Google have suspended Element in the Play Store without notifying us; we’re reaching out to find out what’s going on. Apologies for the inconvenience; in the interim there’s https://f-droid.org/en/packages/im.vector.app/ but it’s a few versions behind. We’ll post updates here.

  • @[email protected]
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    3 years ago

    If they run their own F-Droid repo or support F-Droid directly, updates could arrive faster.

    • @[email protected]
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      03 years ago

      It got restored already.

      Also, could you post Nitter links instead of Twitter directly?.

      I think that could be better for opt-in to privacy and freedom by pointing first to the good link and then let the use choose if they prefer check the bad link but always the good first.

    • @[email protected]
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      13 years ago

      But it’s in official f-droid. Is it too out of date that you’re asking for a custom repo? If using a custom repo, I’d hope they keep the f-droid policy though, removing all google and proprietary stuff…

  • Michal
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    03 years ago

    I wonder if anybody at google realizes that removing element doesn’t block the content because there are other matrix apps available in the store…

  • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆
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    03 years ago

    I saw it mentioned that f-droid version won’t be able to do notifications. Anybody know regarding that?

  • @[email protected]
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    03 years ago

    There’s also a Progressive web app frontend if you use a supporting browser if you’re looking for a lightweight option for messaging, hopefully this means they roll their own Fdroid repo going forward.

    • Dreeg OcedamOP
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      03 years ago

      A web frontend for an end to end encrypted messaging service is a bit of a joke.

      End to end encryption is worthless if the server can update the code you are running at anytime without you being made aware of it.

      • @[email protected]
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        3 years ago

        It was mainly based around seeing people not wanting to use the Fdroid repos/version on a Mastodon thread - for whatever reason being a few builds behind seemed like it was worse than not using the service at all, in case anyone was like that here I thought it worthwhile to share (Edit: especially if encryption is not on their priority list and they just wanted a quick way to login).

        I have a mixed view on Matrix in general but agree with your assesment of the web portal.

    • @[email protected]
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      03 years ago

      Fluffy unfortunately is way behind in terms of features with regard to element.io… It doesn’t support voice/video calls for example. I created an issue about that, and they just closed with the criteria that it would break very old phones… I really got disappointed. I do think there’s still no gnu/linux neither android matrix client at the same level of features than element.io. Hopefully that’ll change, specially on the desktop side, where electron is really a pain, but so far that’s not happening…

      • @[email protected]
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        03 years ago

        Voice/Video calls via Element are shit, anyway. You can just use Jitsi for that one which is basically the same, but in a separate app.

        I do think there’s still no gnu/linux neither android matrix client at the same level of features than element.io.

        Yes, that’s right. But it’s great that there’s a possibility to have different clients. Element is getting better day by day and if you need its features, there’s nothing wrong with using it. It’s pretty good software, it just doesn’t fit my use case of simple mobile communication.

        • @[email protected]
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          03 years ago

          Yeah, I was just saying is not 1:1 features alternative. A pretty good one for just for text chatting though. And I’m still hoping other alternatives catch up in terms of features. I’d like a Qt alternative on the desktop, and also an android alternative from the community, and not element.io

  • @[email protected]
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    03 years ago

    A good alternative for mobile is Fluffy Chat which is a lot more responsive and has a smoother UX in my opinion. The developers of Fluffy are also VERY fast to fix bugs and they don’t cram their client with all the features, only the features which are really needed and don’t break the UX.

    Of course Element can’t be good because it’s a reference client, but that’s also not its primary objective. The primary objective Element seems to have is to cater to each and everyone with all the features to catch attention and make shareholders happy.

    That sounds pretty bad but I’m happy Matrix and Element exist and that they both have an active and helpful community.

    • @[email protected]
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      03 years ago

      The problem I saw with Fluffy was using non-free parts as Google Play services when I tested it not so much ago even with their custom F-Droid repository.

  • @[email protected]
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    03 years ago

    did they not go after Mastodon apps last year? For a company behind Chrome, you would expect they understand that the software is not responsible for the content that can be accessed (as I assume that’s the issue)

    • Dreeg OcedamOP
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      03 years ago

      did they not go after Mastodon apps last year?

      Yeah, they did, I think it was because some Mastodon clients allowed access to Gab and other Alt-right social networks. AFAIK they just warned them, and never ended up deleting them. Here it seems that they haven’t even warned them.