Nostr notes by Daniel Gultsch

Ich erkläre im NET⫽SPLIT Podcast, wie man #Matrix als ...

2026-10-19T17:42:22Z

Ich erkläre im NET⫽SPLIT Podcast, wie man #Matrix als iterative Verbesserung von #XMPP hätte umsetzen können, statt das Rad neu zu erfinden.

Noch mehr hot takes zu Matrix vs XMPP gibt es im Rest der Folge, die auf PeerTube oder in der Podcast-App eurer Wahl zu finden ist.

🎬 https://gultsch.video/w/pAoKnpBVCY3pRt6YhnV32h

🎧 https://antennapod.org/deeplink/subscribe?url=https://netsplit.fm/feed.xml

Google Play review times keep getting longer and longer. I've ...

2026-10-19T08:07:05Z

Google Play review times keep getting longer and longer. I've been waiting three weeks for Google to release the latest version of #Conversations_im.

It's not a security-critical release, but what if we ever need to publish something urgently?

Luckily, with reproducible builds, you can now seamlessly switch to the F-Droid version. F-Droid will automatically pick the correct version, and you will just be asked to confirm that F-Droid is now responsible for maintaining updates.

#XMPP #Jabber

Mastodon, Element and Conversations on the same slide. What is ...

2026-10-06T08:11:16Z

Mastodon, Element and Conversations on the same slide. What is this, a crossover episode?

https://super-stack.eu

#Mastodon #Element #Matrix #XMPP #Conversations_im #Jabber #SuperStack

What feature in Conversations are you looking forward to the ...

2026-09-29T15:18:51Z

What feature in Conversations are you looking forward to the most?

#XMPP #Jabber #Conversations_im #Android

RE: https://sciences.social/@annasdtc/117224123424001867 Not ...

2026-09-28T07:27:10Z

RE: https://sciences.social/@annasdtc/117224123424001867

Not everyone can or should self-host, but the technology that enables it—federation, open standards, and vendor independence—also allows cooperatives, municipalities, and community groups to run their own infrastructure.

#DigitalSovereignty #OpenSource #SelfHosting #Jabber #XMPP

quoting
note1l4z…vfmc

All this self-host techie discourse sounds, to me, a bit like a self-sufficiency dystopia. If we were discussing how bad public transportation is, and someone replied "just transport yourself", most of us would say "that's not it". But when we discuss wanting to get out of large American tech or of nazi-sympathyzing companies, the solution can't be "just host your services yourself". Having to do everything yourself is not my idea of a functioning society.

https://todon.eu/@redjives/117223317766147041

Conversations is now permanently available for free on Google ...

2026-09-24T14:48:41Z

Conversations is now permanently available for free on Google Play.

Google doesn’t deserve me and my money anymore.

https://gultsch.de/posts/breaking-up-with-google-play/

#XMPP #Jabber #Conversations_im #Android #FOSS #OpenSource #Google #GooglePlay

This is unacceptable. The Google Play app review process now ...

2026-09-16T11:17:57Z

This is unacceptable. The Google Play app review process now regularly takes longer than a week. I understand that the pipeline is clogged with AI slop, but #Google needs to prioritize #Android apps that have been around for 12+ years and push updates only once a month.

A lot of my colleagues are concerned that #XMPP could kill all of ...

2026-09-14T15:15:56Z

A lot of my colleagues are concerned that #XMPP could kill all of humanity by the end of this decade. This is not a marketing stunt.

I wrote a blog post reflecting on Jabber/XMPP, whether it’s ...

2026-09-14T09:08:44Z

I wrote a blog post reflecting on Jabber/XMPP, whether it’s ready for wider adoption, and how we actually get there.

https://gultsch.de/posts/how-do-we-gain-traction/

#Jabber #XMPP #DigitalSovereignty #DigitalIndependenceDay

Currently doing research for another blog post, and I noticed ...

2026-09-13T11:41:24Z

Currently doing research for another blog post, and I noticed that WhatsApp and Signal only gained the ability to edit messages in 2023, whereas Conversations has had it since 2016.

To this day, both WhatsApp and Signal lack crucial features that Conversations has, like the ability to show what time zone a contact is in.

#Jabber #XMPP

There used to be an urban legend that WhatsApp was listening to ...

2026-09-11T10:32:56Z

There used to be an urban legend that WhatsApp was listening to everything you said. In reality, it was mostly confirmation bias: if you talked to a friend about a dream vacation and later saw ads for it, chances were high you had already googled the destination.

Anyway, Apple is now building this exact creepy stalker behavior into the Apple Watch and calling it a feature.

RE: https://gultsch.social/@daniel/117195237916916162 If you are ...

2026-09-04T07:50:16Z

RE: https://gultsch.social/@daniel/117195237916916162

If you are excited about my upcoming talk on #XMPP, I encourage you to read my essay, “Jabber/XMPP: 25 Years of Digital Independence” (if you haven’t already). The talk will be more technical in nature, but the essay hits on similar topics. Think of it as an extended version of the first five minutes of the talk.

https://gultsch.de/posts/25-years-of-digital-independence/

quoting
note12u6…6jwy

I have been invited to the “Datenspuren” conference in Dresden to speak about Jabber/XMPP and 25 years of digital independence.

