diff --git a/blog/20210512-simplex-chat-terminal-ui.html b/blog/20210512-simplex-chat-terminal-ui.html index f65face311..36810e4b45 100644 --- a/blog/20210512-simplex-chat-terminal-ui.html +++ b/blog/20210512-simplex-chat-terminal-ui.html @@ -155,7 +155,7 @@
-

Announcing SimpleX Chat Prototype!

+

Announcing SimpleX Chat Prototype!

Published: May 12, 2021

For the last six months me and my son Efim have been working to bring you a working prototype of SimpleX Chat. We're excited to announce SimpleX Chat terminal client is now available here on Linux, Windows and Mac (you can either build from source or download the binary for Linux, Windows or Mac from the latest release).

We’ve been using the terminal client between us and a few other people for a couple of months now, eating our own “dog food”, and have developed up to version 0.3.1, with most of the messaging protocol features we originally planned

@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@
  • Encrypted TCP transport, independent of certificates.
  • You can deploy your own server, but you don’t have to - the demo SMP server to relay your messages is available at smp1.simplex.im:5223 (pre-configured in the client).
    • -

    We need your help!

    +

    We need your help!

    We're building a new kind of chat network - the only network that lets you control your chat. We'd really appreciate your feedback, criticism and support - a star on the github repo, signing up to the mailing list or any contribution to the project will help. There is so much more to do!

    Originally published at https://www.reddit.com/r/haskell/comments/naw6lz/simplex_chat_prototype_terminal_ui_made_in_haskell/

    diff --git a/blog/20210914-simplex-chat-v0.4-released.html b/blog/20210914-simplex-chat-v0.4-released.html index 503db574ca..8fbe918e22 100644 --- a/blog/20210914-simplex-chat-v0.4-released.html +++ b/blog/20210914-simplex-chat-v0.4-released.html @@ -155,14 +155,14 @@
    -

    SimpleX announces SimpleX Chat v0.4

    +

    SimpleX announces SimpleX Chat v0.4

    Published: Sep 14, 2021

    Open-source decentralized chat that uses privacy-preserving message routing protocol

    We are building a new platform for distributed Internet applications where privacy of the messages and the network matter. SimpleX Chat is our first application, a chat application built on the SimpleX platform that serves as an example of the power of the platform and as a reference application.

    -

    What is SimpleX?

    +

    What is SimpleX?

    We recognised that there is currently no messaging application which respects user privacy and guarantees metadata privacy -- in other words, messages could be private, but a third party can always see who is communicating with whom by examining a central service and the connection graph. SimpleX, at it's core, is designed to be truly distributed with no central server. This allows for enormous scalability at low cost, and also makes it virtually impossible to snoop on the network graph.

    The first application built on the platform is Simplex Chat, which for now is terminal (command line) based with mobile apps in the pipeline. The platform can easily support a private social network feed and a multitude of other services, which can be developed by the Simplex team or third party developers.

    -

    What's new in v0.5?

    +

    What's new in v0.5?

    We're exicted to announce that SimpleX Chat now supports group chat and file transfer!

    Chat groups

    To create a group use the /g <group> command. You can then invite contacts to the group by entering the /a <group> <name> command. Your contact(s) will need to use the /j accept command to accept the invitation to the group. To send messages to the group, simply enter #<group> <message>.

    @@ -171,7 +171,7 @@

    File transfer

    Sharing files is simple! To send a file to a contact, use the /f @<contact> <file_path> command. The recipient will have to accept before the file is sent.

    simplex-chat

    -

    We're always looking for help!

    +

    We're always looking for help!

    We'd really appreciate your comments, criticism and support - a star on the GitHub repo, downloading and testing the chat or any contribution to the project will help a lot – thank you for all your support!

    Please note: SimpleX Chat is in early stage development: we are still iterating protocols, improving privacy and security, so if you have communication scenarios requiring high security, you should consider some other options for now.

    Our goal is to create a new kind of chat platform that lets you control your chat!

    diff --git a/blog/20211208-simplex-chat-v0.5-released.html b/blog/20211208-simplex-chat-v0.5-released.html index c0b1d88f73..4e1bcbd672 100644 --- a/blog/20211208-simplex-chat-v0.5-released.html +++ b/blog/20211208-simplex-chat-v0.5-released.html @@ -155,18 +155,18 @@
    -

    SimpleX announces SimpleX Chat v0.5

    +

    SimpleX announces SimpleX Chat v0.5

    Published: Dec 08, 2021

    -

    Simplex Chat is the first chat platform that is 100% private by design - SimpleX no access to your connections graph

    +

    Simplex Chat is the first chat platform that is 100% private by design - SimpleX no access to your connections graph

    We are building a new platform for distributed Internet applications where privacy of the messages and the network matter. SimpleX Chat is our first application, a chat application built on the SimpleX platform that serves as an example of the power of the platform and as a reference application.

