Nostr notes by Delta Chat

next #deltachat #ios version is coming with #liquidglass 🥛 ...

2026-06-22T12:53:39Z

next #deltachat #ios version is coming with #liquidglass 🥛 thanks Amzd for the work. though frustrating being forced by #bigtech to do things that may not be loved and feel superfluous, it's wanted by many meanwhile.

there are still some things to tweak, we created an issue at https://github.com/deltachat/deltachat-ios/issues/3157 . on-point help is welcome - and already ongoing thanks to some new contributors ❤️

This morning nine.testrun.org was briefly unavailable, some ...

2026-04-21T13:42:40Z

This morning nine.testrun.org was briefly unavailable, some network problem. A good time to remind everyone to add a second relay to your #deltachat app:

1. Go to https://chatmail.at/relays randomly choose one of the listed relay pages and copy the invitation code to your clipboard

2. In delta chat settings go to advanced/relays and tap "add relay" and paste the invitation code

3. That's it.

If one relay is unavailable you still can receive and send messages.
https://delta.chat/en/2026-03-31-zero#maximizing-availability-and-resilience-through-multi-path-delivery

"Popularity is overrated" is an often occuring phrase in ...

2026-04-18T12:33:14Z

"Popularity is overrated" is an often occuring phrase in our circles. Which is of course nonsense because only what is popular, counts, right? Only what everybody else does is a valid choice, right? #deltachat #chatmail and #webxdc are used in private places and communities that people are molding for themselves. We are just providing tools and approaches that work ... At least most of the time 😅 "Nothing works all the time" is another project mantra. Brb preparing the next releases :)

Apart from the new #Gnome effort, there also is an interesting ...

2026-04-13T08:14:27Z

Apart from the new #Gnome effort, there also is an interesting experiment of a #Rust terminal-client with #Ratatui -- for others to start from should they feel they need some enjoyable distraction :)

https://git.sakamoto.pl/j-g00da/deltarat-experiments

#Chatmail clients typically use the Rust core library which provides all networking, cryptography, persistence, real-time networking, mail relay/server interop. Documentation to help with writing clients is scattered, but at least there are plenty examples to learn from.

new protocols are fine. The point may rather be that contrary to ...

2026-04-13T07:30:40Z

In reply to nevent1q…lamv
_________________________

new protocols are fine. The point may rather be that contrary to popular nerd belief protocols are only one part of an effort. What distinguishes #deltachat from #xmpp is that one is a cross-platform mass-user focused app with a consistent UX across the platforms and using standards under the hood, while the other is a set of specs with many different implementations and UX approaches on the various platforms, and sometimes tenuous compatibility between them.

What if all public funding and all private donations to our ...

2026-04-11T13:27:16Z

What if all public funding and all private donations to our efforts stop tomorrow?

Users should be fine for years thanks to the wonderful world-wide community of #chatmail relay operators 💜 Relays are dirt cheap to run. Also, our developments are much cheaper and less complex compared to what we know from comparable efforts.

No worries though!

We currently have moneys to help sustain ~15 contributors, with a sum similar to what other projects pay for their foundation president/CEO alone :)

#deltachat contributors range from age 16 to 65, spanning diverse ...

2026-04-09T12:40:58Z

#deltachat contributors range from age 16 to 65, spanning diverse genders and even more countries and cultures. We have many discussions, and also conflicts but we usually don't carry those out in big public groups but rather go for 1:1s and generally small-group discussions. There is no central assembly or board that decides everything. It's more chaotic and admittedly hard to get an overview on, but thats' also how the yearly CCC congress comes about, which many of us regularly attend.

Under the hood, we are using IETF Internet Messaging ...

2026-04-02T08:19:16Z

Under the hood, we are using IETF Internet Messaging specifications commonly tagged as "email". Sounds old, right? Actually there is a lot of new stuff going on! For example, #chatmail apps now fully support:

- RFC9788 ("Header Protection") to achieve minimal metadata

- RFC9580 ("OpenPGP") to use modern cryptography

By comparison, "Messaging Layer Security (MLS)" has an older numbered RFC9420 (and doesn't have mass-usable app releases).

Maybe time to revisit old/new assumptions? :)

After three intense months of work from more than a dozen ...

2026-03-31T20:25:03Z

After three intense months of work from more than a dozen contributors, #deltachat 2.48 releases are rolling. Maybe the most feature-packed releases ever?

- "zero metadata" messaging

- native Audio/Video calls on Android and iOS, as well as UbuntuTouch

- Group and Channel descriptions

- A new background audio player

- Revamped Download-on-Demand

and, last but not least, the long-awaited next-generation of messaging resiliency through "multi-path" routing ....

https://delta.chat/en/2026-03-31-zero

End-to-End Encryption is good but metadata protection counts as ...

2026-03-24T10:55:40Z

End-to-End Encryption is good but metadata protection counts as much. Names, group descriptions and memberships, avatars, who talks to whom ...

Both #deltachat and #signal go to great length to protect all the metadata that WhatsApp grants itself gratuitously. #Matrix stores similar scales of metadata on their servers, even if you can choose which server stores it.

Everything is better than #Telegram which additionally stores message contents in all group chats/channels and most 1:1 chats.

The last two weeks saw a dev gathering in the black forest from ...

2026-03-20T09:51:52Z

The last two weeks saw a dev gathering in the black forest from several in #chatmail, #deltachat and #webxdc communiities, also joined by iroh (npub1pez…6yrq) and rPGP (npub1f5g…3gr2) folks. The tech demos and hacking results we presented to each other, were pretty mind blowing and tracing a path to very interesting futures, delivered in working code, not just some grand plan. Let us just say for now that we are getting to the fun parts of an age old http://testrun.org motto :) happy #equinox! May the tides turn!

Fun funding fact: If we had 10 times more money to develop ...

2026-03-17T08:21:34Z

Fun funding fact: If we had 10 times more money to develop #deltachat , the #chatmail relay network and the #webxdc secure mini app ecosystem, we would still have ten times less than what signal has (let alone Whatsapp or telegram). But we don't want to increase nudging people for donations, as we have many users who don't even have a legal way to send us money, let alone the means. It is a special kind of reward that delta works where most if not all other messengers fail to work for users.

