Let's switch to a new messenger?

Feature Proposal
1

What do you think of the proposition to switch to another messenger?
I’d say: “Switch to another messenger? Oh no!”
The advantage of Delta Chat is that you don’t need to make this proposition to your friends, you would ask them their e-mails and start chatting with them.
So why the invitation (Settings / Invite Friends) has the proposition to switch to Delta Chat?
Wouldn’t it sound better if the custom message was a tip to use your existing e-mail in a whatsapp / telegram style?
I imagine it would be a more direct way to speak and it would make your friends wonder "how to use e-mail as if it was whatsapp[?]".

Expected behavior

Settings / Invite Friends: “Tip: use your e-mail in a whatsapp style with Delta Chat - https://delta.chat - [my@email.here]”

Actual behavior

Settings / Invite Friends: “Let’s switch to Delta Chat - https://delta.chat - you can text me at [my@email.here]”

Default signature

I’d also suggest that the above text could be used too as default signature text, with proper modifications. BTW, feel free to suggest better texts, as I’m not a native English speaker.

3 Likes
2

Being able to invite or inform existing contacts, channels or groups (through the old apps) is an important feature.

But a tip could be too weak for a default.
In the end it is about making the first step to leaving the closed silo systems.

Or, …as the text is only a template, why not only include the facts, by default:

I am now using the free and privacy focused Delta Chat E-Mail messenger!
See https://delta.chat about using it with your E-Mail account.
You can now reach me “messenger style” at: [my@email.here]

Then it should be easy for the user to manually edit the message, and add a line to the presented template to turn the suggested message into an idea, tip, question, or instruction to switch posted to the existing group, as desired.

1 Like
3

Could someone with more phone experience and apps at hand test this?

Clicking a mailto: link in the browser works fine to start a deltachat chat.
The email address in the invite template however may have to be written in some more clickable format, to be useful. Or does it work as is in other apps?

I found references of these for the web:

<a href="mailto:name@example.com">name@example.com</a>

or similar to this? :
<a href=“intent://send/0123456789#Intent;scheme=smsto;package=com.whatsapp;action=android.intent.action.SENDTO;end”>

4

Notice an edited above, to hint one’s E-Mail account is needed to setup deltachat.

See https://delta.chat about using it with your E-Mail account.

5

Well, the Invite Friend view was actually hidden and will not come in the next version, since advertising in the email signature is enough:

6

What??? Removing?
Now that deltachat gets into the app stores?

There are many people out there that don’t check their overfilled email account anymore, which can only be reached using some other messenger.

Removing the invite feature would remove the ease for deltachat users, whithout making it any easier for the others. It would make deltachat miss out on providing a useful template that contains valuable hints/instructions for the recipient on the other end, i.e. to think about the email login and password already.

1 Like
7

And groups!
There is no practical way to reach some existing groups over email / deltachat.

8

I think so too.

1 Like
9

I also think the Invite Friends Activity doesn’t hurt anyone :wink:
Having it is nice to save some typing to someone, but isn’t like:
“ouch!!! I can’t invite any friend to delta chat!!!” you can simply share the app with your own: “hey! lets switch to Delta Chat”

Before you start complaining about my comment: as I said I like the Invite Friends activity so I also would like to keep it :wink:

1 Like
10

Thinking of the default “status message” footer, it currently does not tell the recipient that it is an fully featured E-Mail messenger for phones.

It sounds just like the plug found in an email or sms message forwarded from whatsup.

Sent with my free and privacy focused Delta Chat mobile E-Mail Messenger.
See https://delta.chat about using it with your E-Mail account.

1 Like
11

true! to users that don’t know Delta Chat it sounds just like yet another email client from your geek friend hehehe

12

Well, at least this thread is not completely outdated. :smile:

13

@testbird like the suggested footer … note btw that we are currently moving towards avoiding pushing people directly towards using Delta Chat. The footer is to only answer the question “what is Delta Chat?” and not “how can i start using it”. and as link we intend to put FAQ - Delta Chat there, possibly with a better url like https://whats.delta.chat :slight_smile:

14

No more questions.

Sounds clear as a false hypothesis nobody ever made.
Sorry that we expected the app would be for its users.

Disabling “invite friends” doesn’t help in properly briefing users before installing.
For example, like providing a decent invite message template.

But never mind, for your goal, to make it easier for the other side, you will also have to disable the setup dialog, to finally get rid of all login details and completely diffuse the back-bone of deltachat.

But wait, that’s old news. The quality decision to drop support for existing email accounts had already been announced once, “going dedicated accounts sooner or later” after the decision was made internally.

15

There are no strong indications that “invite friends” is a feature that is successfully used.

do people here get friends to install delta-chat through the “Invite Friends” activity?

@testbird In any case, this has nothing much to do with the shared/dedicated accounts question. please try to remain on topic. FWIW shared account usage is not going away – it’s a primary way how Delta Chat is used. We just introduced a new feature related to it (https://delta.chat/en/2019-03-14-oauth2release#streamlined-contact-requests ).

16

But still this feature works and I use it as draft. Sometimes I add a personal salutation.

Yes, I think so.
As I said. It can be used as a draft.

17

Sorry, what do you mean by “as draft”?
As to invite-friends in the UX i’d still like to hear personal success stories with it :wink:

18

OK,
I click the button “invite friends”.
Then share.
Then I choose the favourite app (SMS or messenger).

The invite text (Ich verwende nun auch den Delta Chat Messenger - https://delta.chat - und bin dort unter mailaddress@provider.org erreichbar.) will be copied into the input field of this messenger.

Now I change it e.g. to:
Hi Alice,
Ich verwende nun auch den Delta Chat Messenger - https://delta.chat - und bin dort unter mailaddress@provider.org erreichbar.

That’s my way to invite friends to use Delta Chat.

I hope we talk about the same “invite friends” feature.

And yes, I used this successfuly.

2 Likes
19

The benefit of using it this way.
There is already the correct link to Delta Chat website and also the correct mailaddress.

So no typo is possible. :wink:

2 Likes
20

It was a very simmilar type of illogical decision.

You say that now, after your conclusion was originally the opposite. Which is a positive development! (Support using existing email accounts (not requiring dedicated accounts))

However, what you call “streamlined contact requests” is again actually breaking the compatibility with standard email accounts.

The new default now ignores (blocks) all chat contact requests coming from classic email clients. It introduces a completely unnecessary configuration option and causes a hard fragmentation (configuration differences) among the installed Email-chat clients.

Instead, it would be possible (and this has been brought up sufficiently), to only consider very short newly incoming email messages to be potential contact requests for chatting (i.e. to introduce a default size limit of say 350 characters).

Back on topic, things aren’t right also, if devs don’t see or want to see how “invite friends” can help users with good templates. The template is actually even editable within deltachat, before it gets opened in the other app.

It may be a strong indicator to think about on what basis decisions, especially dismissing, closing and disabling ones, are made.