    -

    What is SimpleX?

    +

    What is SimpleX?

    We recognised that there is currently no messaging application which respects user privacy and guarantees metadata privacy -- in other words, messages could be private, but a third party can always see who is communicating with whom by examining a central service and the connection graph. SimpleX, at it's core, is designed to be truly distributed with no central server. This allows for enormous scalability at low cost, and also makes it virtually impossible to snoop on the network graph.

    The first application built on the platform is Simplex Chat, which for now is terminal (command line) based with mobile apps in the pipeline. The platform can easily support a private social network feed and a multitude of other services, which can be developed by the Simplex team or third party developers.

    -

    What's new in v0.5?

    +

    What's new in v0.5?

    Long-term chat addresses

    Users can now create long-term chat addresses that they can share with many people (e.g. in email signature, or online), so that any chat user can send them a connection request.

    This is an ALPHA feature, and we have not yet added any protection against spam contact requests. However, if the address you created starts receiving spam connection requests, you can simply delete it without losing any of your accepted connections and create another address - as many times as you like!

    -

    We need your help!

    +

    We need your help!

    We'd really appreciate your comments, criticism and support - a star on the GitHub repo, downloading and testing the chat or any contribution to the project will help a lot – thank you for all your support!

    Please note: SimpleX Chat is in early stage development: we are still iterating protocols, improving privacy and security, so if you have communication scenarios requiring high security, you should consider some other options for now.

    Our goal is to create a new kind of chat platform that lets you control your chat!

    diff --git a/blog/20220112-simplex-chat-v1-released.html b/blog/20220112-simplex-chat-v1-released.html index 28d46d41e1..b0e867c329 100644 --- a/blog/20220112-simplex-chat-v1-released.html +++ b/blog/20220112-simplex-chat-v1-released.html @@ -159,13 +159,13 @@

    Published: Jan 12, 2022

    The most private and secure chat and application platform

    We are building a new platform for distributed Internet applications where privacy of the messages and the network matter. SimpleX Chat is our first application, a messaging application built on the SimpleX platform.

    -

    What is SimpleX?

    +

    What is SimpleX?

    There is currently no messaging application which respects user privacy and guarantees metadata privacy - in other words, messages could be private, but a third party can always see who is communicating with whom by examining a central service and the connection graph. SimpleX, at it's core, is designed to be truly distributed with no central server. This allows for enormous scalability at low cost, and also makes it virtually impossible to snoop on the network graph.

    The first application built on the platform is Simplex Chat, which for now is terminal (command line) based with mobile apps in the pipeline. The platform can easily support a private social network feed and a multitude of other services, which can be developed by the Simplex team or third party developers.

    -

    What's new in v1?

    +

    What's new in v1?

    Stable protocol implementation

    All releases from v1 onwards will be forwards and backwards compatible.

    -

    Message encryption has been completely re-engineered to provide forward secrecy and recovery from break-in.

    +

    Message encryption has been completely re-engineered to provide forward secrecy and recovery from break-in.

    SimpleX Chat v1 now uses:

    • double-ratchet E2E encryption using AES-256-GCM cipher with X3DH key agreement using 2 ephemeral Curve448 keys to derive secrets for ratchet initialization. These keys and secrets are separate for each contact, group membership and file transfer.
      • @@ -183,7 +183,7 @@

      Further details on platform objectives and technical design are available here.

      SimpleX Chat client can be used in the terminal on all major desktop platforms (Windows/Mac/Linux) and also on Android devices with Termux.

      SimpleX also allows people to host their own servers and own their own chat data. SimpleX servers are exceptionally lightweight and require a single process with the initial memory footprint of under 20 Mb, which grows as the server adds in-memory queues (even with 10,000 queues it uses less than 50Mb, not accounting for messages).

      -

      We look forward to you using it!

      +

      We look forward to you using it!

