monocles chat

monocles chat#

A user-friendly XMPP Client#

Features#

Easy to use#

The intuitive interface provides easy access to all functions and settings.

Secure End-to-End Encryption #

Supporting both PGP/MIME and OMEMO for encryption and not relying on any intermediaries to handle the keys.

You are in control thanks to self-custody of all the keys!

Getting Started#

Create or Login with an existing Account#

Open the monocles chat app
Tap on "Accounts" (at the bottom right of the screen).
Tap on the "Add Account" symbol (second from the top right on the screen).
Enter the credentials to log into your account.
- "Hostname" will be the Address of the Server you want to connect to. For monocles.chat Service this would be monocles.eu. If you use a different XMPP Server than please check on their Website for the correct address,
- "Port" will be the TCP/IP port used to connect to the Server. It is 5222 per default and also on monocles.chat ...
- "Chat Address" refers to the full Username. It will be something like xavier.sample@monocles.chat and usually the part behind the @ is the same as the Hostname mentioned before.
- "Password" is the password to login to your XMPP account.
- The toggle for "Create Account on Server" only applies if you want to create an account on a server that supports in-band registration, which monocles.chat doesn't. Please don't toggle it if you want to login to an existing account, like your monocles account.

Add or Remove Contacts#

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Start a Conversation / Chat#

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Leave a Conversation / Chat#

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Wipe a Chat#

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Use with Tor #

monocles chat supports using Orbot for using Tor network and "torify" it's traffic as well as access Servers with .onion Domains, which are known as Onion Services.

Please see our general guide on torification for instructions.

Monocles chat is preconfigured with the default settings of Orbot in that configuration, if you activate it.

If you configured the Ports differently, you need to adjust those in the Settings as well.

Downloads#

F-Droid #

We recommend using F-Droid in case you want to sideload the App onto devices without Google Play or F-Droid.

However it is highly recommended to install F-Droid in order to get updates and notification about new Versions when they are available.

Google Play #

Google Play will require you to have a device with Google Apps installed on them as well as a Google Account.

These may however not be available to you or in your juristiction.

Limitations and Known Issues#

As per our pledge to transparency, we want you to know these.

Certain Features don't work with my XMPP provider of choice#

Please check XMPP Standard Compliance with our Tool.#

In cases where this is not 100% (unlike monocles.chat) you can download the report and contact the Administrator of your XMPP server with it.

monocles staff can't assist you in this matter as this is outside of our reach!

Tor & VPN#

XMPP can be tunneled via Tor in it's messages.#

However, voice and video calls may not work reliably over Tor since those use UDP per default and may timeout due to excessive lags.

Preliminary tests show that some tools like inVizible and most VPNs from commercial VPM providers should however make it work.

This is - of course - not an endorsement of any provider or service.

A VPN does not replace proper IT- and communications sercurity, as it merely redirects the problem of trust from one provider to another.
Be aware of the limitations and issues any VPN has and realize that logless VPNs don't exist - period.
- None of them would ever try to cover up crimes because they legally can't and won't !

OS Support#

The monocles chat App is available for Android only.#

However monocles chat Service can also be accessed with any other XMPP client.

We recommend Gajim for graphical Desktops which can be downloaded from their project page.

Wiping#

Wiping is an Intent - not something that can be forced upon the recipient!#

Servers and Clients on both ends can disregard or ignore that request and still log and save everything sent to them.

This is sadly not fixable by the protocol or the client!
Monocles will however will delete the locally stored / cached messages on your end!

Correcting Messages#

Correcting Messages is an Intent - not something that can be forced upon the recipient!#

Correcting / Changing a Message is not supported unless explicitly enabled!

This is sadly not fixable by the protocol or the client!
Monocles will however will change the locally stored / cached messages on your end!

Functions ceasing to work#

I.e. "I can't make a photo / video from within the App"#

This is a feature of Android since Version 12 and subsequently Android-ROMs/Distributions like GrapheneOS: (Unused) Apps get their permissions revoked (if the associated intents are not being used).

This is done to combat malware that requests excessive permissions and data.

The only known option is to reeenable said permissions in the Settings App under `Apps` -> `monocles chat` -> `Permissions`.#

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