OH in some chaos circles "#deltachat is the new emacs of ...

2026-03-15T23:01:24Z

OH in some chaos circles "#deltachat is the new emacs of operating systems" ...
We are not sure about that 😂 but what we do know is we are soon bringing out releases that we have been working towards for 12 months in multiple already released steps. The funniest thing? Nothing changes on the surface which was precisely what we worked for so long ... more soon, after internal testing and some pending bug fixes land :) and no worries, there will also be interesting visible changes. Stay tuned :)

there is no key revocation. If you want to stop using Delta Chat ...

2026-03-07T18:50:07Z

In reply to nevent1q…2zzt
_________________________

there is no key revocation. If you want to stop using Delta Chat you can just un-install it. If you are in group chats, it's nice for the others to leave group chats before deinstall.

Our strong focus on end to end encryption and zero metadata does ...

2026-02-28T11:14:28Z

Our strong focus on end to end encryption and zero metadata does mean that one of the original project notions of "you can use delta chat as a lightweight cleartext email client and your contacts don't need to care" was deprioritized since some time now and remains available rather for specialists only. It used to be encrypted mail that was hard to do and only for experts. Delta kind of reversed this. Now it's hard to do cleartext. But you can self host your mailbox addresses. No changes there!

some insights from #deltachat forum gardening 🌸 - we’re ...

2026-02-21T16:19:01Z

some insights from #deltachat forum gardening 🌸

- we’re getting about 7 new feature proposals per week, with over 1k ideas shared so far

- we aim to keep things simple and focused, so we often have to say "no!", but:

- we do listen: over the years, we’ve fulfilled about ONE THIRD of your wishes 🧞‍♂️

your pushes are appreciated ❤️

https://support.delta.chat/c/features/6

While platforms like #Matrix or #Signal manage user identities on ...

2026-02-10T16:17:14Z

While platforms like #Matrix or #Signal manage user identities on a server, #DeltaChat and #Chatmail are not platforms in the classic sense. They operate without a central registry, meaning there is no central gatekeeper to grant or deny access. This setup for private messaging naturally complicates invasive age verification. Without a public registry or user discovery, there is no technical hook to verify users. #Chatmail also enforces E2EE by rejecting all unencrypted data. ... (1/3)

It took a while but it's shaping up nicely :) Post-Quantum ...

2026-02-06T00:51:44Z

It took a while but it's shaping up nicely :) Post-Quantum Cryptography and Reliable Deletion, better known as Forward Secrecy, are going to become available in 2026 in #deltachat. For more details, including the recent #fosdem26 talk recording:

https://autocrypt2.org

A lot of messaging systems try to reinvent the email system but ...

2026-02-04T21:47:38Z

A lot of messaging systems try to reinvent the email system but many (signal, matrix, xmpp) took over one key traditional design which we actually dropped while retaining SMTP/IMAP compatibility: server-controlled identities.

With #chatmail user identities are cryptographic and reside on end user devices only. Servers are only message relays and have no control over identities or chats, only perform fast message routing. See this fosdem talk by one of our lead developers

What do you think is currently the most interesting decentralized ...

2026-02-03T19:14:50Z

What do you think is currently the most interesting decentralized messaging system when Signal and its server infrastructure would be more severely disrupted tomorrow?

Ever wondering where the QR codes in #deltachat come from? each ...

2026-01-31T17:51:19Z

Ever wondering where the QR codes in #deltachat come from? each of them is handmade, as everything in delta :) #fosdem

If you want to do a fun thing this weekend, maybe write a little ...

2026-01-16T09:55:17Z

If you want to do a fun thing this weekend, maybe write a little webxdc app for your family or friends chats? There are many to fork from, see https://webxdc.org/apps and for development docs https://webxdc.org/docs
And for development tooling
https://GitHub.com/webxdc/webxdc-dev which simulates a multi member chat environment to run your app, before you post the zip file to a chat of yours. Everyone can start it. No app stores. No logins. No gafam. With built-in end-to-end encryption. Cheers.

#deltachat and #chatmail and #webxdc are in a unique ...

2026-01-14T21:15:59Z

#deltachat and #chatmail and #webxdc are in a unique "market" where few other cross-platform messengers can play. The unique and growing market is shaped by rising authoritarianism, internet shutdowns and restrictions.

We are building a "Minecraft world of messaging" where skilled people can rip apart, modify, replace, recombine and do modding, at every level. All #foss and featuring

Decent Usability and UI
Offline first
End-to-End encryption
Standards based
Resilient
Decentralized

#deltachat does - no bindings to public handles/numbers - no ...

2026-01-14T00:18:40Z

#deltachat does

- no bindings to public handles/numbers

- no address-book upload

- not do public contact or group discovery

- not have critical persistent server state (!)

Social identification is private, between people though ephemeral #P2P #E2EE messages.

Servers see messages with random sender and recipient addresses, but those can not be mapped to a phone number or public handle. Servers see IP addresses. But you can use Tor, or a VPN, if you want to hide that.

It' not all bad :)

PSA We are happy about the wealth of privacy focused classic ...

2026-01-10T14:31:40Z

PSA We are happy about the wealth of privacy focused classic email providers (proton, tutanota, posteo, mailbox.org etc) but they are not geared for instant secure messaging. Do yourself, family and friends a favor and use delta with any of the many https://chatmail.at/relays

Or setup a relay of your own if you feel like it.

Or use a a dedicated chat email address on your own or any classic email server that has reliable service and no obnoxious rate limits or annoying spam handling.

Cheers.

Our stance simplified: we want to make private communications ...

2026-01-09T20:01:00Z

Our stance simplified: we want to make private communications available to anyone on the planet.

Problem: governments everywhere tend to want to control and contain private communications. While Iran and Russia might be contemporary poster examples trying to control private communication, almost all of the "Western" countries have similar control-tendencies, EU Chatcontrol, UK Online Safety Act, US KOSA etc.pp. And we often call those out. Without private communication, things are bleak.

