element-x-ios
TextSecure
element-x-ios | TextSecure | |
---|---|---|
12 | 987 | |
356 | 25,090 | |
6.2% | 0.8% | |
9.9 | 9.9 | |
2 days ago | 3 days ago | |
Swift | Java | |
Apache License 2.0 | GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 |
Stars - the number of stars that a project has on GitHub. Growth - month over month growth in stars.
Activity is a relative number indicating how actively a project is being developed. Recent commits have higher weight than older ones.
For example, an activity of 9.0 indicates that a project is amongst the top 10% of the most actively developed projects that we are tracking.
element-x-ios
-
Show HN: I made an open-source Loom alternative
Matrix is a protocol, not an app, and it's still evolving rapidly.
Meanwhile, Element as an app is also evolving rapidly too. Totally agreed that the onboarding has been awful in the past, but we're plugging away improving it and trying to make it more glossy and less neckbeardy, as per https://element.io/labs/element-x etc.
The fact is that Discord has raised $1B+ to run a centralised unencrypted comms platform; meanwhile Element is doing something ~10x harder (decentralised & E2EE) with a tiny fraction of the $. It takes longer, but the difference is that Matrix should last indefinitely, whereas Discord will get Eloned sooner or later.
I wouldn't say we've lost yet, but ymmv. I do wish we'd progressed faster though.
-
Don't Use Discord for FOSS
Element X is not finished or intended for average users yet, as https://element.io/labs/element-x makes clear. It’s a preview of the future of Element.
-
Signal v7.0.0 with phone number privacy
Matrix itself is a big messy thing, much like the Web - this is both its power and a potential weakness.
Element X is indeed a fancy new client - but it hasn't hit a 1.0 yet. Think of it a lot like Firefox was pre-1.0; it's unrecognisably faster and better than the previous generation... but not all features are there yet. Meanwhile, there are loads of entirely unrelated independent excellent clients out there too; it's not just about Element v Element X.
> But I wasn't able to set up the encryption with my recovery key, there was only the online validation which I couldn't use because I was on the go and didn't have access to my desktop.
This bug is an accidental thinko however: it's placeholder UI which is about to be replaced by implementing login-via-scanning-QR-code (which is almost there), but obviously that also needs the ability to enter recovery keys too. Eitherway, it's being fixed: https://github.com/element-hq/element-x-ios/issues/2424
> also seems to still lack TOFU for my private server
Yup, sorry, TOFU for TLS isn't implemented yet in EX.
> The same with the homeservers, there's synapse and dendrite is supposed to take over at some point but that point is forever far in the future. And then there's conduit, so which one is it?
Synapse is a stable server where the core team is putting its effort currently. Dendrite is a 2nd gen server from the core team, but is beta and a) ended up being focused on P2P and embedded homeservers and experimental MSCs, b) is starved of resource atm due to funding pressure (c.f. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5BrVVf0B1I&t=316s). Conduit is an independent server implementation in Rust, which is promising but beta.
It's like asking whether you should use Apache httpd or beta versions of nginx or lighttpd in the early days of the Web.
> The strategy doesn't really feel well thought out in that sense.
The strategy at Element (which employs most of the Matrix core team) is pretty clear right now:
1. Improve Synapse as the most mature and stable server implementation (and package it in Element Server Suite for those needing an enterprise Matrix distro: https://element.io/server-suite)
2. Finish implementing sufficient features in Element X that it can replace the old classic Element mobile apps asap - converging on a single Rust codebase, so that bugs & audits & new features can all land in one place.
3. Keep building Element Web/Desktop and Element Call.
...and that's it.
If it seems confusing, that's either because we're in the middle of the Element -> Element X shuffle... or because the nature of Matrix is that there's loads of other independent implementations running around too. But that's what makes it fun, too :)
-
Bluesky and the at Protocol
i’d have been in danger of agreeing a year ago, but thankfully we proved otherwise with Element X: https://element.io/labs/element-x. Bit embarassing that we didn’t get there sooner, but human fallibility and all that.
-
Flutter seems to be having bad times internally
Yep, a good example is the element X rewrite
They use Jetpack on Android
https://github.com/vector-im/element-x-android
And SwiftUI on iOS
https://github.com/vector-im/element-x-ios
But both use the same underlying Matrix Rust SDK
https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-rust-sdk
So they share the core part of the app between platforms, but everything user facing is native
-
Matrix 2.0: The Future of Matrix
And the cake under the cherry is… Element X is open-source[1][2]!
I really can't wait for Beeper[3] to rebuild their fork on top of Element X (it's currently based on Element, formerly called Riot). If this happens this will be an absolute game-changer in the messaging ecosystem.
[1] https://github.com/vector-im/element-x-ios
[2] https://github.com/vector-im/element-x-android
[3] https://www.beeper.com/
-
Element X Matrix client now on iOS early release
Yes, eventually. Right now the sliding sync MSC is still in flux (e.g. we just realised today that it's missing an explicit flag to notify once the client has caught up with the server, rather than guessing via heuristics: https://github.com/vector-im/element-x-ios/issues/1269#issue...). As a result, the implementation (which is in golang) is being kept separate from Synapse for now while we iterate on it; plus it's a separate set of folks working on it. This also means that SS can be used with any existing server (dendrite, conduit etc) as needed.
