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GrapheneOS' rewritten Messages app is released

71 points microtonal 1 hour ago 29 comments

LoganDark 1 hour ago | parent

That was really fast, they only announced it like a day or two ago IIRC? Also: no screenshots of the redesigned interface?!

getpokedagain 1 hour ago | parent

If you look at the history they have been working on this for a few months. The announcement probably was tied to this public release being cut for testing.

mewse-hn 54 minutes ago | parent

Does it do RCS?

OneDeuxTriSeiGo 47 minutes ago | parent

No. RCS is still quite hard to actually implement. There's an open issue for it but the effort is mildly herculean.

AFAIUI though GOS does intend on providing an RCS impl eventually even if it takes years to do.

sterlind 13 minutes ago | parent

What's so difficult about implementing RCS from a technical perspective?

Groxx 9 minutes ago | parent

The spec is very large and full of features most people are unable to use (lots of business-to-consumer stuff, e.g. https://developers.google.com/business-communications/rcs-bu...), and it can require carrier/server contracts to do essentially anything. If you can even send the packets that are needed - normal apps cannot, it's platform/telecom level and not necessarily accessible over normal internet requests (this is true for SMS/MMS too, but Android provides a service-like platform impl that apps use over a public API. It does not do this for RCS).

Groxx 11 minutes ago | parent

particularly if you want to support all of the message-body features, of which there are MANY. it's very business-comms oriented.

I broadly expect third-party RCS apps to drop that though, like how essentially none support all of MMS. did you know MMS supports slideshows? 3d objects (mimetype model/gltf+json)? "timed text" (mimetype text/mp4)?

mmooss 53 minutes ago | parent

With a seemingly insurmountable workload - maintain an actually secure OS fork - for a small team, I wonder how GrapheneOS prioritizes things like messaging apps? I'm not saying it's wrong at all; I am just interested in the thinking inside a project like that.

I can imagine many reasons to devote resources to it:

* A platform is only as good as its apps. If they want to grow GOS in the general public, it requires a good SMS/MMS messaging app.

* LLM tools greatly reduce development costs, especially for well-known functions like text messaging.

* Without secure messaging (as far as SMS/MMS can be secure), the platform security is greatly reduced.

* GOS got a big donation, or has a volunteer that wants to do messaging ...

But idk what I'm talking about. What is their approach?

ravenstine 32 minutes ago | parent

Well they're going to be shipping GOS on Motorola and I think some other devices, so basic things like the messaging app need to actually have some polish to them. I really like GrapheneOS overall as-is, but the messaging app felt like baby's first texting app. Not necessarily their fault since it's pretty much straight out of AOSP if I understand correctly. But any time I've installed GrapheneOS, the messaging app is one of two things I must replace every time (the other being the downright bad AOSP keyboard).

If they fix(ed) their messaging app and their keyboard, then they've really eliminated a lot of potential complaints if a less tech-savvy crowd ends up buying future Motorolas.

flexagoon 26 minutes ago | parent

I you look at the commits of the new Messages app it's mostly made by 2 people whose Github profiles show them as employees of GrapheneOS and who are mostly committing to different system apps. So I assume they have a separate team of devs whose job it is to make the system apps.

IIRC when they started first announced their replacement for the AOSP camera they said they hired a developer specifically for it.

microtonal 7 minutes ago | parent

A bunch of the AOSP apps feel like you have to rewrite them for modern standards now and then you can basically have them in maintenance mode for years. The AOSP messaging app has also lasted for 15+ (?) years and has basically had no maintenance from Google for many years.

Modernizing these apps seems very high-impact. These are the very first things a new user sees and after the initial modernization, they should be relatively cheap to maintain.

cloudie78 52 minutes ago | parent

How about some screenshots?

qweqwe14 43 minutes ago | parent

I constantly see those projects that would benefit from a screenshot in a readme, but for some reason the thought about adding one doesn't even come to the authors' mind, even though it's pretty obvious. I'd really like to know what's going on.

gbalduzzi 22 minutes ago | parent

I think in many cases the authors value functionality much more then esthetics.

Which is a bummer because it is a complete different point of view from the more typical user experience

xboxnolifes 5 minutes ago | parent

An image is functionality, as it provides significant information to the reader.

chadgpt3 47 minutes ago | parent

Everyone who values privacy should use GrapheneOS

bramhaag 41 minutes ago | parent

I do not see Electron anywhere? It looks like a native Android app that uses Jetpack Compose.

gib444 14 minutes ago | parent

N.B. User completely rewrote their comment - it previously claimed the app used Electron

gib444 45 minutes ago | parent

Looks prettier but a shame an obvious regression happened for one of my primary use-cases: copying one-time codes. Long pressing on a link selects the entire SMS instead of bringing up a menu for the link. [0]

Makes me wonder about all the testing now

And the issue worded/tagged as a feature instead of a regression. Are the devs aware the feature existed before?

later:

It's doubly disappointing because just 4 days ago the project wrote [1], on using AI for the new Messaging app:

"it's also helping us raise our standards for our own work by pointing it at that to get extremely pedantic criticism catching many things we would miss...We've hired multiple experienced app developers who have spent months working on modernizing the Messaging app and carefully reviewing it"

[0] https://github.com/GrapheneOS/Messaging/issues/292

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49592770

Maskawanian 37 minutes ago | parent

Does anyone know if this is something that we can install now, or if it will show up in the next OS release?

gib444 35 minutes ago | parent

It's in the alpha channel. Go in to the 'App Store' app, go to Messaging, 3 dot menu and change release channel.

novafunc 33 minutes ago | parent

They mentioned you can use the Alpha from their app installer.

Maskawanian 31 minutes ago | parent

Good to know! For others: You open their app store, go into messaging, hamburger menu, select release channel, and choose alpha.

flexagoon 32 minutes ago | parent

You can go to the GOS App Store, choose the Messaging app, click 3 dots at the top and choose the Alpha release channel to get it now

lollobomb 30 minutes ago | parent

Now, can we please get the long-awaited full system backup feature? We pay you for a reason!

(sarcasm obvious, but indeed full system backup is sorely missing. Seedvault is crap, not an option)