Abdanan, January 7th 2026. A 40K people city in Iranian mountains ...

2026-01-08T14:46:39Z

Abdanan, January 7th 2026. A 40K people city in Iranian mountains where people took over all police and government buildings, as far as we gather. Internet blockades are happening intermittently in various forms. There is a massive sense of uncertainty and panic, also from the government side.

We hear of many people succeeding in using #deltachat and #chatmail relays, and are trying, to the best of our abilities, to help people set up communications so families and friends can stay safe.

We are looking for an experienced Android UI developer for ...

2026-01-05T20:12:31Z

We are looking for an experienced Android UI developer for https://github.com/deltachat/deltachat-android. Native Java, close to the system, with minimal deps and fluff.

Networking/encryption/persistence is not part of the job as it happens in https://github.com/chatmail/core

Remote collab is fine and the default. We meet in person every few months in the black forest or other occasions/places. We can do 20-30 hours per week contracts with 4-5K EUR pay per month.

Drop us a DM if you are interested.

#FediHire

Don't believe those who loudly claim email can not avoid ...

2026-01-05T12:17:38Z

Don't believe those who loudly claim email can not avoid metadata! They are ignorant of our continuous works on minimizing metadata:

DONE:

- no phone number other identifying data needed
- no cleartext "Subject"
- no cleartext "To"
- randomized "Date"
- no IP addresses
- group/avatar/attachment/etc metadata only contained in encrypted message parts

Upcoming:

- servers to never see cryptographic ID metadata
- remove "threading" and auxilliary headers
- experiment with Sealed Sender

#39c3 .ending .. quite an enjoyable blast, and thanks to all the ...

2025-12-30T17:10:57Z

#39c3 .ending .. quite an enjoyable blast, and thanks to all the wonderful people just dropping by to say "thank you, it all works very nice for us"! 🥰 Certainly raised team spirits :)

This year around, apart from one #chatmail relay setup workshop we didn't do any registered events at congress. Pushing out releases, Illnesses and engagements in various other organizing prevented more public sessions. Next ones will be around #fosdem2026 where also several of us will be around. Cheers!

Iran may be on the verge of Internet shutdowns again. If you have ...

2025-12-30T13:16:53Z

Iran may be on the verge of Internet shutdowns again. If you have friends or family in #Iran, now is the time to let them onboard for example with https://tiiiz.ir -- because using in-country servers helps to stay connected. If you need support for setting up a relay in or for Iran, send us a DM and we'll see to connect you with other knowledgeable operators.
با آرزوی فردایی بهتر...

Relax 😎! GPG is not OpenPGP! Yesterday, vulnerabilities were ...

2025-12-28T10:04:51Z

Relax 😎! GPG is not OpenPGP!

Yesterday, vulnerabilities were published https://gpg.fail but they don't affect #deltachat or any other #chatmail client because

A) We never used #gnupg for anything; we use the modern #rustlang #openpgp implementation rPGP (npub1f5g…3gr2), security audited multiple times.

B) #openpgp is fine, as modernized in #RFC9580, which already warns against several #gpgfail issues (gpg has not implemented that spec)

Please spread the word that #gpg is not #openpgp ... Thanks!

Quite a few of #deltachat #chatmail and #webxdc folks are already ...

2025-12-26T10:11:38Z

Quite a few of #deltachat #chatmail and #webxdc folks are already and will be around #39c3 -- on-site you can join a group chat (or send us a DM upfront) where we announce dynamically scheduled sessions. You'll find us mostly around Komona but also other places ... for more info:

https://delta.chat/39c3.html

PSA: Influenza is spreading heavily currently, and 30% of people are infectious without symptoms. Please maintain hygiene and at best test yourself before entering premises. Thanks!

#XMPP is still a thriving ecosystem with lots of good FOSS ...

2025-12-20T13:43:29Z

In reply to nevent1q…wdxf
_________________________

#XMPP is still a thriving ecosystem with lots of good FOSS developers doing interesting things.

XMPP is also used under the hood in tons of products needing instant messaging even if they are not advertised as XMPP clients, or do not federate. But look at #Matrix, only 25% of matrix servers federate.

Anyway, all three share a strong focus on protocols, but there is a big difference: https://chatmail.at does not expose protocols to client developers, just a Rust SDK.

On this day, two years ago, we published the first chatmail ...

2025-12-13T11:02:29Z

On this day, two years ago, we published the first chatmail relay, https://delta.chat/en/2023-12-13-chatmail along with templates to replicate the setup, without needing any permission. Two weeks ago we thought there are 60 relays when a hacker handed in a 100+ list 😂
A bunch of knowledgeable folks are now maintaining track of health of the evolving global network, and supporting new operators. 💜💥🖤

thx also for all the support here on the fediverse! its been a wild year and #39c3 is in 13 days to top it off 😅

Your chat profile/identity: a tar file. Your social web app: a ...

2025-12-12T18:57:29Z

Your chat profile/identity: a tar file.

Your social web app: a zip file.

https://chatmail.at and https://webxdc.org are spearheading ever new and more fun ways to deny power to servers and platform billionaires.

Unlike classic email servers, #chatmail relays do not store user identities which solely live on end-user devices.There also is no encrypted value on the server like with Proton Mail or Signal. There are only relays, endless federating networks of relays to onboard safely :)

#chatmail relays really are the dumbest messaging servers in ...

2025-12-11T10:28:01Z

#chatmail relays really are the dumbest messaging servers in town, but having fun with each other 😂 https://chatmail.at/doc/relay

RE: https://chaos.social/@thefinalstrawradio/115679804496870004 ...

2025-12-07T19:06:35Z

RE: https://chaos.social/@thefinalstrawradio/115679804496870004

Another nice surprise! A careful discussion and appreciation of our almost 8-year long running efforts, and its #deltachat and #chatmail artifacts. The "Signal contingency plan" comes complete with podcast, website and zine!

quoting
note1l0g…n24l

Our chat with Mary & Fanny, two independent technologists, on contingency for "what if Signal were blocked in the US" and their suggestion: Delta Chat (npub17gp…nrxn)

https://thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org/post/2025/12/07/signal-contingency-plan-delta-chat-with-fanny-and-mary/

A few things #deltachat apps are doing positively different from ...