The talk is going to be in German, but I've submitted an English version to other conferences.

https://talks.datenspuren.de/ds26/talk/GF8KMU/

I have been invited to the “Datenspuren” conference in ...

2026-09-01T10:10:14Z

I have been invited to the “Datenspuren” conference in Dresden to speak about Jabber/XMPP and 25 years of digital independence.

The talk is going to be in German, but I've submitted an English version to other conferences.

https://talks.datenspuren.de/ds26/talk/GF8KMU/

The Italian email, XMPP, and blog hosting provider ...

2026-08-31T08:43:11Z

The Italian email, XMPP, and blog hosting provider Autistici/Inventati has been designated a “global terrorist” and put on a sanctions list by the US regime, which, among other things, will severely limit their access to financial systems.

https://www.inventati.org/campaign/press

#Jabber #XMPP #DigitalSovereignty

I wrote a blog post on Jabber/XMPP and 25 years of digital ...

2026-08-24T15:50:10Z

I wrote a blog post on Jabber/XMPP and 25 years of digital independence.

https://gultsch.de/posts/25-years-of-digital-independence/

It shares a title with my upcoming talk and touches on similar themes around open standards, collective ownership, and avoiding vendor lock-in. However, it is an independent essay rather than a written version of the talk.

#XMPP #Jabber #DigitalSovereignty

We have a combined #XMPP and #UnifiedPush stand at #FrOSCon. Come ...

2026-08-15T08:20:40Z

We have a combined #XMPP and #UnifiedPush stand at #FrOSCon. Come say hi!

Rocket.Chat adding support for #XMPP is very good news. „[XMPP] ...

2026-08-12T13:08:16Z

Rocket.Chat adding support for #XMPP is very good news.

„[XMPP] is self-hosted, air-gappable, open, and auditable, and it is light enough to hold up on constrained tactical networks. Those qualities are why it has stayed in service for two decades. The protocol is mature and trusted. […] It is usually the client software sitting on top of XMPP, not the protocol itself, that has aged.“

#ThatsXMPP

https://www.rocket.chat/blog/rocket-chat-8-7-brings-xmpp-interoperability-for-coalition-operations

Monocles, a #Conversations_im fork, is now making heavy use of ...

2026-08-11T14:31:18Z

Monocles, a #Conversations_im fork, is now making heavy use of LLM-generated code. Including its cryptography.

Meanwhile it hasn't backported critical security fixes that landed in Conversations (and other forks) over a year ago.

Use this information however you like.

In other news: Conversations is currently free of charge on both F-Droid and Google Play.

#XMPP #Jabber #Monocles

Great day at #Fedicon yesterday. I met lots of new people from ...

2026-08-08T17:01:55Z

Great day at #Fedicon yesterday. I met lots of new people from the #ActivityPub community. I've always thought that #XMPP and the #Fediverse are ideologically well-aligned, and that our developer communities should talk to each other more. In that regard, it was a big success.

#Conversations_im is now available for free on Google Play until ...

2026-08-06T14:24:09Z

#Conversations_im is now available for free on Google Play until August 18th.

Whenever there is a conference with a strong #XMPP presence, I like to make the app available for free to make it easier for attendees to install the app and give XMPP a shot.

I'm attending #FOSSY and #FrOSCon this weekend and next.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.siacs.conversations

Google is now buying access to source code repositories to train ...

2026-07-18T06:44:03Z

Google is now buying access to source code repositories to train their LLMs. This puts the value of the code they previously stole from the open-source community into a whole new perspective.

#Quicksy registrations are permanently closed. The project was ...

2026-07-13T10:14:03Z

#Quicksy registrations are permanently closed.
The project was viable for a long time only because it required minimal effort. However, fighting industrial-scale SMS pumping fraud has become unsustainable, both financially and in terms of workload.

The XMPP server will remain online for the foreseeable future, but users are advised to switch their client to #Conversations_im.

I’m going to be at #FOSSY in Vancouver in August to talk about ...

2026-06-29T20:46:33Z

I’m going to be at #FOSSY in Vancouver in August to talk about #UnifiedPush!

https://2026.fossy.ca/schedule/presentation/372/

There is also a full 2-day track dedicated to #XMPP.

We put the instant into instant messaging.

2026-05-29T14:32:28Z

In reply to nevent1q…t85a
_________________________

We put the instant into instant messaging.

Matrix got started on very aggressive, negative marketing against ...

2026-05-23T06:40:34Z

In reply to nevent1q…s259
_________________________

Matrix got started on very aggressive, negative marketing against XMPP. That‘s how I first learned about them because they were spreading misinformation about XMPP.

https://web.archive.org/web/20150207070934/matrix.org/blog/faq#What8217s_the_difference_between_Matrix_and_XMPP

Note my criticisms is mostly towards Element the company, not Matrix the protocol or other actors in the game. (It’s on them for blurring the lines between Element and Matrix.)

Element (@npub1tcc…4342) makes a very big deal out of every ...

2026-05-22T23:48:19Z

Element (Element (npub1tcc…4342)) makes a very big deal out of every single government agency that gives #Matrix a shot. However when you look at what actual people choose to deploy it's #XMPP.

https://qa.debian.org/popcon.php (via https://framapiaf.org/@debacle/116618695432651294)

#Conversations_im is currently in the Top 50 most download apps ...

