Welcome to simplex-chat Discussions!

[epoberezkin]

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[trymeouteh]

Great app, but are there any plans to rewrite the app in dart for flutter. Flutter allows you to compile apps for Android, iOS, Windows, Mac and Linux all with one codebase. I would highly reccomend it since with a flutter app, you can have one codebase for all devices.

[epoberezkin]

Hi there, no plans to rewrite it in Flutter or any other cross-platform framework:

1. having one codebase is not something that has value to the end users - we only do things that benefit the users. This equation might change once many developers start integrating the app’s UI parts into their apps - the developers will be the end users then.
2. iOS and Android are very different platforms in many important aspects, e.g. how notifications are handled - in iOS we use notification service extension and in Android we use background service - these would have to be implemented natively as plugins.
3. UX conventions are also different - while some parts of the app have the same or similar UI some other have different UI.

Overall, for a messaging app the current design seems better (= less development effort than any cross platform framework) - a shared core (in our case it’s written in Haskell) that is used by two different native UIs. We did some early spikes with Flutter, it wasn’t looking too promising, tbh.

[cthompstone]

Sorry to hijack this thread, couldn't see how to start a new one...
I trying to use the Simplex CLI with a websocket to Node-Red.
the connection works fine. Message from phone to a group appears in Node-Red.
i just want a simple way to send a message from Node-Red to the websocket CLI and onto to my phone.
I'd like to send it to a group that's already been created.

Now I can do this directly on the CLI, but when I want to send a message via the WS to CLI, looks like I have to generate a hugely complex JSON object. Since I'm new to this simplex job, and really only code in Node-Red, python and a bit of JS/HTML , I'm struggling really....

Is there any info you can give me as to the JSON format to send a message to a group. I looked at the docs on here about the protocol, but it's big and not really sure which bits apply to my needs.

[epoberezkin]

there is typescript SDK that does it: https://github.com/simplex-chat/simplex-chat/tree/stable/packages/simplex-chat-client/typescript, it might be a bit out of date.

[LiberteIV]

Thank you for this amazing chat app, people like you are what keeps the internet a free place as in freedom.
This project is even better than signal as it doesn't have any identifiers like forced phone number, thank you very much!

Starred!

[zen0bit]

Discover – Simplex Public Address Book

[RpiController]

I too am excited and thankful for all the work being put into this project.
Can someone please explain how SimpleX is different from Session? Seems like they are basically identical.
I think there needs to be more publicity about such differences if this project is to get traction.
Are there any plans for a youtube channel where features could be explained and highlighted?

[epoberezkin]

Replied below

[epoberezkin]

1. Session has persistent user identifiers, Simplex does not.
2. Session allows to access the same account from multiple devices, at the cost of compromising security - you can’t track such accesses. SimpleX doesn’t yet, the new desktop beta is available, but it will be a separate profile for now.
3. Session protects your IP from your contacts. SimpleX users who self-host relays can observe senders IP addresses. It’ll be improved soon, until then you must use Tor if that’s important to protect your IP addresses from your contacts.
4. SimpleX uses double ratchet for e2e encryption that provides forward secrecy, post compromise security and repudiation (deniability) - Session doesn’t, as it replaced double ratchet with some proprietary protocol.

So these are two very different products with a set of trade offs.

[RpiController]

Good to know! Thanks for the honest and detailed response. The absence of persistent user identifiers seems to be SimpleX's standout feature.
Session uses a long difficult-to-remember "recovery phrase" for restoring/moving an account on different devices. Is that the plan for SimpleX as well, or will there be something more 'user-friendly'?

[epoberezkin]

No, as having such a phrase is a security risk - it effectively allows anybody to access your data without you knowing.

[epoberezkin]

and also send messages as you.

[Flexible78]

Cool app. But when issue win release, beta may be, and next - in beta versions video calling freez and show static Pic ((.

[http403]

I'm gauging what's my next IM platform would be and one recommend SimpleX. After I read the whitepaper, I have some question that I would like to be addressed. I haven't tried the app yet so they might seems silly.

1. Does a server communicates with other servers? If not, how does two recipents exchange information at the fist hand. For example, Alice want to chat with Bob. How does Alice know where to find Bob?
2. Assuming two recipients Alice and Bob. Alice is using the default server where Bob is using a self-hosted server via Tor. Can Alice chat with Bob?
3. Since simplexmq or SMP itself is assuming to run on top of a trasport, can the transport be I2P?

And some generic question

1. How do I build the Android app as I don't see clear instructions nor in the CI pipeline. While I found scripts about APK building. There aren't clear instructions on doing myself. I'm not a Android dev so I would like some clarifications.
2. Why SimpleX choose to host a F-Droid repository? Does SimpleX have anything that's not compatible with F-Driod's Inclusion Policy? Or there are other reasons? I would like to know.

Thanks.

P.S. Why I can't open a new discussion?

[atlasveldine]

A1. No, they do not. Invite links contain server addresses to facilitate connections. There's more information on this in the docs, somewhere.
A2. Yes, as long as Alice is using a Tor proxy, even if she has set it to "When available" rather than "Required."
A3. Hypothetically, alternative networks can work. I'm unfamiliar with I2P, though. However, if you can run a network as a SOCKS proxy, it should be useable, in theory.

B1. This is a common complaint and I'm just as clueless as you.
B2. I'm confused. SimpleX is available on F-Droid's repository. F-Droid's SimpleX

[http403]

A1. So each party needs to exchange contact out of band in order to start the conversation?

A2. So SimpleX doesn't have a build in Tor clients and must rely on Orbot.

B2. On the README.md, the F-Droid icon is pointed to a private repository hence the question. Still, thanks for the link to F-Droid official repo.

[mabonce]

Is there a way to disable the auto text completion suggestions? I run into the issue of them getting accepted when i hit the space bar but my texting is being inserted prior to the added text.

[chmac]

Seems like I need to post here before I can post other discussions?

I'm trying to transfer to a new iPhone and it asks for my database password, but I can’t see how to get that from my old phone. Should I post a new discussion about this question?

[Lord-KA]

AFAIU, the database is always encrypted, but the default encryption password is stored on the device and applied automatically. I don't think you can extract it, but you can set a custom password and then export the db.

[chmac]

Thanks. I posted #3564 and it seems the key can't be extracted. I will have to uninstall and reinstall the app I think, then export and import the database.

It's odd that I can post issues but not start discussions...

[icorneli]

IMPORTANT! Your application has a memory leak, on two modern devices, on the popular PC platform, the Simplex application over time occupies all the RAM, personally, your application kept 46 GB of RAM!

[Lord-KA]

Maybe fill in an issue with reproducer?

[icorneli]

this happens when the application is blocked and running and not closed, it probably happens anyway. windows

[securegh]

Hello @epoberezkin

I found a fix to Taskbar icon not showing up with Linux Appimage
It's simple just add StartupWMClass=chat-simplex-desktop-MainKt entry to the .desktop file
Now I can pin simplex to taskbar and it looks nice

Thank you for making this awesome app!