Changelog

Cwtch Beta 1.10 - December 16th 2022

For a more detailed overview of changes present in the 1.10 release see issues tagged cwtch-beta-1.10 in our issue tracker.

A special thanks to the amazing volunteer translators and testers who made this release possible.

• New Features:
  • Fine-grained Profile Autostart - you can now control which profiles are automatically enabled at start up
  • New Connection Backend - we have reworked connection management in Cwtch to minimize contention inside the Tor process, and to prioritize regular contacts. This results in faster peering times, and more stable connections
• Bug Fixes / Improvements:
  • Profile Exporting now works on Android devices
  • Profile Image Shares are now re-initialized every start up to ensure that profile images are available to new contacts. (Previously profile image shares expired after 30-days like all other file shares)
  • Fix a bug that prevented sharing files on Android in certain configurations
  • Many colorscheme improvements to packaged themes
  • A new Juniper theme
  • Improved UX for unlocking profiles
  • Fix a bug that prevented the deletion of profiles
  • Streamer mode now hides cwtch addresses on configuration screens
  • Message formatting now applies to quoted messages
  • Message formatting can now be disabled when experiments are disabled
  • Fix bug that prevented Cwtch from finding packaged Tor binary in some installations
  • Upgrade to Flutter 3.3.5
  • New Android Splash Screen
• Accessibility / UX:
  • Full translations for Brazilian Portuguese, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Russian, Polish, Spanish, Turkish, and Welsh
  • Core translations for Danish (85%), Norwegian (85%), and Romanian (85%)
  • Partial translations for Luxembourgish (25%), Greek (19%), and Portuguese (7%)

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Cwtch Beta 1.9 - September 10th 2022

For a more detailed overview of changes present in the 1.9 release see issues tagged cwtch-beta-1.9 in our issue tracker.

A special thanks to the amazing volunteer translators and testers who made this release possible.

• New Features:
  • View Replies - quickly view all replies to a specific message
  • Manage Shared Files - pause or restart sharing of files to specific conversations
  • Pin Conversations - important conversations can now be pinned to the top of the conversations list
  • Experiment: QR Codes - start of functionality allowing sharing of Cwtch addresses via QR codes
  • Cwtch Handook is now available in Italian, German and Spanish
• Bug Fixes / Improvements:
  • Group messages are now viewable while the group is actively syncing
  • Group Anti-spam challenge/completion status is now surfaced in the UX
  • Fixed duplicate contact add bug (Android)
  • Introduced better error handling for the file sharing experiment
    • Automatic downloads are now not triggered if download directory does not exist or is incorrectly configured
    • Failed file downloads can now be restarted through the UX
  • Tor Version is now surfaced correctly in UI after restarts
  • Upgrade bundled Tor
  • Custom Tor SOCKS port configuration is now used
  • Peering attempts are now paused until Tor is fully bootstrapped
  • Per-conversation messages drafts are now saved while Cwtch is open
• Accessibility / UX:
  • Full translations for French, German, Italian, Russian, Polish, Spanish, Turkish, and Welsh
  • Core translations for Danish (85%), Norwegian (85%), and Romanian (85%)
  • Partial translations for Luxembourgish (25%), Greek (19%), Dutch (12%), and Portuguese (7%)
  • Updates to experiment descriptions to remove outdated references to previous versions

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Cwtch Beta 1.8 - June 28th 2022

For a more detailed overview of changes present in the 1.8 release see issues tagged cwtch-beta-1.8 in our issue tracker.

A special thanks to the amazing volunteer translators and testers who made this release possible.