2026-05-22T00:43:39Z

#Conversations_im is currently in the Top 50 most download apps on F-Droid (npub1mtr…trt0).
In the messaging category it ranks fairly close to #Element X and has almost 3x the downloads of #DeltaChat. Just to give you a perspective on loudness on social media vs reality.

https://grote.gitlab.io/fdroid-metrics-distilled/#messaging

#XMPP #Jabber #FDroid

Ich habe am Rande der Chemnitzer Linux Tage dem Radio T aus ...

2026-04-20T08:25:43Z

Ich habe am Rande der Chemnitzer Linux Tage dem Radio T aus Chemnitz (Radio T (npub1t2n…ddl5)) ein Interview über #XMPP und die XMPP Standards Foundation gegeben.

https://gultsch.video/w/dxT7TYDLuBRNLwTtWKrxR1

I’m delighted to announce that the OpenPGP implementation in ...

2026-04-09T09:52:37Z

I’m delighted to announce that the OpenPGP implementation in #Conversations_im will see some love over the next ~6 months. Simultaneously, we will be laying the groundwork for OMEMO2 by implementing Stanza Content Encryption.

Thanks to funding from NLnet (npub1n8y…l96n) and the European Commission.

https://nlnet.nl/project/Conversations-OpenPGP-refresh/

#XMPP #Jabber #OMEMO #OpenPGP

A good litmus test for the morality of software is asking the ...

2026-03-23T04:19:09Z

A good litmus test for the morality of software is asking the developers if they would let their kids use it.

Meta execs: Fuck no!

XMPP devs: Yes, that's why I started this project.

Historically, events like Meta announcing ads in WhatsApp ...

2026-03-01T09:18:42Z

Historically, events like Meta announcing ads in WhatsApp haven’t significantly impacted #Conversations_im download numbers. This time feels different. February saw double the installs of a typical month. It seems the sentiment against Big Tech is finally translating into action.

#DiDay #XMPP

RE: https://furry.engineer/@soatok/116088639302283341 I’m not ...

2026-02-18T14:21:49Z

RE: https://furry.engineer/@soatok/116088639302283341

I’m not qualified to comment on the alleged security vulnerability in #Matrix, but 'the entire Matrix community sucks because one user once disagreed with me on the Internet' is such a wild take.
nostr:note1jfndkr8fshdsqxhs7lfz33rjv5avqv63qygxv9qqjz7gyl9wguesmkkhfj

Nice! The #XMPP logo is now officially part of Font-Awesome. 🎉 ...

2026-02-10T20:30:39Z

Nice! The #XMPP logo is now officially part of Font-Awesome. 🎉

https://fontawesome.com/icons/xmpp?f=brands&s=solid

RE: https://social.coop/@django/116019244368171843 Dear ...

2026-02-07T10:24:58Z

RE: https://social.coop/@django/116019244368171843

Dear #Fediverse developers, please do more cool things with #ActivityPub C2S.

Just note that "Direct Messaging apps" are way more complex than you might realize and that #XMPP has solved most of the problems you might encounter.
nostr:note1amxtcz0um9hsfepa5gjfjm5s58adpvemzlh2jwqf8fgdm3s7ez3q80dq68

There are IM apps mostly pushed by a few loud enthusiasts on ...

2026-02-06T10:53:43Z

There are IM apps mostly pushed by a few loud enthusiasts on Mastodon, and then there is #XMPP, which is used in the real world.

For example:

• Evacuating people from battlefields in Afghanistan: That’s XMPP.
• Shipping metric fuck tons of cocaine across the globe: That’s XMPP.

#ThatsXMPP #Jabber

I'm in Belgium for #FOSDEM and the #XMPP Summit, and ever ...

2026-02-01T12:34:18Z

I'm in Belgium for #FOSDEM and the #XMPP Summit, and ever since I crossed the border on Wednesday, my roaming has been extremely spotty or non-existent. It's amazing how much XMPP instant messaging traffic I can still get through a very slow EDGE connection, whereas the Mastodon API with Tusky doesn't work at all.

Heute ist #DiDay Der Digital Independence Day ist eine tolle ...

2026-02-01T08:46:40Z

Heute ist #DiDay

Der Digital Independence Day ist eine tolle Initiative, deren Werte wir zu 100% teilen. Die Empfehlung für Signal ist allerdings ein Schritt in die falsche Richtung und treibt Nutzer von einem geschlossenen System in ein anderes.

Zum Glück gibt es auch Wechselrezepte für die Independent Messaging Apps #Quicksy, #Monal und #Conversations_im, die wirkliche Souveränität bieten.

Ein Wechsel zu Quicksy ist genauso einfach wie ein Wechsel zu Signal.

https://imday.de/de/

#DIDIt

The only relevant feature for any instant messaging app (or ...

2026-01-25T10:57:06Z

The only relevant feature for any instant messaging app (or social app, for that matter) is: Are my friends using it? People will gladly overlook minor inconsistencies or missing features as long as they can communicate with their friends. We shouldn’t recommend #Signal as a stepping stone before Jabber/XMPP becomes "good enough," if goodness is defined by the number of people using it.