      We look forward to your feedback and suggestions - via GitHub issues or via SimpleX Chat - you can connect to the team with /simplex command once you run the chat.

    diff --git a/blog/20220214-simplex-chat-ios-public-beta.html b/blog/20220214-simplex-chat-ios-public-beta.html index 75446c13a7..ea2172c8f7 100644 --- a/blog/20220214-simplex-chat-ios-public-beta.html +++ b/blog/20220214-simplex-chat-ios-public-beta.html @@ -157,7 +157,7 @@

    SimpleX announces SimpleX Chat public beta for iOS

    Published: Feb 14, 2022

    -

    Private and secure chat and application platform - public beta is now available for iPhones with iOS 15.

    +

    Private and secure chat and application platform - public beta is now available for iPhones with iOS 15.

    Our new iPhone app is very basic - right now it only supports text messages and emojis.

    Even though the app is new, it uses the same core code as our terminal app, that was used and stabilized over a long time, and it provides the same level of privacy and security that has been available since the release of v1 a month ago:

      @@ -167,7 +167,7 @@
    • additional encryption of messages delivered from servers to recipients (also to prevent traffic correlation).

    You can read more details in our recent v1 announcement.

    -

    Join our public beta!

    +

    Join our public beta!

    Install the app via TestFlight, connect to us (via Connect to SimpleX team link in the app) and to a couple of your friends you usually send messages to - and please let us know what you think!

    We would really appreciate any feedback to improve the app and to decide which additional features should be included in our public release in March.

    Should it be:

    @@ -177,7 +177,7 @@
  • or maybe something else we couldn't think of.

    • Please vote on the features you think are the most needed in our app roadmap.

    -

    What is SimpleX?

    +

    What is SimpleX?

    We are building a new platform for distributed Internet applications where privacy of the messages and the network matter.

    We aim to provide the best possible protection of messages and metadata. Today there is no messaging application that works without global user identities, so we believe we provide better metadata privacy than alternatives. SimpleX is designed to be truly distributed with no central server, and without any global user identities. This allows for high scalability at low cost, and also makes it virtually impossible to snoop on the network graph.

    The first application built on the platform is Simplex Chat, which is available for terminal (command line in Windows/Mac/Linux) and as iOS public beta - with Android app coming in a few weeks. The platform can easily support a private social network feed and a multitude of other services, which can be developed by the Simplex team or third party developers.

    diff --git a/blog/20220308-simplex-chat-mobile-apps.html b/blog/20220308-simplex-chat-mobile-apps.html index 6b0d012b62..f76aeb2ba4 100644 --- a/blog/20220308-simplex-chat-mobile-apps.html +++ b/blog/20220308-simplex-chat-mobile-apps.html @@ -157,7 +157,7 @@

    SimpleX announces SimpleX Chat mobile apps for iOS and Android

    Published: March 8, 2022

    -

    SimpleX Chat is the first chat platform that is 100% private by design - it has no access to your connections graph

    +

    SimpleX Chat is the first chat platform that is 100% private by design - it has no access to your connections graph

    We have now released iPhone and Android apps to Apple AppStore and Google Play Store, APK for Android is also available for direct download.

    Please note: the current version is only supported on iPhone 8+ and on Android 10+ - we are planning to add support for iPad and older devices very soon, and we will announce it on our Reddit and Twitter channels - please subscribe to follow our updates there.

    What is SimpleX

    @@ -167,12 +167,12 @@

    Further details on platform objectives and technical design are available in SimpleX platform overview.

    Why we are building it

    Evgeny (SimpleX Chat founder): I have been working on this platform for a long time to provide a place where all people can communicate freely with each other, without fear of persecution because of what they said and who they are connected with. Not sharing information about your connections is very important, particularly for people living in oppressive regimes. Because of the terrible conflict between Russia and Ukraine, people of both countries – I have friends and family there – could be at risk when sharing their opinions or just from being connected to people who were prosecuted. Every messenger app that knows who you are can end up sharing all of your connections with undesirable third parties, either as a result of a court order or as a result of attack - so even Signal, which has strong encryption, cannot protect your connection graph. I hope our messenger can help people living in the oppressive regimes to express their opinions without fear and risk of prosecution.

    -

    Huge thanks to our testers!

    +

    Huge thanks to our testers!

    Thanks a lot to everybody who helped testing and improving the apps!

    If you have a TestFlight version installed you can continue using it.

