I want to add a friend by his email, say alpha@email.com . Why do I have to necessarily go through a QR code linking to //i.delta.chat/ to do this? Couldn’t there be a way to send a deltachat friendly email containing my pubkey via my deltachat client that another deltachat client could recognize as a contact request?
You can export the QR code as a text string using the “export to clipboard” function
I know my own user identity can be exported as a URL and not only a QR code, but why have to go through the web browser at all instead of just natively being able to add a contact, is what I’m asking
first, you do not need to go over a browser. this is just a convenience, in case the user has not installed Delta Chat yet.
otherwise, you can paste the invite code directly into Delta Chat’s QR scanner.
why to go over a QR code or invite link at all? reason is that Delta Chat defaults to end-to-end encrypted communication, from the very fist message on. the default onboarding relays do not even allow unencrypted messages.
by just entering some address, there is currently no way to get the needed encryption information - there are ideas around to have an handle, see other forum threads, but this is the current state.
also, note, that the address means basically nothing - it is only used as a relay, which stay totally dumb. everything is on your device. the address can even be changed, or you can use multiple addresses.
tl;dr just forget about some addresses being used as relays - esp. when talking to new users. it just does not matter
2 Likes