setting them manually to a proper value rarely
200works because users are either lazy or just forget about them. Setting them
201automatically does not provide quality results either. Keyboard or mouse
202activity as indicator for example fails when the user is just looking at
203something (reading an article, watching a movie). Furthermore automatic setting
204of status always implies an impact on your privacy (are you sure you want
205everybody in your contact list to know that you have been using your computer at
2064am‽).
207
208In the past status has been used to judge the likelihood of whether or not your
209messages are being read. This is no longer necessary. With Chat Markers
210(XEP-0333, supported by Conversations since 0.4) we have the ability to **know**
211whether or not your messages are being read. Similar things can be said for
212priorities. In the past priorities have been used (by servers, not by clients!)
213to route your messages to one specific client. With carbon messages (XEP-0280,
214supported by Conversations since 0.1) this is no longer necessary. Using
215priorities to route OTR messages isn't practical either because they are not
216changeable on the fly. Metrics like last active client (the client which sent
217the last message) are much better.
218
219Unfortunately these modern replacements for legacy XMPP features are not widely
220adopted. However Conversations should be an instant messenger for the future and
221instead of making Conversations compatible with the past we should work on
222implementing new, improved technologies and getting them into other XMPP clients
223as well.
224
225Making these status and priority optional isn't a solution either because
226Conversations is trying to get rid of old behaviours and set an example for
227other clients.
228
229#### Conversations is missing a certain feature
230
231I'm open for new feature suggestions. You can use the [issue tracker][issues] on
232GitHub. Please take some time to browse through the issues to see if someone
233else already suggested it. Be assured that I read each and every ticket. If I
234like it I will leave it open until it's implemented. If I don't like it I will
235close it (usually with a short comment). If I don't comment on an feature
236request that's probably a good sign because this means I agree with you.
237Commenting with +1 on either open or closed issues won't change my mind, nor
238will it accelerate the development.
239
240#### You closed my feature request but I want it really really badly
241
242Just write it yourself and send me a pull request. If I like it I will happily
243merge it if I don't at least you and like minded people get to enjoy it.
244
245#### I need a feature and I need it now!
246
247I am available for hire. Contact me via XMPP: `inputmice@siacs.eu`
248
249### Security
250
251#### Why are there three end-to-end encryption methods and which one should I choose?
252
253In 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. However, openPGP can, in some cases, (message carbons to multiple clients) be more flexible. Unlike OTR, OMEMO works even when a contact is offline, and works with multiple devices. It also allows asynchronous file-transfer when the server has [HTTP File Upload](http://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0363.html). However, OMEMO is not as widely supported as OTR and is currently implemented only by Conversations. OMEMO should be preffered over OTR for contacts who use Conversations.
254
255#### How do I use OpenPGP
256
257Before you continue reading you should note that the OpenPGP support in
258Conversations is experimental. This is not because it will make the app unstable
259but because the fundamental concepts of PGP aren't ready for widespread use.
260The way PGP works is that you trust Key IDs instead of JID's or email addresses.
261So in theory your contact list should consist of Public-Key-IDs instead of
262JID's. But of course no email or XMPP client out there implements these
263concepts. Plus PGP in the context of instant messaging has a couple of
264downsides: It is vulnerable to replay attacks, it is rather verbose, and
265decrypting and encrypting takes longer than OTR. It is however asynchronous and
266works well with message carbons.
267
268To use OpenPGP you have to install the open source app
269[OpenKeychain](http://www.openkeychain.org) and then long press on the account in
270manage accounts and choose renew PGP announcement from the contextual menu.
271
272#### How does the encryption for conferences work?
273
274For conferences the only supported encryption method is OpenPGP (OTR does not
275work with multiple participants). Every participant has to announce their
276OpenPGP key (see answer above). If you would like to send encrypted messages to
277a conference you have to make sure that you have every participant's public key
278in your OpenKeychain. Right now there is no check in Conversations to ensure
279that. You have to take care of that yourself. Go to the conference details and
280touch every key id (The hexadecimal number below a contact). This will send you
281to OpenKeychain which will assist you on adding the key. This works best in
282very small conferences with contacts you are already using OpenPGP with. This
283feature is regarded experimental. Conversations is the only client that uses
284XEP-0027 with conferences. (The XEP neither specifically allows nor disallows
285this.)
286
287### Development
288
289<a name="beta"></a>
290#### Beta testing
291If you bought the App on [Google Play](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.siacs.conversations)
292you can get access to the latest beta version by joining the
293[Conversations Beta Testers](https://plus.google.com/communities/107649347599361240873)
294community on Google+ and then using [this link](https://play.google.com/apps/testing/eu.siacs.conversations)
295to sign up for the beta test.
296
297#### How do I build Conversations
298
299Make sure to have ANDROID_HOME point to your Android SDK
300
301 git clone https://github.com/siacs/Conversations.git
302 cd Conversations
303 ./gradlew build
304
305
306[](https://travis-ci.org/siacs/Conversations)
307
308### How do I update/add external libraries?
309
310If the library you want to update is in Maven Central or JCenter (or has its own
311Maven repo), add it or update its version in `build.gradle`. If the library is
312in the `libs/` directory, you can update it using a subtree merge by doing the
313following (using `minidns` as an example):
314
315 git remote add minidns https://github.com/rtreffer/minidns.git
316 git fetch minidns
317 git merge -s subtree minidns master
318
319To add a new dependency to the `libs/` directory (replacing "name", "branch" and
320"url" as necessary):
321
322 git remote add name url
323 git merge -s ours --no-commit name/branch
324 git read-tree --prefix=libs/name -u name/branch
325 git commit -m "Subtree merged in name"
326
327#### How do I debug Conversations
328
329If something goes wrong Conversations usually exposes very little information in
330the UI (other than the fact that something didn't work). However with adb
331(android debug bridge) you squeeze some more information out of Conversations.
332These information are especially useful if you are experiencing trouble with
333your connection or with file transfer.
334
335 adb -d logcat -v time -s conversations
336
337#### I found a bug
338
339Please report it to our [issue tracker][issues]. If your app crashes please
340provide a stack trace. If you are experiencing misbehaviour please provide
341detailed steps to reproduce. Always mention whether you are running the latest
342Play Store version or the current HEAD. If you are having problems connecting to
343your XMPP server your file transfer doesn’t work as expected please always
344include a logcat debug output with your issue (see above).
345
346[issues]: https://github.com/siacs/Conversations/issues