    We plan to keep it as stable as we can, and it will give you access to all new features 1-2 weeks earlier - it's limited to 10,000 users, so you can grab it while it's available. You can still communicate with people who use a public version – we are committed to maintaining backwards compatibility.

    You can always migrate from a public App Store version to a TestFlight version. The opposite migration - from TestFlight to public version - is only possible when we have the same app versions released, as there are usually some database migrations that cannot be reversed. To migrate to public version you have to disable automatic updates on TestFlight, wait until public version catches up and then install it from App Store. In any case, it is safe installing the public version, but it might crash if you have a newer version from TestFlight - in this case you just need to re-install the app from TestFlight and install App Store version a bit later - you would not lose any of your data.

    -

    It's not all new - our core code has been used for a long time by a few thousand people in our terminal app.

    +

    It's not all new - our core code has been used for a long time by a few thousand people in our terminal app.

    The apps use the same core code as our terminal app, that was used and stabilized over a long time, and it provides the same level of privacy and security that has been available since the release of v1 earlier this year:

    You can read more technical details in our recent v1 announcement.

    A big thank you to @angerman for making it possible to compile our Haskell code to mobile platforms and getting it approved on app stores - it has been a non-trivial project, and it is still ongoing.

    -

    Install the apps and make a private connection!

    +

    Install the apps and make a private connection!

    Once you install the app, you can connect to anybody:

    1. Create your local chat profile - it is not shared with SimpleX servers, it is local to your devices, and it will be shared with your contacts when you connect.
      2. diff --git a/blog/20220404-simplex-chat-instant-notifications.html b/blog/20220404-simplex-chat-instant-notifications.html index e3986b2ac0..c1be60d78c 100644 --- a/blog/20220404-simplex-chat-instant-notifications.html +++ b/blog/20220404-simplex-chat-instant-notifications.html @@ -157,7 +157,7 @@

      Instant notifications for SimpleX Chat mobile apps

      Published: April 04, 2022

      -

      SimpleX Chat is the first chat platform that is 100% private by design - it has no access to your connections

      +

      SimpleX Chat is the first chat platform that is 100% private by design - it has no access to your connections

      Since we released SimpleX Chat mobile apps couple of weeks ago we've had a lot of excitement from our users - nearly 2000 people downloaded the app after the announcement!

      Huge thanks to everybody who downloaded and connected to us via the chat - there were many great questions and suggestions, and on some days I spent most of the time chatting to our users :)

      Since we released the app, we've added and released:

      @@ -168,7 +168,7 @@
    2. profile images.
    3. and, most importantly, private instant message notifications on Android devices - more on that below.
      4. -

      Install the apps and make a private connection!

      +

      Install the apps and make a private connection!

      Once you install the app, you can connect to anybody:

      1. Create your local chat profile - it is not shared with SimpleX servers. It is local to your devices, and it will be shared with your contacts only when you connect.
        2. @@ -178,15 +178,15 @@

        See demo video that shows how two users connect and send the first messages.

        Why we are doing it

        We are building SimpleX Chat because we believe that privacy is a fundamental human right, and that protecting our personal network of contacts is even more important than the content of the messages - sharing this network can lead to various adverse consequences, from manipulating us into buying goods we don't need, manipulating election processes, and in some cases, prosecuting innocent people. For example, Mohamedou Ould Salahi was detained in Guantanamo prison for 15 years after a single "wrong" phone call. His story is told in his memoir and in The Mauritanian movie.

        -

        Problem - users expect to be instantly notified when messages arrive!

        +

        Problem - users expect to be instantly notified when messages arrive!

        Our first users realized that what we take for granted in messaging apps - instant message notifications - is missing in our first release of SimpleX Chat apps. Quite a few people thought that it was a bug, rather than a missing feature. Sorry to disappoint!

        -

        Why can't we just do what messenger X does?

        +

        Why can't we just do what messenger X does?

        SimpleX Chat is the first and the only messenger we know of that operates without user identities of any kind. There are no phone numbers, emails, usernames, public keys, or any other addresses or identifiers to uniquely identify the users to the network or servers. That is why we say it is 100% private by design, and fundamentally different than other chat platforms.

        Instead, SimpleX Chat assigns these identifiers to unidirectional message queues. What looks to SimpleX Chat users like contacts and groups [1], to SimpleX servers looks like an unorganized and unrelated collection of unidirectional message queues. Our servers do not know which queues belong to which users, contacts or groups. Even a single conversation can happen via two different servers (one for sent and another for received messages). This makes our personal network of contacts invisible to the servers.