• New Features:
  • New Message Formatting Toolbar
  • Apple Silicon Support
  • Brand New Documentation Handbook: docs.cwtch.im
• Bug Fixes / Improvements:
  • Clicking on a Quoted Message will not scroll to that message
  • Quoted messages are now clipped to single line to maximize space
  • Clicking a contact in a conversation to initiate a DM will now scroll the conversation list to that contact.
  • Cwtch is now based on Flutter 3
    • Linux: Holding down a keyboard key will now repeat input
  • Dropdown fields in Settings are now correctly scaled
  • Bug Fix preventing archived messages from displaying their correct timestamp
  • Syncing a new group on a new server will now update the syncing progress bar
  • Address has been removed from Group Conversation Settings as it no long has any practical use
• Accessibility / UX:
  • Full translations for French, German, Italian, Russian, Polish, Spanish, and Welsh
  • Core translations for Danish (89%), Norwegian (89%), and Romanian (89%)
  • Partial translations for Luxembourgish (24%), Greek (19%), and Portuguese (7%)
  • Add Contact UX has been split to prompt for a specific action instead on directly opening the Add Contact pane
  • Several small updates to theming
  • Image / File display overlay now displays timestamp like other messages
  • Snackbar notifications have been added for all copy actions
  • Conversation row now displays the date instead of time for conversations between 1 and 2 days old
  • Conversation row is now split onto multiple lines to better use space
  • When scrolling up a conversation, a button is now displayed to allow quickly scrolling to the most recent messages

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Cwtch Beta 1.7.1 - May 2nd 2022

• Bug Fixes / Improvements:
  • File download bubble fixes for when file is moved
  • Fixes for android reply to message
  • Fixes for message cache loading especially on android
• Accessibility / UX:
  • Minor improvements to message pane rendering on loading messages
  • Improve “new messages” bubble behaviour

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Cwtch Beta 1.7 - April 22nd 2022

For a more detailed overview of changes present in the 1.7 release see issues tagged cwtch-beta-1.7 in our issue tracker.

A special thanks to the amazing volunteer translators and testers who made this release possible.

• New Features:
  • Profile Export / Import - You can now move your profiles across devices by exporting them from one client and importing them in another. Note that there is still the limitation that only one instance of a profile can run at any one time
  • New Message Formatting Experiment - We have introduced a new experiment that allows a subset of markdown in messages including bold, italic and code - please see Disceet Log 28 for more information
  • Android Stability Improvements - One of the biggest chunks of work represented by this release is several improvements to the Android version of Cwtch. You can find our more in Disceet Log 27 for more information
  • New Setting: Android Battery Exemption Request - you can now request a power management exemption for the Cwtch application on Android directly from the Settings pane. Enabling this may allow Cwtch to run better on Android at the cost of increased battery use
• Bug Fixes / Improvements:
  • Android Security Flags - We have enabled several FLAG_SECURE on Android
  • Folder Selection Bug Fix
  • UI Profiles Pane now integrates output from the Network Health plugin to display if a profile appears offline
  • Improvements to the UI Message Cache including a new Bulk Fetching/Loading API for improved performance
  • Several small thread and memory inefficiencies and leaks have been fixed in the UI and underlying libraries resulting in substantially reduced memory use
  • Notification Policy Setting bug fix
  • Unread messages counts are now saved between client restarts on Android
  • In development mode the Settings pane fetches and displays output from GetDebugInfo
  • CWTCH-PROFILE environment variable will cause Cwtch to output profiling information when displaying Debug Info
  • Fixes and updates to the (un)installer for Cwtch on Windows
• Accessibility / UX:
  • Full translations for new features for French, German and Italian.
  • Add Contact UX has been split to prompt for a specific action instead on directly opening the Add Contact pane
  • Several small updates to theming
  • Image / File display overlay now displays timestamp like other messages

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Cwtch Beta 1.6 - February 11th 2022

For a more detailed overview of changes present in the 1.6 release see issues tagged cwtch-beta-1.6 in our issue tracker.

A special thanks to the amazing volunteer translators and testers who made this release possible.

• New Features:
  • Custom Profile Images
    • This requires enabling the Filesharing and Image Preview experiments
  • Advanced Tor Configuration
    • Cwtch can now be configured to cache Tor consensus information, use predefined ports, and connect to an external, system Tor
    • Tor Circuit information is now available for P2P Conversations
  • Notification Policies
    • You can now mute specific conversations, turn off notifications entirely, or switch all notifications to opt-in
• Bug Fixes / Improvements:
  • Images are now displayed for the sender as well as the recipients
  • Deleting P2P contacts is now supported again
  • Clickable Links will no longer prepend https to the text of the displayed URL
  • Closing via the windows exit button on Linux now triggers Cwtch to shut down cleanly
  • Packaged Tor has been upgraded
  • New integration testing infrastructure
  • Fixes to prevent extensive word wrapping on Android Devices (1.6.1)
  • Num-pad Enter now triggers sending a message, instead of inserting a new line (1.6.1)
  • Sending a message via a keyboard or via the send button now invokes identical logic (1.6.1)
  • Android Notification Image Fetching fixes (1.6.2)
  • Android Group Sync Status fixes (1.6.2)
  • Message View Rendering Issues fixes (1.6.2)
  • Improved Android Worker Robustness on Restart/Shutdown (1.6.2)
• Accessibility / UX:
  • Notifications are now translatable
  • Translations: French, Italian, German, Spanish, Romanian, Norwegian, Danish, Welsh, Russian, Polish, Luxembourgish and Greek (1.6.2)
  • Settings Pane is now broken down by subheadings
  • Message view now displays an estimated character count/limit for new messages
  • Fix bug that allows multiple file dialog windows to be opened when sharing a file
  • Number of unread messages from other loaded profiles are now summarized on the active profile

