I’ve now used Delta Chat for several weeks and I thought I write up some thoughts, feedback and questions about it. This is mostly for AppStore version desktop 1.13 on macOS Catalina.
First of all, Delta Chat is just amazing. I really mean that. Awesome job and thank you for all the work <3
I wondered if the syncing between desktop and mobile client could be simplified. New users do not have much data and sending the backup via email might be an option up to 10mb. Maybe it even makes sense to hint users to do that after exchanging the first dozen messages.
I wondered if BCC to self shouldn’t be enabled by default. Given you do have set up mobile and desktop client, it is confusing at first, which messages show up where and which ones don’t. If I understood correctly, BCC-to-self would solve that?
Imo read receipts should be opt-in, not opt-out. They purport a pattern of personal surveillance that I find unhealthy. Just personal opinion of course.
Some information hidden in FAQs and Forum posts could be more present.
The usability with more than 1 account is a bit tiring imo. Then again, maybe very people few even do that? Is there any data on that?
Are there a recommended Email clients that can continue to work with the Autocrypt keys generated by Delta Chat?
How to backup my keys?
The “new/unread” badge doesn’t go away when the app and the conversation in question is in focus. I need to switch to a different thread and back to make that happen.
I would like to set an avatar for the users who do not have one. It’s just friendlier to look at faces than at letters (that also might be synced via internal email messages between devices)
I am missing UI feedback on pulling/sending messages. Especially when the app had lost connection and was showing the red error box – what does it do? Is it checking for messages? When was the last sync?
Related to that I miss a force refresh action so I can be sure I have the latest state from the server.
cmd-m to minimise is missing
Changes in settings are implicitly saved but there is no feedback in the UI about that.
Some messages are lying around in the inbox instead of being moved to the Delta Chat folder (afaik Gmail only, my own mailbox doesn’t do that)
Will read through open issues next and see what is already open
We plan “sync over wlan feature” where you can just scan a qr code to transfer your backup/settings.
For people which don’t use multi device it wastes imap space (many people have only restricted space on their imap account).
most people like to have it on by default. Though I personally think its a social problem when this ends up in an “I saw that you read that message, WHY AREN’T YOU RESPONDING???”
I agree, If you like to help with feel free to propose changes. If you want you can even edit the faq on github, there is also an offline version of it integrated within the apps. Some information could also be presented in the device chat, as example it should remind you to enable BCC-Self when it detects multi device usage (that should be already implemented AFAIK).
We know and are planing to have multiple accounts fetching messages at the same time, though there are still some open UX/Design questions around this.
thunderbird 68 with autocrypt plugin (old thunderbird, they broke the existing plugins in their new 70 version) Is the only one I tested, I really hope that TB gets their act together and adds complete autocrypt support soon. the list on the autocrypt page might be also helpful Autocrypt-capable MUAs level 1 implementation status — Autocrypt 1.1.0 documentation
you can export them in the settings, they are also included in normal backups
known bug in deltachat desktop.
In android it takes the profile picture of the android address book afaik (if that wasn’t removed, @Hocuri knows probably more about this), also there is a feature proposal about defining custom avatars for contacts in this forum: Optionally using of remote or local profile picture
(desktop) If there is an network error it should show an info box in the bottom left corner:
DeltaChat does use imap idle, that means it is connected always to the imap server and pulls in messages as soon as the email server receives them. But sure there is still more work to do to make it nicer, we also want to get rid of the red error toasts eventually and maybe post them into the device chat. Anyways that’s a topic for another forum thread.
(desktop) when it detects it is offline it shows the “offline box” as described in 11. and you can click on “try connect now” to notify the core to try fetching the messages again.
Otherwise the upcoming version also checks the connection on window focus and as a “hidden” option also when you press F5. I also think there is more to do to make the error handling nicer for users.
At the moment the best force refresh option is to restart the app.
(desktop) what should the feedback be in your opinion?
DeltaChat can only move messages when it is active, use server side filter rules for moving if you want it more reliable. DC gets killed sometimes by android/iOS, so its not always active.
agreed. when looking at the email perspective. however…
most people using messengers are used with read receipts and for a good reason, unlike simon brought up: it makes conversation more dynamic. if you’re typing several messages (like it happens in real conversations) and you see the read receipt, it’s likely the person became online. so you wait for a reply.
the default should be on for messaging and off for email. if that’s really, really not possible, then it’s better to stay on by default, since it’s primarily a messenger.
on another note: it’s usually better to give several feedback topics over the time than a big one in a single chunk like this. imho.
first of all thx for all the input, will look into things piece by piece and have started with syncing and backup.
there is one example i want to point out:
I don’t really get that. Aren’t we measuring space in gigabytes these days, including free email accounts? How much space does a copy of text message really take up? How many people are affected? Couldn’t this be cleaned up every few days or weeks? And even if all of that is valid: why is it the default?
I’m not arguing what is “right”. I just want to point out that the default UX is confusing in the result of messages not being in sync over different devices, plus it is not easily discoverable for users how to fix that. And everytime you prioritise UX below something else, you hurt the onboarding of new users and and you pay for that with less adoption.
So my point is not that people with limited space shouldn’t be able to turn BCC off, I wonder why the default is opt-in instead of opt-out.
(that also might be synced via internal email messages between devices)
