Briar will thrive once EU Chat Control 2.0 passes, P2P E2E encryption is the only way to bypass bullshit laws.
Briar is dead because it doesn't work on iPhones. It doesn't work on iPhones because iOS will only allow waking the app from background when there's a push notification. Push notifications have to go through Apple's servers, which defeats the purpose of a decentralized app where your messages (and metadata) can't be traced.
Briar is in maintenance mode
41–50 of 114 posts
Re: Briar is in maintenance mode
#42> Last year, we decided that we wouldn’t realistically be able to solve these issues and so we reluctantly decided to shut down the project. If these are actually the problems, then why not throw 200 dollars of GPT 5.6 at these instead of shutting it down? Were these systematic problems (Apple/Google hegemony, for example) that couldn't be beat with code?
I agree. These are classic problems where LLMs really shine. I would be very surprised if GPT-5.6 couldn't fix them.
Re: Briar is in maintenance mode
#43> unreliable background operation on android Pretty much every app I have has delayed notifications, and no matter of battery optimization settings can fix it.
It seems to me this only happens if you don't use the app much. Or maybe some apps are "allowlisted", I've never had delayed WhatsApp/Slack notifications.
Re: Briar is in maintenance mode
#44That's too bad. Anyone know of a fork or similar project? Maybe Meshtastic/MeshCore/BitChat. Berty Messenger's last update on iOS was in January 2025.
Re: Briar is in maintenance mode
#45> unreliable background operation on android Pretty much every app I have has delayed notifications, and no matter of battery optimization settings can fix it.
It seems to me this only happens if you don't use the app much. Or maybe some apps are "allowlisted", I've never had delayed WhatsApp/Slack notifications.
Re: Briar is in maintenance mode
#46> unreliable background operation on android Pretty much every app I have has delayed notifications, and no matter of battery optimization settings can fix it.
It seems to me this only happens if you don't use the app much. Or maybe some apps are "allowlisted", I've never had delayed WhatsApp/Slack notifications.
Re: Briar is in maintenance mode
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
Who spent the time to make this? If those people spent countless hours doing it by hand, maybe they would be willing to spend an analogous resource? It seems reasonable to me if you've already invested so much and paid in time. But yeah that's why I was asking if this was a non-code issue? Because they're presenting it as hey, we couldn't figure out the battery life in this post.
$200 mean very different things to different people. I would never say it's "reasonable" to expect anyone (including maintainers) to contribute money or code to an open source project. Must be easy for you to type these things from your comfortable armchair.
And I would like if someone could please confirm is this related to literal code problems or systemic problems with Apple and Google?
Re: Briar is in maintenance mode
#48> Last year, we decided that we wouldn’t realistically be able to solve these issues and so we reluctantly decided to shut down the project. If these are actually the problems, then why not throw 200 dollars of GPT 5.6 at these instead of shutting it down? Were these systematic problems (Apple/Google hegemony, for example) that couldn't be beat with code?
The locking down of the Android platform, IME, is a massive, decade-long process[2] with "full speed ahead" corporate backing. Even just a few years ago, you could maybe code around some of the restrictions (if supported by users going into settings and tapping some checkboxes); today it's impossible even with root. To get working "push notifications" outside of the official channel, you need to hack the support into the OS - or accept that you probably will get the notification, but it can be anytime from a few minutes to a quarter hour before your app receives it.
[1] In which case, making them use tens of thousands of AI-generated code "for security" is a clear moral hazard you probably don't want to walk into.
[2] I don't want to judge whether it's a move in the right direction or not - that's a separate matter. But it is happening.
Re: Briar is in maintenance mode
#49Re: Briar is in maintenance mode
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
Give that a try and let us all know how it goes. :)
I would imagine pretty good if it's actually just a code issue