Category: Development Blog

I was trying to figure out why MAM wasn’t working on the server that I used. I didn’t know that some servers disable this feature and you need to enable it.  I guess I need to add a UI for this.

There is a new Mac beta. I have updated the Message Archive Management to 2 from 0.  I am trying something new here. In theory, when you enter a conversation it should synch all the messages from the last message. Let me know if it works for you.

It has been a long time since I have posted about this, but there is an active iOS beta program for Monal 3.  This is a far more advanced client than the one currently in the App Store.  If you are interested in trying it out, send your apple id to info@monal.im.

Up and running in both clients. You can grab the new Mac beta now.

GeOrG over at yax.im pointed out that Monal lacked support XEP-0184: Message Delivery Receipts.  I don’t know how I missed that one but it was very low hanging fruit and will be in the next Mac and iOs releases.

There should be a new beta going out to iOS users right now and the same code in a new Mac beta (v 2.1) available for download on the left.  There are a bunch of performance improvements under the hood but the most notable thing for most users will be that the real names (instead of jid) will show up on the contact list if it is available.

XMPP is about 20 years old and it’s influences are largely 90’s messaging protocols like AIM/ICQ  and earlier standards like IRC.  As a result, many things that it does made sense in the 90s and to users in the 90s but seem completely out of place today.   For example, do people really use XMPP resources anymore? What about status messages?  What does being offline mean anymore?

I’ve been thinking about this more and more and have decided to start making some changes in Monal’s UI to bring it closer to what people expect today.  These changes may annoy older users of XMPP, but the truth is if the clients do not adapt to the times, it is going to be a niche that only enthusiasts use.

Things I am planning on doing that I hope others will do as well:

1. Completely hiding resources. They will still exist but it will be set automatically.
2. Remove status messages. Instead I will show the last message sent/received below the name in the contact list like iMessage does.
3. Possibly ditch online/offline status.

I haven’t thought about the UI for group chat on iOS in 6 years or so.  It was finally time to go back and fix the UI. This is the new interface to add and edit groups

 

I’ve seen the two crashes people have gotten with the new Mac release related to group chats and the menu.  I have fixed both and will put out a new build in a week or so .

This is a major update. Beyond the fresh coat of paint on the app icon, there are several major improvements. It is available in the Mac App Store.
Some notable ones:
1. Vastly improved group chat (MUC) support. Added bookmarks and auto join.
2. Added jingle VOIP calls support.
3. View what modern XMPP capabilities your server supports
4. Resolved issues with Google authentication
5. Shows offline contacts
6. Many improvements to XMPP carbons and stream resumption