        But it also creates a problem for instant notifications - all push notification services require having a device token.

        So, how can we operate without identities and still have instant notifications?

        [1] yes, we have groups in our terminal app, and the UI to manage them is coming to mobile apps soon. Some users have already firgured out how to create groups via chat console.

        -

        We've cracked it for Android!

        +

        We've cracked it for Android!

        After some research into how push notifications work on Android, and open-source alternatives to Google push notifications, we discovered how to avoid sharing device tokens with any servers.

        We have implemented message reception as a background service (in Android terminology, a "foreground service" showing a notification icon when the service is running) following the same design as ntfy.sh created by Philipp Heckel, who, in turn, credits the design to the blog post by Roberto Huertas. Big thanks to them!

        How does it work? When the app is first started on an Android device, it starts the background service that keeps the TCP connections to the messaging servers open with almost no traffic (only doing periodic checks that connections still exist). It consumes only a few percents of battery per day, depending on how stable your internet connection is, and delivers message notifications as soon as messages arrive.

        diff --git a/blog/20220511-simplex-chat-v2-images-files.html b/blog/20220511-simplex-chat-v2-images-files.html index f0c8785ff2..5983ae17a5 100644 --- a/blog/20220511-simplex-chat-v2-images-files.html +++ b/blog/20220511-simplex-chat-v2-images-files.html @@ -155,9 +155,9 @@
        -

        SimpleX Chat v2.0 - sending images and files in mobile apps

        +

        SimpleX Chat v2.0 - sending images and files in mobile apps

        Published: May 11, 2022

        -

        New in version 2.0 - sending images and files privately

        +

        New in version 2.0 - sending images and files privately

        To send image and files SimpleX Chat uses privacy-preserving system components, both in iOS and Android apps. We do not ask for permission to access multiple or selected files, as, for example, Signal and Telegram do - it compromises either privacy or convenience.

        How does it work? The gallery and files are accessed from a system provided dialogue that runs in a separate process, and provides a temporary URI to access only one file selected by the user, only until the app is restarted.

        To make file and images work for mobile apps we made a breaking change in SimpleX Chat core. The current version can exchange files with the previous version 1.6 of the terminal app, but not with the version before that.

        diff --git a/blog/20220524-simplex-chat-better-privacy.html b/blog/20220524-simplex-chat-better-privacy.html index dc3b8134d4..1839c063f4 100644 --- a/blog/20220524-simplex-chat-better-privacy.html +++ b/blog/20220524-simplex-chat-better-privacy.html @@ -155,9 +155,9 @@
        -

        SimpleX Chat v2.1 - better conversation privacy

        +

        SimpleX Chat v2.1 - better conversation privacy

        Published: May 24, 2022

        -

        New in version 2.1 - clearing conversations without deleting contacts

        +

        New in version 2.1 - clearing conversations without deleting contacts

        In this version you can irreversibly delete individual messages after they were deleted by a sender, and also completely clear the conversation.

        The only way to do it before this version was by deleting the contact, now you can keep the connection when you clear the conversation.

        diff --git a/blog/20220604-simplex-chat-new-privacy-security-settings.html b/blog/20220604-simplex-chat-new-privacy-security-settings.html index a3137bd404..2a396e60e3 100644 --- a/blog/20220604-simplex-chat-new-privacy-security-settings.html +++ b/blog/20220604-simplex-chat-new-privacy-security-settings.html @@ -155,10 +155,10 @@
        -

        SimpleX Chat v2.2 - the first messaging platform without user identities - 100% private by design!

        +

        SimpleX Chat v2.2 - the first messaging platform without user identities - 100% private by design!

        Published: June 4, 2022

        See v2 announcement for more information about SimpleX platform and how it protects your privacy by avoiding user identities of any kind in its design - SimpleX, unlike any other messaging platform, has no identity keys or any numbers that identify its users.