#Jabber #XMPP #Conversations_im

Recommending #Signal is like giving a man a slightly less ...

2026-01-18T10:21:53Z

Recommending #Signal is like giving a man a slightly less poisonous fish. Introducing them to federated, provider independent instant messaging with #XMPP is teaching them how to fish.

Happy Jabber Day 🎂 🥳 On January 4, 1999, Jabber was first ...

2026-01-04T08:14:46Z

Happy Jabber Day 🎂 🥳

On January 4, 1999, Jabber was first announced to the public¹.

Twenty-seven years later, Jabber—or XMPP, as it became known after standardization through the #IETF—remains the only truly vendor-independent, federated instant messaging platform.

In almost three decades, XMPP has never stopped evolving and remains our best tool for digital independence.

¹: http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=99/01/04/1621211

#DigitalIndependenceDay #Jabber #XMPP #DiDit #DigitalSovereignty #DiDay #JabberDay

I think #XMPP has a relatively clear and achievable path to ...

2026-01-03T12:34:20Z

I think #XMPP has a relatively clear and achievable path to drastically reduce the amount of metadata, but I’m increasingly worried that it is not going to move the needle in terms of adoption.

For 99.99% of people, the only relevant feature for an instant messenger is simply 'Are my friends using it?' The other 0.01% are equally divided between people who already use XMPP and don’t mind the metadata, and people who won’t use it anyway.

#Jabber #Conversations_im

I still find it a bit odd that Udbhav Tiwari and Meredith ...

2025-12-31T11:49:17Z

I still find it a bit odd that Udbhav Tiwari and Meredith Whittaker ([@Mer__edith](https://mastodon.world/@Mer__edith )) stormed off the stage at #39C3 with ~20 minutes left in their slot without answering any questions. I always think of Chaos events as being among equals, and a Q&A after your presentation is just part of that. But I guess if you are earning close to $1 million a year, you are a bit more equal than others.

I’m wondering if this was prearranged with the organizers and/or the Herold in that session.

RE: https://gultsch.social/@daniel/115802352665594606 I guess ...

2025-12-29T18:57:56Z

RE: https://gultsch.social/@daniel/115802352665594606

I guess they are not answering any questions? 🤷‍♂️

#39C3 #Signal

quoting
note1q4m…7a23

Meredith Whittaker ([@Mer__edith](https://mastodon.world/@Mer__edith )) has been invited to speak at #39C3 later today. If you make it to the mic in time, here is an interesting question for her: "If I’m put on a boycott list by the Trump regime because I’m openly anti-fascist or oppose war crimes, will you adhere to US laws and block my access to #Signal?"

#DigitalSovereignty #DIDit

Meredith Whittaker ...

2025-12-29T10:21:12Z

Meredith Whittaker ([@Mer__edith](https://mastodon.world/@Mer__edith )) has been invited to speak at #39C3 later today. If you make it to the mic in time, here is an interesting question for her: "If I’m put on a boycott list by the Trump regime because I’m openly anti-fascist or oppose war crimes, will you adhere to US laws and block my access to #Signal?"

#DigitalSovereignty #DIDit

Yes, agreed. Tremendous value in reusing identities and login ...

2025-12-23T11:07:46Z

In reply to nevent1q…3ju6
_________________________

Yes, agreed. Tremendous value in reusing identities and login credentials. Big skepticism with regards to using AP as a protocol. One can probably kinda make it work… But why? What’s the benefit?

Soatak is an expert in cryptography. I’m not. I’m more than ...

2025-12-23T10:54:59Z

In reply to nevent1q…d3gj
_________________________

Soatak is an expert in cryptography. I’m not. I’m more than happy to stand on the shoulder of giants when it comes to E2EE. That’s why we used the Signal Protocol 10+ years ago for #OMEMO and are now looking towards #MLS. However, good, interoperable protocol design is so much more than just E2EE. And maybe I've learned a thing or two about protocol design in my career that they don’t necessarily know.

there are three actively developed protocols for federated ...

2025-12-23T10:46:49Z

In reply to nevent1q…qwus
_________________________

there are three actively developed protocols for federated instant messaging (XMPP, Matrix, Deltachat). At least one of them is very open to new developers and new ideas and has a structure in place to collaboratively work on those ideas and bring various stake holders together. With no disrespect to that individual I don't see why there needs to be a forth protocol loosely based on ActivityPub.

two things: I already said in my follow up post that if someone ...

2025-12-23T10:14:35Z

In reply to nevent1q…53lt
_________________________

two things: I already said in my follow up post that if someone wants to build their own clients on top of XMPP and prefers MLS over OMEMO, the XMPP community is very open to that. A protocol is much more than just the encryption. They would still benefit from all the other things XMPP has solved.

A lot of what's in that blog post is ill-informed and bordering on disinformation and fear mongering.

I consider this a failure on our part but I don’t really know ...

2025-12-20T09:15:03Z

In reply to nevent1q…87cz
_________________________

I consider this a failure on our part but I don’t really know what to do about it. Most arguments against #XMPP don’t hold if you’re building from scratch anyway:

• #Conversations_im looks very outdated: OK, but you are developing your own clients anyway.