2025-12-07T08:38:50Z

A few things #deltachat apps are doing positively different from #Signal apps

- easiest onboarding ever; not depending on phone numbers or other private data

- support for multiple chat profiles/identities

- decentralized servers, not depending on US-based GAFAM etc.

- migration from one app/platform to any other

- easy multi-device support for any chat profile

- developers have chances to get their PRs merged :)

- mini-apps support via https://webxdc.org

anything missing?

On the occasion of SimpleX and Session getting ...

2025-12-03T21:55:34Z

On the occasion of SimpleX and Session getting cryptocoin-donations/funding ... we won't hide that most delta contributors are pretty skeptical of cryptocoin-circles. Exhibit 1: #Webxdc apps - mini apps that anyone can whip up -- and the declared motto still on the https://webxdc.org web page since inception mid 2022:

No logins, no coins, no platforms ...

and this year, January 23rd, we added "no billionaires" to the growing list of things deserving a "no" :)

https://delta.chat/en/2025-01-23-webxdc-no-billionaires

sorry, we just wanted to refer to the top-level post ("Well, ...

2025-11-21T16:48:35Z

In reply to nevent1q…4mm5
_________________________

sorry, we just wanted to refer to the top-level post ("Well, maybe ...") not some larger threat. Anyways, there are multiple interactions going on, so easy to get mixed up on our side as well.

This is not about a full technical comparison of security ...

2025-11-21T16:38:46Z

In reply to nevent1q…ua8e
_________________________

This is not about a full technical comparison of security aspects. Our post was more about UX goals here in this thread. That being said, email metadata in #chatmail messaging is pretty minimal, and we are working on reducing it further: https://delta.chat/en/help#message-metadata

Well, maybe we need to be more clear what we are trying to do: ...

2025-11-21T15:31:14Z

Well, maybe we need to be more clear what we are trying to do: #deltachat apps are a cross-platform private messenger suite, that aims to provide a consistent UX/UI for users with lots of experience using WhatsApp and Signal.

Telegram has good fast UX but is hardly a private messenger (it has a central cleartext database of everyone and everything).

Matrix and XMPP are well-esteemed fellows in federated messaging, but so far didn't grow a WA/Signal-level cross-platform messaging UX.

YMMV

For those who used all three of Whatsapp, Signal and Delta Chat ...

2025-11-21T14:02:12Z

For those who used all three of Whatsapp, Signal and Delta Chat in multi-device mode:

Which messenger provides the best multi-device setup and handling for users (UX)?

(question spans setting up a second/linked device, as well as migrating to new device, as well as quality of multi-device synchronizing/bugfree-ness -- all subjectively weighted by each voter according to their subjective experiences)

Signal just released a "poll" feature with great fanfare, ...

2025-11-19T13:50:30Z

Signal just released a "poll" feature with great fanfare, while all #deltachat apps already integrated a full suite of chat-shared apps, checklists, polls, shopping lists, calendar, editor + tons of games.

Better, anyone can create new apps, eg as github/codeberg forks from existing apps, and post it to their chats for instant deployment. No need to ask for permission, register an account, and no hosting or DNS: actually "server-less" and fully end-to-end encrypted :)

https://webxdc.org/apps

Any data that is collected on servers will eventually leak or be ...

2025-11-19T10:51:08Z

Any data that is collected on servers will eventually leak or be abused otherwise.

By design, no one can enumerate #deltachat profiles which are private and not published on any server. Conversely, #chatmail relays do not see or collect private data or metadata.

But wait, there is more :)

We are currently evolving end-to-end security protocols and UX to **survive an attacker fully taking over a server**. The attacker shall not even be able to message users, let alone impersonate anyone.

While #cloudflare US-east1 is busy fixing a good part of the ...

2025-11-18T12:50:06Z

While #cloudflare US-east1 is busy fixing a good part of the Internet, parts of Matrix/Element, X etc down, good old decentralized #chatmail mostly continues nicely and without any degradation :)

In other news, there is a new #freebsd community maintained ❤️ #deltachat desktop install:

pkg install deltachat-desktop

thanks Only 3 Easy Payments of $19.95 (npub1swc…y2dn) and others!

recently delta chat introduced metadata protection regarding the ...

2025-11-18T08:39:27Z

In reply to nevent1q…tvj5
_________________________

recently delta chat introduced metadata protection regarding the "Date" header that is visible to providers but it seems some providers don't like the variance. So we will reduce the variance in the next releases. Note that chatmail relays (https://chatmail.at/relays) do not have this issue.

Denmark and other EU governments still pursue #chatcontrol. They ...

2025-11-13T09:00:19Z

Denmark and other EU governments still pursue #chatcontrol.

They still want to permanently legalize client-side scanning but postponed making it mandatory.

They also want to increase age-verification controls which risk to ruin what little is left of privacy in current digital spaces, taken hostage already by US corps.

Ourselves? We double down on providing the most private, reliable and fun messaging experience, with a growing federating #chatmail relay network across the globe.

We hereby challenge _all_ other messaging apps, FOSS or not, to ...

2025-11-02T09:28:14Z

We hereby challenge _all_ other messaging apps, FOSS or not, to provide a more convenient private onboarding experience than #deltachat

1. Install app
2. "Create new profile"
3. Enter nick name, tap "Agree and continue"
4. Tap "+" and "new contact" and provide/scan qr code/link

Voila! A secure private chat, familiar to those coming from Whatsapp or Telegram (without "AI", with #a11y).

Note: chat identities are private and can not be queried or discovered. Servers keep no track or metadata

It's done! #chatcontrol is officially of the table after the ...

2025-10-31T08:50:21Z

It's done! #chatcontrol is officially of the table after the danish EU council presidency drops it for good. It's a small but important victory!

