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Briar: Peer-to-Peer Encrypted Messaging

briarproject.org

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Re: Briar: Peer-to-Peer Encrypted Messaging

#61

Post by CameronNemo »

slim wrote: post #58
neilv wrote: post #27

Briar's "F-Droid" installation option wants you to add a new package distribution repo to the F-Droid app. Rather than the usual way, which is to have F-Droid verify the source build of each version, and distribute through the official F-Droid repo. (And normally that "Get it on F-Droid" button links to F-Droid's page for the app, rather than to another page of the project.)

They want to sign their software themselves that's ok. Everybody learned their lesson from the Signal vs Fdroid drama

F-Droid purposefully makes it convenient to use multiple repos. I have F-Droid, microG, and Briar enabled right now.

Re: Briar: Peer-to-Peer Encrypted Messaging

#62

Post by klabb3 »

ofrzeta wrote: post #57

Related: Are there any standards, APIs, best practices for p2p peer discovery? I found this https://github.com/status-im/bigbrother-specs/blob/master/da... (mentions Gossip and Kademlia) but it is several years old and doesn't contain much info on peer discovery.

Check out libp2p, they're fairly mature and has discovery, relays, gossiping etc.

Re: Briar: Peer-to-Peer Encrypted Messaging

#63

Post by hutzlibu »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #37
californiadreem wrote: post #18

My wife and I use Briar for household communication because of subsidiarity rather than any direct privacy concerns. Out of all the messenger projects that we've tried, Briar actually works for local communication. It's actually instant messaging without any client hiccups or latency (looking at you, Signal). We've tried a ton of other options, but we keep ending up back at Briar. There are points of UX friction in t…

> It's actually instant messaging without any client hiccups or latency (looking at you, Signal). This is almost certainly poor wifi / cell coverage, not Signal having "hiccups" or "latency." I routinely have real-time texting conversations with friends and I can see the messages are "seen" almost instantaneously, half-way across the US. I've also never had an issue with voice chat. It's been flawless, and very high…

"This is almost certainly poor wifi / cell coverage, not Signal having "hiccups" or "latency." I routinely have real-time texting conversations with friends and I can see the messages are "seen" almost instantaneously, half-way across the US."

Here in europe not so much. Most of the time it works somewhat instantly, but it too often happend, that a single message arrived a unknown time later.

It seems signal is optimizing for real time chat, so people do not notice, but sending a single message can be delayed. The thing is, it happened too many times already, that it arrived hours or days later, up to the point that I would not use Signal anymore for any important, time critical message.

Re: Briar: Peer-to-Peer Encrypted Messaging

#66

Post by huhtenberg »

ementally wrote: post #65

Well... P2P isn't the best when it comes to messaging https://github.com/simplex-chat/simplex-chat/blob/stable/doc...

P2P is not an exact term.

It is widely used to refer to direct communication between two nodes, via LAN, VPN, Bluetooth, etc., i.e. without any mesh routing involved.

From the looks of it Briar is that way + it can also route via Tor.

Re: Briar: Peer-to-Peer Encrypted Messaging

#67

Post by huhtenberg »

zikduruqe wrote: post #19
kevinfiol wrote: post #16

Just wanna say this app saved my family and I when we went on a cruise. Normally, we would had had to pay to use the chat service via the ship's paid-only Wi-Fi (since we get no phone reception on the seas). Without needing to pay for the Wi-Fi, we were all able to use Briar to communicate whilst connected to the network, which made coordinating and finding each other on the ship way easier. It was great and worked r…

Check out https://berty.tech for direct off network communications when you do not have internet.

The site has some hard dependency of AMP, takes a long time to load when ampproject.org is blocked and then renders broken.

It looks very cool regardless, thanks for mentioning it.

Re: Briar: Peer-to-Peer Encrypted Messaging

#68

Post by goodpoint »

zikduruqe wrote: post #19
kevinfiol wrote: post #16

Just wanna say this app saved my family and I when we went on a cruise. Normally, we would had had to pay to use the chat service via the ship's paid-only Wi-Fi (since we get no phone reception on the seas). Without needing to pay for the Wi-Fi, we were all able to use Briar to communicate whilst connected to the network, which made coordinating and finding each other on the ship way easier. It was great and worked r…

Check out https://berty.tech for direct off network communications when you do not have internet.

It uses only BLE. What's the point when Briar is a better alternative?

Re: Briar: Peer-to-Peer Encrypted Messaging

#70

Post by hkt »

toastal wrote: post #51
KennyBlanken wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's actually instant messaging without any client hiccups or latency (looking at you, Signal). This is almost certainly poor wifi / cell coverage, not Signal having "hiccups" or "latency." I routinely have real-time texting conversations with friends and I can see the messages are "seen" almost instantaneously, half-way across the US. I've also never had an issue with voice chat. It's been flawless, and very high…

> available on iOS too Ah yes, the two operating systems: Android + iOS. You can't have an account without registering a primary device on one of those OSs. No KaiOS, no Linux phones, no desktop machines, no web-only options. I'm mad about these mobile-duopoly-app-first services because you can't participate in alternative lifestyles when it Cowes to phone usage.

Amen to this. I bank with Starling and having decided to minimise my phone usage am having to move away from them. Likewise a variety of other services.
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