• XMPP doesn’t have an SDK: Neither does your #ActivityPub or email stack

• OMEMO is insecure and I would prefer #MLS: Yes, let’s work on that together and you’ll still benefit from XMPP’s 100+ solved IM problems.

As a community, we often ask ourselves how to attract more users ...

2025-12-20T09:03:47Z

As a community, we often ask ourselves how to attract more users to #XMPP. Yet the real tragedy is that people would rather build something entirely new (loosely based on email or #ActivityPub) than consider XMPP. Need end-to-end encryption by default? If compatibility with existing XMPP clients is a secondary concern, you can implement it in your own solution while still benefiting from our two decades of experience in instant messaging.

Day 2 of the Hackathon went great. Marvin (@npub1y8y…sana) ...

2025-11-03T13:55:20Z

Day 2 of the Hackathon went great. Marvin (Marvin W (npub1y8y…sana)) helped me implement an opt-in feature in #Conversations_im which routes all P2P sessions (calls and files transfers) via the users home server (similar to the feature found in Signal).

I went on a nice walk to a viewpoint on Mount Royal afterwards.

Now looking forward to Day 1 of #IETF124.

#XMPP #IETF #Jabber

what do you mean by that? When you are locked into your PeerTube ...

2025-10-16T18:07:54Z

In reply to nevent1q…l8mg
_________________________

what do you mean by that? When you are locked into your PeerTube account from a client? Or what tooling do you use? And more importantly does the web interface then display the boosted video?

Many exciting projects made it into the latest @npub1dk0…k0wd ...

2025-10-16T15:28:40Z

Many exciting projects made it into the latest NGI Zero open source funding (npub1dk0…k0wd) funding round.

My personal favorites are OMEMO v2 (#TWOMEMO 😜) for Converse.js (by JC Brand (npub15p7…gawl)) and GTK4 support for phosh (npub122d…rrm4).

https://nlnet.nl/news/2025/20251016-selection-NGI0CommonsFund.html

#XMPP #Jabber #Converse #OMEMO

There is no way in #PeerTube to essentially 'boost' ...

2025-10-16T13:51:15Z

There is no way in #PeerTube to essentially 'boost' (retweet) a video from another instance, is there?

I want people to be able to go to my PeerTube instance and watch a video that I recommended without leaving my instance but all likes and comments should obviously go to the original source. (And the video itself should obviously be streamed from the original source as well.)

#askfedi #ActivityPub

I just heard at @npub1cza…d6az that @npub168y…upza is getting ...

2025-10-08T15:42:35Z

I just heard at FediForum (npub1cza…d6az) that AltStore (npub168y…upza) is getting #Fediverse integration. When is F-Droid (npub1mtr…trt0) getting news and comments via #ActivityPub?

#FediForum

Since a speaker at #FediDay25 made the offhand comment that ...

2025-10-06T10:09:47Z

Since a speaker at #FediDay25 made the offhand comment that "advertisement is free speech" allow me to offer a quick rebuttal: No, emotionally manipulating people into buying shit they don’t need is not free speech.

Any instance distributing advertisements into the #Fediverse needs to be defederated immediately.

We are not going to write open letters on how we are heroically ...

2025-10-04T06:52:35Z

We are not going to write open letters on how we are heroically going to withdraw from Europe. We will stay here continuing to operate as usual. We are infrastructure.

#Conversations_im #XMPP

EU Chat Control won't apply to the federated Jabber/XMPP ...

2025-10-04T06:50:14Z

EU Chat Control won't apply to the federated Jabber/XMPP ecosystem.
#Conversations_im is used by various militaries, police forces and intelligence agencies in Europe. They will make sure it won't get any client side scanning.
#XMPP #Jabber #ChatControl

I legit don’t know what "Trust & Safety" is. Maybe ...

2025-09-23T10:33:51Z

In reply to nevent1q…frg0
_________________________

I legit don’t know what "Trust & Safety" is. Maybe moderation on matrix.org? In that case the budget line should probably also count towards "Operating the matrix.org server"

In his 'Enter the Matrix' talk¹, @npub1cw9…wx3j ...

2025-09-23T10:32:12Z

In his 'Enter the Matrix' talk¹, mcnesium (npub1cw9…wx3j) suggested donating to the Matrix Foundation to address the issue of one company controlling 90% of the ecosystem and spec.

Here's how the foundation spends its money:²

• Administrative overhead
• Operating the matrix.org server
• Director’s salary
• Hosting Matrix Conf

No funds for software development or spec writing.

Hosting the conference (12.5% of budget) is obviously a good investment.

¹: https://media.ccc.de/v/ds25-506-enter-the-matrix-oder-warum-signal-auch-doof-ist
²: https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec/issues/571#issuecomment-2673151460

I must admit the iPhone Air looks pretty cool. Now that Google is ...

2025-09-23T08:32:31Z

I must admit the iPhone Air looks pretty cool. Now that Google is locking down #Android, I might as well get one of those and do #Conversations_im for iOS instead.

I'm paying Google ~100 euros a month for their services and ...

2025-09-06T08:39:52Z

I'm paying Google ~100 euros a month for their services and the privilege of publishing Conversations on the Play Store.

For a week now, I have been unable to release any updates because I'm still hoping to talk to someone at Google about their false accusation that I'm collecting users' email addresses, and any publication would reset my slot in the queue.