Thanks again to Fight Chat Control (npub14rv…y6tq) for coordinating grassroots interventions, and everyone else, especially on the fediverse, for joining efforts to fundamentally preserve end-to-end encryption 💜 Also to [@Mer__edith](https://mastodon.world/@Mer__edith ) and Signal (npub1rkw…5q62) for their strong end-to-end encryption work and stances.

Of course, vigilance remains important.

https://www.euractiv.com/news/danish-presidency-backs-away-from-chat-control/

Gmail is leaking the IP address of the sender in the headers when ...

2025-10-28T22:16:28Z

In reply to nevent1q…d9kv
_________________________

Gmail is leaking the IP address of the sender in the headers when you are using SMTP. Chatmail relays don't.

Signal's president claimed it takes billions to replicate the ...

2025-10-28T22:01:00Z

Signal's president claimed it takes billions to replicate the availability and reliability of "hyperscalers" (AWS/Google/Microsoft/Cloudfare) that Signal uses.

#chatmail and #deltachat are about disproving this claim by

1) making relays super cheap (DONE)

2) enabling chat profiles to use multiple relays redundantly (WIP)

3) distributing relay knowledge among chatters (TBD).

Fat servers, corporate overlords and billionaires: not needed and better to not exist for a convivial e2ee future :)

Our project is one of constant exit planning and circumvention ...

2025-10-25T09:30:10Z

Our project is one of constant exit planning and circumvention considerations ... as times and tech are getting more shitty.

We don't bet on a single basket, and not a single state or jurisdiction, and certainly not AWS/Google/Microsoft US clouds which run #Signal servers.

No single hoster, platform or language (we do a lot of Rust, granted) and no single device or vendor. At #chatmail protocol levels we regard nothing as holy, and look for simplicity and robustness, and convivial community 🖤

We are aware of roskomnadzor just having ramped up their blocking ...

2025-10-25T08:27:15Z

We are aware of roskomnadzor just having ramped up their blocking efforts in #russia against #deltachat 's default onboarding chatmail relay. Signal, Whatsapp are degraded/blocked for a longer time already.

1) Delta Chat has first class shadow-socks proxy support (try ss:// links you can find ... Delta has management-proxy UX)

2) many other chatmail relays work fine and inter-chatmail/email server traffic continues unimpeded

3) if you can help with analyzing please drop into our DMs.

Believe it or not: #deltachat is growing audio/video calls ...

2025-10-24T22:09:24Z

Believe it or not: #deltachat is growing audio/video calls starting with the currently rolling 2.22 releases ... A few people already had two hour long stable calls :)

Calls are an experimental option while we continue to work on reliability, UX/UI revisions, and configuration of TURN servers on #chatmail relays and in clients.

We want calls to reliably work across all major platforms, networks and phones, including #UbuntuTouch

Feedback and debugging happens at https://support.delta.chat/t/help-testing-upcoming-delta-chat-release-with-calls/4220/17

Good news! It's getting harder to keep track of new #chatmail ...

2025-10-23T21:05:35Z

Good news! It's getting harder to keep track of new #chatmail relays :)

Recently several public relays were added to the https://chatmail.at/relays list, in Warsaw, Helsinki, Romania and Barcelona.🧡

If you have #deltachat installed on mobile, you can go to any chatmail relay website in the list and click on a link there to create a chat profile.

It's wonderful to hear about collectives setting up chat infrastructure like the recent https://xat.fedi.cat from fedicat (npub1hme…pmuk) and eXOfàsia (npub1pdc…a7av)

Not taking Venture Capital money means: - No pressure to maximize ...

2025-10-21T16:11:35Z

Not taking Venture Capital money means:

- No pressure to maximize monetization of usage (for every million of VC funding you need to find ~100+ Million in value later).

- No prioritization of growing fast with PR campaigns that promise the moon and stumble on the ground

- No billionaire who ultimately profits

Instead, we seek public funding and private contributions for #chatmail #deltachat and #webxdc developments.

Thanks to everyone who is helping and already test-driving things :)

There is no single central #Signal server. Signal uses #AWS ...

2025-10-20T09:55:23Z

There is no single central #Signal server. Signal uses #AWS cloud, plus Google Cloud, Microsoft Cloud and Cloudflare, all under US legislation. If any of these clouds goes down or becomes otherwise problematic, chatting degrades or fails.

With #deltachat you can choose #chatmail relays ( https://chatmail.at/relays ) which distributes the risk across a wider network. We are currently working on the multi-transport feature to finally remove any central point of chat failure https://chaos.social/@delta/115362144863345662

quick heads up. Our impressions: #matrix is going strong with ...

2025-10-16T19:05:25Z

In reply to nevent1q…3tmy
_________________________

quick heads up. Our impressions: #matrix is going strong with public sector entities, and it's where most dynamics happened at the conf.

We are rather focused on private and resilient messaging where servers don't play a big role; as we want #chatmail relays to be dirt cheap to operate, no pro version needed. Our focus is on informal usage, groups, family, friends, affinity or interest groups, whereas matrix is increasingly focusing on corporate/ organizational use cases. YMMV

A few of us are going to visit our neighboring project in ...

2025-10-15T06:32:53Z

A few of us are going to visit our neighboring project in federated messaging, the The Matrix.org Foundation (npub1m9z…whzq) conference in Strasbourg today. The two projects are rather different architecturally, funding-wise etc but we remain ready and interested for discussions around common concerns and general exchange of what's happening :) For those curious, here is a panel discussion from the Elevate festival in Graz 2018 https://vimeo.com/273876820

And a later discussion with Matthew Hodgson (npub1jmd…k8fz)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xJ2Tjc1Aj0A&t=1624s&pp=ygUidGVjaCB3aWxsIHNhdmUgdXMgbWF0cml4IGRlbHRhY2hhdA%3D%3D

#deltachat has reliable and audited end-to-end encryption but ...

2025-10-12T16:30:34Z

#deltachat has reliable and audited end-to-end encryption but reliable message delivery is equally crucial in times of shutdowns and increasing Internet fragmentation. #chatmail relays are more reliable and faster than classic email servers but they may still fail, leaving users stranded. The recent rollout of V2 releases not only hardened end-to-end encryption but aims for chat profiles to use multiple relays in the future, removing a common point of failure in decentralized private messaging.