        -

        New Privacy and Security settings in version 2.2

        +

        New Privacy and Security settings in version 2.2

        Protect your chats

        To protect your chats you can enable SimpleX Lock. Every time you open the chat after it was in the background for 30 second, you will need to pass biometric or pin code authentication to use the app (provided it is enabled for your device).

        diff --git a/blog/20220711-simplex-chat-v3-released-ios-notifications-audio-video-calls-database-export-import-protocol-improvements.html b/blog/20220711-simplex-chat-v3-released-ios-notifications-audio-video-calls-database-export-import-protocol-improvements.html index d9d1d4fae8..2e1eb514fd 100644 --- a/blog/20220711-simplex-chat-v3-released-ios-notifications-audio-video-calls-database-export-import-protocol-improvements.html +++ b/blog/20220711-simplex-chat-v3-released-ios-notifications-audio-video-calls-database-export-import-protocol-improvements.html @@ -173,7 +173,7 @@

        Please note: for periodic notifications to work the app has to be in the background - if the app is completely stopped (removed from the recent apps), it will not check the new messages and you will not receive notifications. Instant notifications work even when the app is completely stopped.

        -

        End-to-end encrypted audio/video calls

        +

        End-to-end encrypted audio/video calls

        You can now call your contacts via WebRTC, connecting via SimpleX Chat relay servers or peer-to-peer, and in the near future you will be able to configure your own STUN/TURN servers used to establish the connection. The calls are end-to-end encrypted - the key is negotiated via the connection you already have with your contact in the chat, that is also used as a signalling layer for WebRTC - in most cases only three messages in total have to be sent by your and your contact's clients for the call to start, including the initial call invitation.

        The calls are still quite limited, especially on iOS, - for example, you cannot continue the call while the app is in the background.

        @@ -197,9 +197,9 @@

        All these changes did not affect backward compatibility - if your contact has the previous version of the client, or you are connecting to a previous version of the server, the previous version of the protocol will be used - SimpleX has independent version negotiation in 4 protocol layers since v1, allowing us to evolve the protocols without any disruption to the users.

        SimpleX platform

        We are building a new platform for distributed Internet applications where privacy of the messages and the network matter. SimpleX Chat is our first application, a messaging application built on the SimpleX platform.

        -

        The first (and we believe the only) messaging platform without user identifiers of any kind - 100% private by design!

        +

        The first (and we believe the only) messaging platform without user identifiers of any kind - 100% private by design!

        To protect identities of users and their connections, SimpleX Chat has no user identifiers visible to the servers and the network – unlike any other messaging platform. Not only SimpleX doesn't use phone numbers or emails, as Signal and many other platforms, it also does not have any persistent identifiers to identify users - unlike many other messengers considered private - Session, Cwtch, Ricochet, Briar, Jami, etc., - all these platforms have global user identifiers, uniquely identifying their users and creating the risks of de-anonymising the users.

        -

        Why having users' identifiers is bad for the users?

        +

        Why having users' identifiers is bad for the users?

        When each user has a unique identifier on the platform, even if this is just a random number, e.g. as a Session ID, it creates risks that whoever gains access to the platform data can observe how the users are connected and how many messages are transmitted between them, and then correlate this information with the existing public social networks, determining the real identities of some users. Even with the most private messengers built on top of Tor network, having a persistent identity means that if you talk to two different users via the same profile they can prove that they communicate with the same person, as they would use the same address to send messages.

        SimpleX platform avoids these risks by not having any user identity in its design - so even if you talk to two different people from the same chat profile, they would not be able to prove they are talking to the same person - only that user profiles look the same. And we are planning to add a feature allowing to have a different display name for each contact you connect to - quite a few users asked for it.

        How does it work

        diff --git a/blog/20220723-simplex-chat-v3.1-tor-groups-efficiency.html b/blog/20220723-simplex-chat-v3.1-tor-groups-efficiency.html index d53a8c3871..04e888eb5e 100644 --- a/blog/20220723-simplex-chat-v3.1-tor-groups-efficiency.html +++ b/blog/20220723-simplex-chat-v3.1-tor-groups-efficiency.html @@ -155,16 +155,16 @@
        -

        SimpleX Chat v3.1-beta is released

        +

        SimpleX Chat v3.1-beta is released

        Published: Jul 23, 2022

        -

        What's new

        +

        What's new

        -

        Terminall app: access to messaging servers via SOCKS5 proxy / Tor

        +

        Terminall app: access to messaging servers via SOCKS5 proxy / Tor

        While SMP protocol is focussed on protecting application-level meta-data by using pairwise connection identifiers instead of user identifiers (that are used by all other messaging platforms), there are scenarios when it is important for the users to protect their IP addresses from the servers - quite a few users have been somewhat disappointed that we didn't add it earlier.