If you can’t make it to #Datenspuren, I will also be at ...

2025-09-02T13:35:49Z

If you can’t make it to #Datenspuren, I will also be at #MRMCD25 talking about #UnifiedPush.

I taught myself how to use mermaid.js. Expect graphs!

https://talks.mrmcd.net/2025/talk/RLQMGN/

Google rejected my appeal and included this helpful screenshot to ...

2025-08-31T08:05:22Z

In reply to nevent1q…248f
_________________________

Google rejected my appeal and included this helpful screenshot to demonstrate that Conversations is collecting email addresses.

Extending this logic means that any app with a free form text field is technically collecting users social security numbers. Because the user could potentially enter that.

I admitted to collecting email addresses because it is the ...

2025-08-31T03:17:34Z

In reply to nevent1q…uak0
_________________________

I admitted to collecting email addresses because it is the fastest way to get the release out, and now I’m appealing the decision. Let’s see where this is going. Spoiler: very likely nowhere. Google doesn’t make mistakes.

According to Google, #Conversations_im is now also collecting ...

2025-08-29T15:15:21Z

According to Google, #Conversations_im is now also collecting users’ email addresses.

Pretty much the exact same thing that happened to Quicksy about a month ago¹ is now also happening to Conversations.

An app update I submitted ~48 hours ago passed review without any issues. A subsequent update just now, which contained very minor bug fixes, was rejected because I failed to declare that I’m collecting email addresses.

I’m so tired of this bullshit.

¹: https://gultsch.social/@daniel/114954618263198238

Every new #Conversations_im release involves testing on the four ...

2025-08-22T06:58:47Z

Every new #Conversations_im release involves testing on the four major #XMPP servers and on devices as old as this 10-year old Nexus 5.

End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is important. However, on ...

2025-08-21T11:24:24Z

End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is important. However, on self-hosted or otherwise trusted servers, the client-to-server transport layer presents a much larger attack surface. It’s the first hurdle an adversary must overcome before they can attack E2EE.

That’s why #Conversations_im includes advanced MITM detection called Channel Binding. Turn it on today!

It’s optional for now because not all servers support it. Talk to your admins.

Neither The Matrix.org Foundation (npub1m9z…whzq) nor Delta Chat (npub17gp…nrxn) offer comparable protection.

Someone or something at Google started to hallucinate that ...

2025-08-01T17:11:11Z

Someone or something at Google started to hallucinate that #Quicksy is collecting the user's email address and would not approve the app update until we declared that in our data policy.

The sign up process in Quicksy hasn't changed in 7 years. I don't even know where the user would enter their email address and I'm not aware of an API that collects this automatically.

Looks like the Jabber/XMPP community will have a booth at ...

2025-06-30T08:12:31Z

Looks like the Jabber/XMPP community will have a booth at FrOSCon (npub1nxl…jpt0) this year.

August 16th and 17th. Save the date. See you there.

I promise we will bring stickers!

https://froscon.org/

#XMPP #Jabber #Conversations_im

The "Open source developers don’t care about UI" trope ...

2025-04-14T15:19:16Z

The "Open source developers don’t care about UI" trope is incredibly insulting.

It’s like telling the forth runner across the finish line at a marathon they clearly don’t care about winning.

Nobody wants their app to look bad. We can and do look at other apps and try to follow trends. Trends change rapidly and UI development is difficult and time consuming.

Glad you asked. Signal is a centralized service run on Big Tech ...

2025-04-09T17:08:29Z

In reply to nevent1q…jjuc
_________________________

Glad you asked. Signal is a centralized service run on Big Tech infrastructure. You can decide to trust Signal as your service provider; That’s absolutely fine and reasonable even. But they don’t allow federation or inter-op with anyone who wants to make different choices.

#XMPP gives you that choice. Don’t trust me to be your server operator? That’s fine: pick a different one.

Donations to Signal are directly funding Amazon, Google and Microsoft.¹

¹: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/824506840

Looks like Dino is enabling #OMEMO by default for the next ...

2025-04-09T13:25:30Z

Looks like Dino is enabling #OMEMO by default for the next release¹. I think that was the last of the major #XMPP clients to do so. Hopefully we can now put the "But XMPP is not encrypted by default" debate to rest.

¹: https://github.com/dino/dino/commit/fc6447c56e7fdaf6f6d843a2215d870caee4aba0

The good news is you don’t have to wait for the slow, ...

2025-04-09T10:51:06Z

The good news is you don’t have to wait for the slow, democratic process of the European Union to impose tariffs on US-based digital services. You can boycott Amazon, WhatsApp, and Signal today.

I think I’ve found a relatively nice solution for #FediLinks in ...

2025-04-03T15:15:32Z

I think I’ve found a relatively nice solution for #FediLinks in #Conversations_im.

You can put web+ap URIs into a message (or room description) and ideally a click on those will open your Mastodon client. However if no installed app supports those (the only app that I’m aware of is Fedilab) Conversations will open a browser instead.

Currently no app will create web+ap links but it is fairly easy to handcraft them.

cc Genders: ♾️, 🟪⬛🟩; Soni L. (npub1dpw…vfu6)

#XMPP #ActivityPub

Today I’m announcing a 45% tariff on #Conversations_im sold in ...