What an announcement from #Telegram owner Pawel Durov! To provide ...

2025-10-10T16:28:53Z

What an announcement from #Telegram owner Pawel Durov! To provide just a few critical notes, he

- makes believe he is just a commoner, and not the billionaire owner of one of the largest message, media and metadata *cleartext* databases on earth

- skips over Global Warming

- refers to "fathers and forefathers" of the Internet ... apparently never heard of Radia Perlman, Margaret Hamilton or Ada Lovelace?

- conveniently excludes Russia and its authoritarian politics from his critique

etc.

it's not so much about efficiency as much as about easy ...

2025-10-08T15:01:53Z

In reply to nevent1q…llr3
_________________________

it's not so much about efficiency as much as about easy access to democratic reps and institutions. The question to the EU is then maybe rather "do you want to help democratic participation and discourse?" Or are you content mostly talking to big industrial lobby groups and billionaire-funded think tanks or campaigns and take clues from there?

After dropping the #chatcontrol proposals EU governors could next ...

2025-10-08T14:51:52Z

After dropping the #chatcontrol proposals EU governors could next ask themselves why they have, in all of the EU's history, never provided such a pleasant and informative, adaptive and fast user interface to access democratic representatives and governments of EU member countries ... as the one https://fightchatcontrol.eu provides -- done mostly by a single person on personal funding. Go figure.

Many thanks to @npub14rv…y6tq for helping so much to coordinate ...

2025-10-07T18:57:42Z

Many thanks to Fight Chat Control (npub14rv…y6tq) for helping so much to coordinate and support efforts against chatcontrol! It was exactly the right initiative at the right time. 💜

Forget warn apps and mobiles: when it comes to neighborhoods ...

2025-10-04T19:13:55Z

Forget warn apps and mobiles: when it comes to neighborhoods there are many non-digital ways to help each other. Without needing permission from billionaires.

Whistles!

https://blockclubchicago.org/2025/09/17/in-little-village-residents-are-blowing-actual-whistles-to-warn-neighbors-about-ice/

well, we appreciate Signal trying to make a difference with its ...

2025-10-04T09:08:34Z

In reply to nevent1q…t99r
_________________________

well, we appreciate Signal trying to make a difference with its public weight ahead of the oct14 chat control vote. Yes, Signal is centralized and running on gafam servers but it also was a key leading effort to make e2ee UX widely available ... and that is fundamentally threatened by #chatcontrol. Federated #xmpp or #email servers do not help against legislation that aims at apps and clients. This is a time to put all of our joint weight against chatcontrol, not gamble for exceptions.

While #chatcontrol poses an existential threat to the Freiburg ...

2025-10-01T11:38:41Z

While #chatcontrol poses an existential threat to the Freiburg merlinux GmbH and distributing #deltachat apps from within the EU to all stores worldwide, it would resist any chatcontrol legislation up to the German constitutional and EuGH courts.

If the EU based company would need to fold in a few years, there would likely be forks distributed outside the EU that will *seamlessly* continue to function. Our architecture and FOSS licensing makes sure of it. See also https://chaos.social/@delta/113417740762852318

#chatcontrol is a giant legal-technical quagmire and would erode ...

2025-09-22T17:34:32Z

#chatcontrol is a giant legal-technical quagmire and would erode privacy in times where we most need it. But let's talk about protecting children ... what chatcontrol claims to be about:

First, it's unproven that chatcontrol would help lower actual abuses.

Second, why not spend the many EU millions that go into busying politicians, developers, lawyers and orgs into hiring social workers? They could directly act on the huge backlog of _reported known_ child abuse cases. That definitely helps.

There now is a recording of the ad-hoc #datenspuren "usable ...

2025-09-21T14:38:33Z

There now is a recording of the ad-hoc #datenspuren "usable end-to-end" talk from friday evening, german audio only https://app.media.ccc.de/v/ds25-603-usable-end-to-end-security-with-delta-chat-and-chatmail

The problem with #chatcontrol is deep and extremely significant. ...

2025-09-17T07:55:17Z

The problem with #chatcontrol is deep and extremely significant. It would be a paradigm shift that implies state and corporate control of app developers and users, i.e. what you can install on "your" devices. It would empower Google, Apple and Microsoft to increase enclosure even more.

Just as with the p2p wealth of good tools two decades ago, e2e tooling would remain available only to small specialist circles.

Given authoritarian threats everywhere, #chatcontrol is an exceptionally bad idea.

yes, maybe have a look here ...

2025-09-14T12:24:08Z

In reply to nevent1q…h27n
_________________________

yes, maybe have a look here https://github.com/chatmail/core?tab=readme-ov-file#using-the-cli-client

we believe that signal is run in good faith and has excellent ...

2025-09-13T08:04:17Z

In reply to nevent1q…fc8d
_________________________

we believe that signal is run in good faith and has excellent cryptography but it falls way short on resilience and federation. It would struggle to resist takedown requests from the US government. For more details see https://delta.chat/en/2025-08-04-encryption-v2#ps-the-chatmail-ecosystem-is-moving

What if a state tries to mandate us as #deltachat app ...

2025-09-13T07:52:29Z

What if a state tries to mandate us as #deltachat app devs/distributors to shut down a chat profile?

Nothing. It can't be done.

We have no list of chat identities, have no handle or data about them, and don't mediate the message transfer.

However, EU #Chatcontrol politicians and Russian authorities would want us to insert backdoors into our FOSS code. But that is nothing than can happen overnight, and we are fine with friendly forks already. Resilient private internet communication ftw :)

Woah! Only now did we discover a great blog post from ...

2025-09-09T22:02:16Z

Woah! Only now did we discover a great blog post from John Wq (npub12hx…n282) who discusses the progression from hosting a #Matrix , a #Snikket and a #SimpleX server, to now running a #chatmail relay https://runtimeterror.dev/self-hosted-chatmail-relay-for-delta-chat/

It's an excellent read, with lots of good advise, including having a public "hello" profile and another unpublished chat profile for private chatting. #deltachat apps have pervasive multi-profile support (and multi-device support) so it's pretty easy to establish such a two-profile setup.