        This release of terminal app supports accessing the servers via Tor, but the servers themselves are still available on their usual addresses. We are planning to add .onion addresses (v3 hidden service) to all messaging servers we provide, and the users who self-host the servers will also be able to have dual servers addresses - so that one party in the conversation can access the servers via .onion address without necessarily requiring that the other party uses Tor as well.

        @@ -172,7 +172,7 @@

        As this is a beta release, to install it you need to use this command:

        curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/simplex-chat/simplex-chat/stable/install.sh | sh -s -- v3.1.0-beta.0
        -

        Mobile apps: join and leave chat groups

        +

        Mobile apps: join and leave chat groups

        Groups have been supported by SimpleX Chat core for a very long time, but there was no user interface in the mobile apps to use them - users had to use chat console to create groups, add members, and accept invitations.

        This release allows accepting the invitations to join groups via mobile apps UI, making it much easier to create groups - only one user (a group owner) needs to use chat console, while all other groups members just need to tap a button in the UI to join or leave the group. Full group UI is coming in v3.1 in 1-2 weeks, but you can already start using groups today by installing beta-versions of mobile apps via TestFlight, Google PlayStore Beta and APK download.

        @@ -183,7 +183,7 @@
      2. to remove member from the group: /rm <group_name> <contact_name>

        3. Accepting group invitations, leaving and deleting groups no longer requires using console commands.

        -

        Optimized battery and traffic usage - up to 90x reduction

        +

        Optimized battery and traffic usage - up to 90x reduction

        To reduce battery and traffic usage this release updated SMP protocol to allow batching multiple server commands (up to 90!) into one traffic block – provided both the server and the client are upgraded. It means that if you have 90 contacts (or group members) on one server, to subscribe to all messaging queues you now need to send only one 16kb block instead of ~1.5Mb of traffic (90 blocks). It also hides how many contacts you have from any attackers who observe your network.

        You might notice that sending commands to multiple queues in one block would allow the server to correlate that all these queues belong to the same user, even though the current server implementation we use does not do it. But even without batching, as the commands are sent via the same TCP connection, this correlation was already possible, so compared with the previous version it has no downsides.

        To mitigate the risk of servers correlating your messaging queues we will soon add an option to access each queue via a separate TCP connection, which will have to be used together with access via Tor (as otherwise the servers would still see the same IP address). While it will increase battery and traffic consumption, it will also provide the highest level of privacy.

        @@ -196,11 +196,11 @@

        Let us know how it works for you!

        SimpleX platform

        We are building a new platform for distributed Internet applications where privacy of the messages and the network matter. SimpleX Chat is our first application, a messaging application built on the SimpleX platform.

        -

        The first (and the only?) messaging platform without user identifiers of any kind - 100% private by design!

        +

        The first (and the only?) messaging platform without user identifiers of any kind - 100% private by design!

        To protect identities of users and their connections, instead of user identifiers visible to the servers and/or the network (that are used by all other messaging platforms), SimpleX Chat uses pairwise identifiers of connections between the users – there are two queues in each connection, each queue having 2 different identifiers to send and to receive the messages. It increases the number of used identifiers to the square of the number of users, making it more difficult (or impossible) to determine who is talking to whom. I wrote previously why it is bad for the users' privacy to have any identifiers, even random numbers, associated with their profiles.

        -

        If SimpleX has no user identifiers, how can it deliver messages?

        +

        If SimpleX has no user identifiers, how can it deliver messages?

        I wrote about it in v2 release announcement and you can get more information about SimpleX platform objectives and technical design in the whitepaper.

        -

        Privacy: technical details and limitations

        +

        Privacy: technical details and limitations

        SimpleX design follows "defence in depth" security principles having multiple overlapping defensive mechanisms to protect users privacy and security:

        • TLS transport with server identity validation and channel binding, limited to the most secure cryptographic algorithms.
          • diff --git a/blog/20220808-simplex-chat-v3.1-chat-groups.html b/blog/20220808-simplex-chat-v3.1-chat-groups.html index 6a17c9d168..989013c315 100644 --- a/blog/20220808-simplex-chat-v3.1-chat-groups.html +++ b/blog/20220808-simplex-chat-v3.1-chat-groups.html @@ -155,9 +155,9 @@
          -

          SimpleX Chat v3.1 is released

          +

          SimpleX Chat v3.1 is released

          Published: Aug 8, 2022

          -

          What's new

          +

          What's new