2025-04-03T05:41:17Z

Today I’m announcing a 45% tariff on #Conversations_im sold in the USA.

I understand the concern about bad fallback on the web. I just ...

2025-03-28T11:05:47Z

In reply to nevent1q…rrdt
_________________________

I understand the concern about bad fallback on the web. I just wish people would be a bit more pragmatic about it and at least add support for reading / opening such URIs. Nobody suggested replace all Follow buttons with web+activitypub: links.

Can we have support for FEP-07d7 in #Tusky and #Fedilab? (cc Tusky (npub18wv…53pp) Fedilab Apps (npub14kx…urew))

It shouldn’t be that hard to implement at least one of the possible URI schemes in #Conversations_im, #Lttrs, #Tusky and #Fedilab. Maybe get Delta Chat (npub17gp…nrxn) on board too?

Is there any #ActivityPub / #Mastodon URI scheme used in the wild ...

2025-03-27T21:06:26Z

Is there any #ActivityPub / #Mastodon URI scheme used in the wild that would allow me to open an ActivityPub account directly in my Android app?

I've seen 'acct' and 'web+ap' mentioned but none seem to be implemented.

The goal is that given a text of "Here is my Mastodon profile acct:daniel@gultsch.social" #Conversations_im can link that directly into #Tusky. (Just like mailto and xmpp URIs open my E-Mail or IM app respectively)

Have Fedilab Apps (npub14kx…urew) or Tusky (npub18wv…53pp) considered that? If not why not?

After gradually moving all my code repositories from #Github to ...

2025-03-05T16:51:43Z

After gradually moving all my code repositories from #Github to Codeberg (npub1fh7…ee83) I have now disabled my Github Sponsors account. A very big thank you to everyone who has supported me over the years. 😍

Not just in light of recent events - after all this is a process I started over two years ago - but also in light of recent events I want to have as little dependencies as possible to platforms run by the Tech Oligarchs.

It’s very important for me to say that existing quicksy.im ...

2025-03-05T12:24:32Z

It’s very important for me to say that existing quicksy.im account will continue to exist for a long time. The server Quicksy runs on is very cheap (10 Euro / month). Worst case we will move them over to the conversations.im server and basically run them for free. (~1000 Quicksy users is a drop in the bucket for conversations.im)

What bothers me - and makes me unsure about the future of Quicksy - is paying 100 Euro a month in SMS fees.

We need to talk about Quicksy.im again 🤨 · Quicksy has 880 ...

2025-03-05T12:14:59Z

We need to talk about Quicksy.im again 🤨

· Quicksy has 880 monthly active users. The median number of messages send and received per user per month is 25

· Quicksy is experiencing a high volume of unsuccessful registrations, meaning attempts that trigger an SMS but don't result in account creation. This occurs when SMS messages don't arrive or when users 'test' the service with fake or nonexistent numbers. These failed registrations drive up costs with little benefit.

It’s incredibly sad that we’ve lost the open, federated team ...

2025-02-09T14:44:28Z

It’s incredibly sad that we’ve lost the open, federated team chat space to #Matrix—where the only viable server isn’t open source, it’s debatable whether the underlying standard is truly open, and the most charitable thing I’ve heard about the UX is that it’s 'OK.'

#XMPP #Jabber

I'm happy that #Matrix works for you. From a developer POV ...

2025-02-01T08:14:19Z

In reply to nevent1q…sak9
_________________________

I'm happy that #Matrix works for you. From a developer POV the dominance of Element (the company) is a huge liability and I prefer a standardization organization where I can actively participate without paying millions of dollars in member fees.

synapse nation grade or the slow one?

2025-02-01T08:02:09Z

In reply to nevent1q…re34
_________________________

synapse nation grade or the slow one?

I'm skipping #FOSDEM this year, but the #XMPP Standards ...

2025-02-01T07:36:31Z

I'm skipping #FOSDEM this year, but the #XMPP Standards Foundation will be there! Stop by the Realtime Lounge¹ to chat about XMPP, pick up some merch, and maybe grab a #Conversations_im sticker—while supplies last! 🚀

¹: https://xmpp.org/2025/01/xmpp-at-fosdem-2025/#realtime-lounge (K building 2nd floor, beside the elevator)

I don’t usually do this kind of evangelism, but if you’re ...

2025-02-01T06:42:34Z

I don’t usually do this kind of evangelism, but if you’re looking for a reason to try #XMPP on #GlobalSwitchDay, now’s the perfect time: #Conversations_im is currently free on Google Play!

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.siacs.conversations

All good. I didn’t even have any issues with your original ...

2025-01-19T15:36:13Z

In reply to nevent1q…5xgs
_________________________

All good. I didn’t even have any issues with your original post.
Things that have existed and evolved for 25 years are brittle.
The question is do you look at the 2-3 clients we actually recommend or everything under the sun that calls itself #XMPP.

I’m not holding Delta Chat responsible for mutt+gnupg even though it would probably be somewhat compatible.

I don’t have the numbers (Maybe we can try digging some up) but ...