#deltachat is being used in virtually all world regions where one ...

2025-09-08T21:34:32Z

#deltachat is being used in virtually all world regions where one or more other messengers fail to work. We recently released a major milestone (V2 security hardening releases) that prepared the ground for chat profiles to have multiple #chatmail relays at once ... failure or blocking of a single relay would not disrupt chatting anymore. But multi transport also helps with the "centralization problem in decentralized systems" ... https://delta.chat/en/2025-06-04-surge-donations#funding-for-a-globally-scaled-chatmail-relay-network
(Funding is looking good currently btw!)

Sometimes we are surprised ourselves how well everything works :) ...

2025-09-05T14:10:33Z

Sometimes we are surprised ourselves how well everything works :)

- cross-platform #deltachat releases every 2-3 months, with a focus on never breaking the world despite significant underlying changes

- many #chatmail relays humming along, including the default onboarding one serving 230K monthly users with ~0 admin hours needed

-lively and sometimes controversial discussions among the diverse dozen core contributors, with an evolving shared vision, both short and long term

Toi Toi Toi

#Whatsapp on #iOS had a severe 0day that was exploited in the ...

2025-09-02T15:32:53Z

#Whatsapp on #iOS had a severe 0day that was exploited in the wild for some months, and is fixed with august 20th releases https://hackread.com/whatsapp-0-day-exploit-attack-targeted-ios-macos-users/

Last year #signal also had its multi-device functionality exploited in the wild. https://thehackernews.com/2025/02/hackers-exploit-signals-linked-devices.html

FWIW #deltachat has a dumber multi-device sync model, no device linking, depends on being in the same WiFI for setup (therefore no easy remote exploits), and #OpenPGP signatures and verification for ongoing usage (like all other E2EE messages).

While most of the feedback on the #deltachat V2 releases has been ...

2025-09-02T10:15:13Z

While most of the feedback on the #deltachat V2 releases has been positive, some users sense a de-prioritization of "classic unencrypted email" usage.

Indeed the current dozen or so contributors aim to evolve an exceptionally resilient and versatile private messenger app suite, with end-to-end encryption the primary focus and design foundation.

However, we would support friendly forkers to develop a classic e-mail focused app suite -- say "deltamail" (work title).

What do you think?

As with the demise of windows10, various meta happenings around ...

2025-08-15T19:13:24Z

As with the demise of windows10, various meta happenings around Whatsapp open possibilities to welcome refugees. Instead of blaming them for not having had whatever insights earlier, there are often just very practical questions where a helping hand does wonders. Offering help instead of trying to convince.

Currently many companies are giving win11-incompatible laptops away, often powerful systems that deserve upgrading to Linux, and then donating then. It also helps to counter hardware waste.

What are the main obstacles for you to adopt usage of #deltachat ...

2025-08-13T14:13:57Z

What are the main obstacles for you to adopt usage of #deltachat apps with your families, friends or communities?

if you have other issues than the poll options please add to the replies. Oh, and those who are also living through heat waves: stay hydrated, and remind everyone else :)

The UK's national drought group is falling ridiculously short ...

2025-08-13T07:22:35Z

The UK's national drought group is falling ridiculously short when recommending to delete old emails. How about

- stop building any new data centers, progressively tax on their size and resource consumption, no free riding

- legislatively focus on software to become more resource efficient (hint: AI hurts not helps with that)

In any case, #chatmail relays unconditionally remove emails, no user action needed. Everything interesting happens on end devices see https://en.reset.org/decentralised-efficient-without-being-addictive-delta-chat-is-our-favourite-instant-messenger/

We are impressed with the new https://fightchatcontrol.eu/ ...

2025-08-11T10:29:12Z

We are impressed with the new https://fightchatcontrol.eu/ website, and the way it provides all the info needed to engage in distributed diverse action to prevent the EU from preparing the ground for, or sliding into, authoritarianism by breaking end-to-end encryption for everyone. Germany and France are particularly important to engage with and we'll see what we can do from our circles. We don't know the people behind https://mastodon.social/@chatcontrol but big kudos!
#chatcontrol

We do not aim for #deltachat to be another social media app. No ...

2025-08-11T07:33:37Z

We do not aim for #deltachat to be another social media app. No #ai summaries or suggestions. No public directory of contacts. No discovery via outside identifiers (mobile phone or email). Just you and your contacts privately messaging, in a solid simple user interface on all platforms. End-to-End encryption enforced on two layers. #chatmail relays know and retain nothing, no content or metadata. #webxdc apps allow for custom interactions on top of chats.

Contributors and donations welcome!

Prediction: most messenger projects will move to a single core ...

2025-08-09T09:41:01Z

Prediction: most messenger projects will move to a single core implementation model, probably #Rust based, in the next few years. The gains both for the development process are just too big. It's all about UI and UX agility, implementation quality and delivery to users.

Funding and money? We had/have to make do with ~1/50th of what other cross platform messenger app efforts had available. It forced and forces us to economic choices which is not a bad thing in an overall bloated IT industry.

Signal and Matrix were founded in popular opposition to the email ...

2025-08-07T08:02:49Z

Signal and Matrix were founded in popular opposition to the email system but End-to-End encrypted instant messaging via emails works now, and reliably, with #deltachat V2 app releases, and with #chatmail relays forming a growing secure email network that minimizes metadata and enforces TLS and E2EE messaging.

You can't really argue with working code, can you?

Contrary to popular belief SMTP and DKIM and IMAP are no holy ingredients and can be improved upon btw. See eg https://github.com/chatmail/relay/issues/487

V2 #deltachat is rolling out after weeks of internal testing, a ...

2025-08-04T14:02:04Z

V2 #deltachat is rolling out after weeks of internal testing, a major milestone revising how end-to-end encryption works and bringing more beautiful contact and group profiles, direct access to chat-shared apps in the title bar and a "new email" action with setting a subject for those using a classic server.