It'll get added natively to Synapse eventually, but it'll likely be quite a way off.
-
Matrix 2.0: How we’re making Matrix go voom
Element X is an entirely new client written in Rust + Swift UI/Jetpack Compose (https://github.com/vector-im/element-x-ios and https://github.com/vector-im/element-x-android) which will eventually replace the legacy Element apps (https://github.com/vector-im/element-ios and https://github.com/vector-im/element-android).
The features already exist serverside; we're just working on getting them out of beta.
-
Signal Says It Will Exit India Rather Than Compromise Its Encryption
Yep, it's definitely been frustrating in the past. The number of iOS Element bugs was overwhelming at times too. It's a lot more stable now, but the bubble layout still isn't the default - I think that's what most people expect from a personal messenger. I'm looking forward to seeing what the Rust rewrite [1] brings for performance/stability.
FluffyChat also has quite nice UX and a bubble layout by default, but threads are still a while off [2]. On iOS it worked flawlessly through the iOS 16 betas while Element had some show stopping bugs, a couple of my friends moved over if they were on the beta.
I haven't had any friends ask me about the verify session buttons. I don't see any prompts on latest iOS Element but it's still too prominent on Element desktop for my liking.
SchildiChat [3] is my daily driver and feels more friendly than Element on desktop (unified DMs & group chats, no verify UX, chat bubbles), but it doesn't have any update mechanism built in, so I'm wary to recommend it to non-technical friends. It was also my goto recommendation on Android before the Element redesign.
I'm confident the ecosystem is moving in the right direction though, and so thankful for the amount of choice.
[1]: https://github.com/vector-im/element-x-ios
-
Why is Matrix not that popular?
iOS is still not great, but they are making a new one.
TextSecure
-
Signal's Meredith Whittaker on the Telegram security clash
> They distribute binaries on app platforms
They seem to support reproducible builds https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/blob/main/reprod...
> and don’t allow third party compiled to connect
They don't want 3rd party clients to connect official servers, and do not support to them, but there is no outright ban.
- Telegram has launched a pretty intense campaign to malign Signal as insecure
-
The xz sshd backdoor rabbithole goes quite a bit deeper
Moxie's reasons for disallowing Signal distribution via F-droid always rang a little flat to me ( https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/issues/127 ). Lots of chatter about the supposedly superior security model of Google Play Store, and as a result fewer eyes independently building and testing the Signal code base. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but independent and reproducible builds seem like a net positive for everyone. Always struggled to understand releasing code as open source without taking advantage of the community's willingness to build and test. Looking at it in a new light after the XZ backdoor, and Jia Tan's interactions with other FOSS folk.
- WhatsApp forces Pegasus spyware maker to share its secret code
-
Signal: Keep your phone number private with Signal usernames
Signal has documentation on how to reproduce their Play Store builds and compare them with what you've installed locally:
https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/blob/main/reprod...
-
Signal v7.0.0 with phone number privacy
There's nothing on Signal blog as of yet, but Signal's git repository was tagged with v7.0.0 yesterday and we can see from the commit history since the previously tagged version (v6.74.4) that there will be a setting to hide one's phone number [1], as well as disabling the previous default behavior of advertising that one is on Signal to all their contacts already using it [2].
[1] https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/commit/8797236b5... (PNP stands for "Phone Number Privacy")
[2] https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/commit/6097e6c30...
-
What are you shocked people are still doing nowadays?
Signal works the same but without the user tracking from Meta/Facebook. Many people use it as well but I'm surprised that a majority sticks to WhatsApp.
-
Apple has seemingly found a way to block Android’s new iMessage app
Telegram and Signal solve this.
-
Apple Just Confirmed Governments Are Spying on People’s Phones With Push Notifications
Sadly yes: Looks like an open issue 13290 for Signal, sounds like they were/are indeed still interacting through google's push notification service, wat, and per a link at that issue it was a chore for Tutanota to break away once they realised it was a problem some years ago (though at least they thought about it years ago? wtf Signal...)
-
Building end-to-end security for Messenger – Engineering at Meta
Here is one: https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/tree/main/reprod...
What are some alternatives?
element-ios - A glossy Matrix collaboration client for iOS
undiscord - Undiscord - Delete all messages in a Discord server / channel or DM (Easy and fast) Bulk delete
fluffychat
Signal-TLS-Proxy
umurmur - Minimalistic Murmur
duckduckgo-locales - Translation files for <a href="https://duckduckgo.com"> </a>
element-x-android - Android Matrix messenger application using the Matrix Rust Sdk and Jetpack Compose
session-desktop - Session Desktop - Onion routing based messenger
facebook - A Matrix-Facebook Messenger puppeting bridge
MaterialAudiobookPlayer - Minimalistic audiobook player
element-meta - Shared/meta documentation and project artefacts for Element clients
Signal-Android - Patches to Signal for Android removing dependencies on closed-source Google Mobile Services and Firebase libraries. In branches whose names include "-FOSS". Uses new "foss" or "gms" flavor dimension: build with "./gradlew assemblePlayFossProdRelease".