2025-01-19T15:18:39Z

In reply to nevent1q…95rw
_________________________

I don’t have the numbers (Maybe we can try digging some up) but my best guess is that the overwhelming majority of messages flowing through the public XMPP network are OMEMO encrypted these days. (Excluding those to and from public channels, obviously)
Yes there are clients that don’t have OMEMO but I don’t think they are responsible for a lot of the traffic.

I love open source, and I want young people to know there’s a ...

2025-01-19T12:45:34Z

I love open source, and I want young people to know there’s a career path outside of #FAANG. Open source can be financially sustainable—it just gets super hard if one of your key goals is making your investors even richer. #Conversations_im is about the same age as #Matrix. I never took VC funding, and I’m doing fine.

#OpenSource

Stärkere Sanktionen und ein wehrhaftes Europa 🇪🇺 ...

2025-01-12T16:01:52Z

In reply to nevent1q…s58c
_________________________

Stärkere Sanktionen und ein wehrhaftes Europa 🇪🇺 schließen sich ja nicht aus. Ich für meinen Teil hätte mir im Februar 2022 gerne einen Pulli angezogen und den Gashahn abgedreht.

Gerade ein sehr angenehmes Interview von Tilo Jung mit Jan van ...

2025-01-12T14:50:56Z

Gerade ein sehr angenehmes Interview von Tilo Jung mit Jan van Aken zu Ende gehört.

Bei dem, was Jan van Aken über Wirtschafts-, Sozial- und Verkehrspolitik zu sagen hat, gibt es von mir ja viel Zustimmung.

Ich würde mir wünschen, Die Linke (npub1shz…mgz4) hätte mehr Bewusstsein dafür, dass, wenn ein Autokrat in ein wehrloses Europa einfällt, wir die ganze schöne Sozialpolitik auch nicht mehr umsetzen können.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls0tBHgy_xI

#BTW25

we are running an #XMPP server (ejabberd) with a user count that ...

2025-01-09T09:28:47Z

In reply to nevent1q…ndpx
_________________________

we are running an #XMPP server (ejabberd) with a user count that is at least an order of magnitude higher without any issues. (concurrent online that is)

If you run a public #XMPP server can you look up what percentage ...

2024-12-26T13:56:49Z

If you run a public #XMPP server can you look up what percentage of connected clients are Blabber? I’m wondering if the 15% reported by jabberfr.org is a weird outlier. On our server (conversations.im) the number is closer to 4-5% but we are obviously biased towards Conversations users.

The same security issue is likely to be found in some of the ...

2024-12-26T08:56:21Z

The same security issue is likely to be found in some of the crazier forks of Conversations like c0nnect. As mentioned earlier¹ I’ve reached out to the developers a month ago and they didn’t care.

¹: https://gultsch.social/@daniel/113521011923491030

#Conversations_im and #BlabberIm traditionally had compatible ...

2024-12-26T08:52:31Z

#Conversations_im and #BlabberIm traditionally had compatible backup formats. However the backup format has changed in the two years since Blabber has been abandoned. To migrate to Conversations and keep your history do the following:

· Create Backup on Blabber
· Install version 2.12.7 of Conversations from F-Droid and restore backup. Do not activate the account!
· Upgrade to latest Conversations.
· Optionally: Create another backup and migrate to the Play Store version.

⚠️ 🚨 It’s time to stop using Blabber.im 🚨⚠️ The ...

2024-12-26T08:45:56Z

⚠️ 🚨 It’s time to stop using Blabber.im 🚨⚠️

The abandoned fork of #Conversations_im has a critical security issue: attackers can bypass STARTTLS negotiation, resulting in an unencrypted connection to a fake server. This vulnerability is similar to the STARTLS attack discovered in various email clients¹

✅ Fixed in Conversations 2.13.1 (Feb 2024)

📢 Please migrate to Conversations immediately! It's free on Google Play until the end of the year and always free on #fdroid

¹: https://archive.fosdem.org/2024/schedule/event/fosdem-2024-2179--protocols-security-of-starttls-in-the-e-mail-context/

Continuing a decade-long tradition #Conversations_im is currently ...

2024-12-24T10:26:16Z

Continuing a decade-long tradition #Conversations_im is currently available for free on Google Play.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.siacs.conversations

Merry Christmas 🎄 Happy Holidays ☃️ and have fun at #38C3

Have you tried Hamilton?

2024-12-05T11:09:02Z

In reply to nevent1q…70sn
_________________________

Have you tried Hamilton?

I installed #Signal and #Conversations_im on a clean install of ...

2024-11-26T11:29:14Z

I installed #Signal and #Conversations_im on a clean install of #GrapheneOS on my Pixel 4a and measured the battery impact. The results are shocking!

Both messengers had only one contact: my regular phone.

I used my regular phone to send messages to the Pixel 4a (which was not used for anything else over the course of the experiment).

I always sent the same message via Signal and #XMPP (mixing up which app went first). In total I sent ~32 messages in intervals of 10mins to a few hours.

Offering TURN has diminishing returns. STUN gets you from not ...

2024-11-21T20:21:12Z

In reply to nevent1q…89jn
_________________________

Offering TURN has diminishing returns. STUN gets you from not being able to establish any connections outside of your local network to 70%. TURN gets you the other 30% but at crazy costs as who ever runs it will be paying for the traffic.