Best of all, users and developers don't need to co-ordinate anything for upgrading to V2 despite the massive security rework behind the scenes :)

https://delta.chat/en/2025-08-04-encryption-v2

Amount of hours spent to keep a default #chatmail onboarding ...

2025-07-25T11:22:07Z

Amount of hours spent to keep a default #chatmail onboarding relay with 500k active addresses running: near zero.

Glancing at stats sometimes: two million messages per day. CPU and IO load at 20% max. 500gb raid1 ssd meandering around 60 percent full. There is room for various optimizations but no big need currently.

end-to-end encryption with metadata minimization is best if servers are boring. No clustering or enterprise license needed, no "SRE team" either.

https://github.com/chatmail/relay/

Good news! Our developments are back into full swing with major ...

2025-07-11T18:10:45Z

Good news! Our developments are back into full swing with major new releases expected throughout 2025 🥳

After the shock February dry-up of funding grants we recently secured substantial private donations, wonderfully helping to hit the ground running 🧡

#deltachat #chatmail and #webxdc developments currently use ~600k EUR per year to support a dozen experts and contributors, to in turn help the wider contributor communities, as well as to realize major new features.

https://delta.chat/en/donate

For refining #deltachat UIs and UX we are looking at many other ...

2025-07-09T21:24:48Z

For refining #deltachat UIs and UX we are looking at many other messengers regularly. But we are curious. Which messenger UX/UI do you like most and suggest we take cues from?

Two of our teams just gave talks at the @npub1uk4…z2gq 2025 ...

2025-07-04T08:47:31Z

Two of our teams just gave talks at the Pass the SALT Conference (npub1uk4…z2gq) 2025 conference in Lille:

xeniax ⏚ (npub1uqe…za0f) tells the story of "federated messaging" waves and her usable security research, emphasizing "availability" as a key issue
https://passthesalt.ubicast.tv/videos/always-more-secure-analyzing-user-migrations-to-federated-e2ee-messaging-apps-trimmed/ --

holga (npub1y6p…pcc3) starts off with prioritizing usable security and walks through #chatmail transport layer security goals and #deltachat end-point security status, upcoming releases and prospective work on improving metadata and other goals
https://passthesalt.ubicast.tv/videos/usable-end-to-end-security-with-delta-chat-and-chatmail/

Internet fragmentation is real in many countries and regions ...

2025-06-28T08:11:07Z

Internet fragmentation is real in many countries and regions today but did you know that this "Sometimes-Internet" was the reality of the 1980ties when #email evolved?

#chatmail relays are cheap, secure, fast, ephemeral and resilient server setups for the growing Sometimes-Internet, using cryptography for planetary-scale interop:

- E2EE-only, strict TLS+DKIM
- no spam-check magic
- delay/cut-off tolerant
- messages removed after download
- addresses removed if stale
- push notifications

#DeltaChat evolved according to needs of people under repression ...

2025-06-27T09:57:24Z

#DeltaChat evolved according to needs of people under repression and continues to do so. The more ignorant and exchangeable we make #chatmail relays, the less their operators have to worry. Having metadata-less, fast and cheap instant messaging relays, that can also operate when 99% of the Internet vanishes in a region, is a key goal. Some way to go still but, already now, is there any other real-world solution that provides better service in internet-repressed regions in 2025?

We used to look closely at #whatsapp Usability/UX. Not anymore. ...

2025-06-27T07:03:13Z

We used to look closely at #whatsapp Usability/UX. Not anymore.

Meta is enshittifying WA to become a social media app, charging companies for access to followers, showing ads, and pushing AI slop down the throat of billions of people.

#deltachat remains all about pleasing private messaging UX. Resilient, secure and decentralized. Its trivial to get started as a family, group or little org. Its trivial to migrate between android, iphone, desktop, Ubuntu touch.

#Privacy and #RightToExit

should be fine if it can run debian 12

2025-06-22T20:18:35Z

In reply to nevent1q…89df
_________________________

should be fine if it can run debian 12

We'd like to remind everyone that a self-hosted #chatmail ...

2025-06-22T18:35:17Z

We'd like to remind everyone that a self-hosted #chatmail relay is best shared in some wider than family circles. In crisis situations everbody does better when helping others.

A typical 1gb RAM chatmail relay VPS for 5-10 eur per month supports 50k+ daily users.

chatmail VPSes are stateless. You can wipe all disk state, reinstall and chatting will resume. Conversely, #deltachat does not keep or depend on any server state .Operators under pressure do not need to feel bad to hand over data.

Overheard last night from two users in #Cuba user1: "the ...

2025-06-22T12:41:24Z

Overheard last night from two users in #Cuba

user1: "the people are currently in need not only to save data plan but also to have more security in their conversations"

user2: "also stability. Right now the whole of Guantanamo is in blackout with problems in several radio-bases/cell-towers due to the lack of power/electricity and here I am talking like nothing / without breaking a sweat"

user2: "while WhatsApp doesn't even manage to connect"

#DeltaChat is for when centralization hits the fan

Some people in #Iran successfully use delta with national email ...

2025-06-21T12:18:04Z

Some people in #Iran successfully use delta with national email providers when outside Internet is cut.

#deltachat designs are #OfflineFirst using delay tolerant protocols. Messages are queued when a path is blocked. email servers are made for this and run at planetary scale.
Messages crossing the border may arrive three days later but they arrive.

Peoples can stay in private touch across time and space, to the extent possible in current breakdown times. Which is what delta is about.

We don't see, or plan, a place for AI in our software stacks. ...

2025-06-20T23:49:16Z

We don't see, or plan, a place for AI in our software stacks. A few notes.

Some attempts to use AI tooling provided nothing of value in the chatmail-core-UI stacks that produce the #deltachat store releases on all platforms.

Some in the community AI-generated a base #webxdc app and fixed bugs afterwards.That kind of worked and was borderline useful.

AI is pretty boring. We have more interesting work to do: evolve private resilient messaging by improving UX, networking, encryption, etc