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@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@ #Conversations -Conversations is an open source XMPP (formerly known as Jabber) client for -Android 4.0+ smart phones. +Conversations - the very last word in instant messaging + [![Google Play](http://developer.android.com/images/brand/en_generic_rgb_wo_45.png)](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.siacs.conversations) ![screenshots](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/siacs/Conversations/master/screenshots.png) @@ -8,35 +8,38 @@ Android 4.0+ smart phones. ##Design principles * Be as beautiful and easy to use as possible without sacrificing security or privacy -* Rely on existing, well established protocols +* Rely on existing, well established protocols (XMPP) * Do not require a Google Account or specifically Google Cloud Messaging (GCM) * Require as little permissons as possible ##Features * End-to-end encryption with either OTR or openPGP * Sending and receiving images -* Holo UI -* Syncs with your desktop client -* Group Chats +* Intuitive UI that follows Android Design guidelines +* Syncs with desktop client +* Conferences (with support for bookmarks) * Address book integration * Multiple Accounts / unified inbox +* Very low impact on battery life + ###XMPP Features Conversations works with every XMPP server out there. However XMPP is an extensible protocol. These extensions are standardized as well in so called XEP’s. -Conversations supports a couple of those to make the overall userexperience better. There is a +Conversations supports a couple of those to make the overall user experience better. There is a chance that your current XMPP server does not support these extensions. Therefore to get the most out of Conversations you should consider either switching to an XMPP server that does or - even better - run your own XMPP server for you and your friends. These XEPs are - as of now: -* XEP-0065: SOCKS5 Bytestreams - or rather mod_proxy65. Will be used to tranfer files if both parties are behind a firewall (NAT). -* XEP-0138: Stream Compression saves bandwith +* XEP-0065: SOCKS5 Bytestreams - or rather mod_proxy65. Will be used to transfer files if both parties are behind a firewall (NAT). +* XEP-0138: Stream Compression saves bandwidth +* XEP-0163: Personal Eventing Protocol for avatars * XEP-0198: Stream Management allows XMPP to survive small network outages and changes of the underlying TCP connection. * XEP-0280: Message Carbons which automatically syncs the messages you send to your desktop client and thus allows you to switch seamlessly from your mobile client to your desktop client and back within one conversation. -* XEP-0237: Roster Versioning mainly to save bandwith on poor mobile connections +* XEP-0237: Roster Versioning mainly to save bandwidth on poor mobile connections ##Contributors (In order of appearance) @@ -56,6 +59,7 @@ These XEPs are - as of now: * [Aitor Beriain](https://github.com/beriain) (Basque) * [Ilia Rostovtsev](https://github.com/rostovtsev) (Russian) * [Jelmer Vernooij](https://github.com/jelmer) (Dutch) +* [Anders Sandblad](https://github.com/andersruneson) (Swedish) ##FAQ ###General @@ -73,7 +77,7 @@ I accept donations over PayPal and BitCoin. For donations via PayPal you can use [![Donate with PayPal](https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donate_LG.gif)](https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=CW3SYT3KG5PDL) **Disclaimer:** I'm not a huge fan of PayPal and their business policies. For larger -contributons please get in touch with me beforehand and we can talk about bank +contributions please get in touch with me beforehand and we can talk about bank transfer (SEPA). My Bitcoin Address is: 1NxSU1YxYzJVDpX1rcESAA3NJki7kRgeeu @@ -82,7 +86,7 @@ My Bitcoin Address is: 1NxSU1YxYzJVDpX1rcESAA3NJki7kRgeeu XMPP like email for example is a federated protocol which means that there is not one company you can create your 'official xmpp account' with but there are hundreds or even thousands of provider out there. To find one use a web search -engine of your choice. Or maybe your univeristy has one. Or you can run your own. +engine of your choice. Or maybe your university has one. Or you can run your own. Or ask a friend to run one. Once you found one you can use Conversations to create an account. Just select 'register new account on server' within the create account dialog. @@ -109,7 +113,7 @@ as payload. This doesn’t require Conversations to have write permissions on yo address book but also doesn’t require you to copy past Jabber ID from one app to another. ####Where can I see the status of my contacts? How can I set a status or priority -Status are a horrible metric. Setting them manually to a proper value rarly +Status are a horrible metric. Setting them manually to a proper value rarely works because users are either lazy or just forget about them. Setting them automatically does not provide quality results either. Keyboard or mouse activity as indicator for example fails when the user is just looking at @@ -122,14 +126,14 @@ In the past status has been used to judge the likelihood of whether or not your messages are being read. This is no longer necessary. With Chat Markers (XEP-0333, supported by Conversations since 0.4) we have the ability to **know** whether or not your messages are being read. -Similar things can be said for priorites. In the past priorties have been used +Similar things can be said for priorities. In the past priorities have been used (By servers, not by clients!) to route your messages to one specific client. With carbon messages (XEP-0280, supported by Conversations since 0.1) this is no longer necessary. Using priorities to route OTR messages isn't pratical either because they are not changeable on the fly. Metrics like last active client (the client which sent the last message) are much better. -Unfortunatly these modern replacements for legacy XMPP features are not widely +Unfortunately these modern replacements for legacy XMPP features are not widely adopted. However Conversations should be an instant messenger for the future and instead of making Conversations compatible with the past we should work on implementing new, improved technologies into other XMPP clients as well. @@ -169,7 +173,7 @@ widespread use. The way PGP works is that you trust Key IDs instead of XMPP- or To 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. ####How does the encryption for conferences work? For conferences the only supported encryption method is OpenPGP. (OTR does not -work with multiple participents.) Every participant has to announce their +work with multiple participants.) Every participant has to announce their OpenPGP key. (See answer above). If you would like to send encrypted messages to a conference you have to make sure that you have every participant's public key in your OpenKeychain. Right now there is no check in Conversations to ensure @@ -190,9 +194,21 @@ git submodule update --init --recursive ant clean ant debug ``` +####How do I debug Conversations +If something goes wrong Conversations usually exposes very little information in +the UI. (Other than the fact that something didn't work) +However with adb (android debug bridge) you squeeze some more information out of +Conversations. These information are especially useful if you are experiencing +troubles with your connection or with file transfer. +```` +adb -d logcat -v time -s xmppService +```` ####I found a bug Please report it to our issue tracker. If your app crashes please provide a stack trace. If you are experiencing missbehaviour please provide detailed steps to reproduce. Always mention whether you are running the latest Play Store version or the current HEAD. +If you are having problems connecting to your XMPP server your file transfer +doesn’t work as expected please always include a logcat debug output with your +issue. (See above) |