Last week I onboarded a dozen newcomers to Delta Chat. All very good! But a couple of them complained that they could not Add Second Device. In both cases it was between MacOS / iOS devices, and I wonder whether this is coincidence or a pattern. I don’t use these OSs so I can’t test myself…
I also use iOS and macOS. It works fine for me. Did they transfer the backup via QR code or manually? When using the QR code, both devices must be on the same WiFi network.
And apps on both devices need to have the “Local Network” permission.
In both cases, the devices are on the same network. They both get stuck here:
I have asked them about the “Local Network” permission. Is this something they need to have enabled in their Macs?
And if this is the problem, shouldn’t there be a dialog telling users what is going on and how to solve it? Like when you join a video call and the browser asks you permission to use the mic and camera.
they might have clicked it away the first time it appeared. Also the firewall could block it.
There is a trouble shooting button that leads you to a offline version of FAQ - Delta Chat
I recently opened a pr to improve the transfer dialog: improve backup transfer dialog. by Simon-Laux · Pull Request #4476 · deltachat/deltachat-desktop · GitHub
Basically you need to be on same network and the apps need permission to find the other device on the local network. You might also try a hotspot from another phone, as some wifi blocks that devices can see each other.
(appologize the German, this is how the setting looks on macOS)