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Cwtch Beta 1.5 - December 21st 2021

For a more detailed overview of changes present in the 1.5 release see issues tagged cwtch-beta-1.5 in our issue tracker.

A special thanks to the amazing volunteer translators and testers who made this release possible.

• New Features:
  • Inline Image Preview Experiment - New experiment allows image files to be auto download and displayed
  • Profile level server management
    • See what servers your profile is connecting to, label them, and see what groups are hosted on them
    • Import hosted servers easily from the UI now
    • When creating groups, see the target server’s description in the dropdown
  • Clickable Hyperlinks Experiment
    • Thanks to Nima Boscarino
  • Many new themes! Ghost, Mermaid, Midnight, Neon 1 & 2, Pumpkin, Vampire, and Witch all with Dark and Light modes
• Bug Fixes / Improvements:
  • New Storage System
    • On the first load of any profile the Cwtch splash screen will show with a progress spinner while the old profile is migrated to the new storage system. This is a one time process, and may take up to a minute
    • This will enable a lot of improvements and new features going forward, and should be both more scalable and faster
  • Hosted server metrics: We now display “total message count” and “connections” on the server’s pane
  • Big improvements to message pane rendering speed on Android thanks to message caching enabled by new storage system
  • Fixed crash on startup if hosting servers that were not marked “autostart”
  • Minor improvement to server connection speed on startup
  • Windows Uninstaller
• Accessibility / UX:
  • Full French, Russian and Italian Translations!
    • Splash screen text is now translatable
  • Tor info pane displays bootup progress when starting
  • Adding contact pane now slides up on Android when keyboard is activated on small screens
  • Minor message padding adjustments for Android to be more efficent with limited display width

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Cwtch Beta 1.4 - November 5th 2021

For a more detailed overview of changes present in the 1.4 release see issues tagged cwtch-beta-1.4 in our issue tracker.

A special thanks to the amazing volunteer translators and testers who made this release possible.

• New Features:
  • Server Hosting Experiment! Please help us test this.
    • Go to Settings to Enable the Server Hosting Experiment
    • Create your own Servers to host groups on, share these publicly to allow others to privately host groups on your infrastructure or keep them private for more efficient groups
    • Only supported on Desktop applications
  • File Sharing Experiment now supports resumption within a 30 day window
    • Note: 1.4 File Sharing is not compatible with previous versions
• Bug Fixes / Improvements:
  • Improved handling of errored group messages in the UI
  • Consolidated timeline code for P2P and Group conversations
    • Together these should fix ordering instabilities seen in group chats
  • Introduction of new Zoned Attributes
  • Mac OS builds are now automatically built as part of our release pipeline - which means nightly releases are now available!
• Accessibility / UX:
  • Up to date French Translation
  • The start of a Polish Translation
• Planning / Design
  • We published a new roadmap for the next few versions of Cwtch Beta
  • Storage Engine Redesign (Implementation underway for 1.5)
  • Initial discussions/ draft of the new Hybrid Groups Protocol (planned introduction in 1.6)
  • Design of Additional UI Themes (to be included in 1.5)

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Cwtch Beta 1.3 - October 1st 2021

For a more detailed overview of changes present in the 1.3 release see issues tagged cwtch-beta-1.3 in our issue tracker.

A special thanks to the volunteer translators and testers who made this release possible.

• New Features:
  • File Sharing Experiment! Please help us test this.
    • Go to Settings to Enable the File Sharing Experiment
    • Share files with both Contacts and Groups without uploading to a centralized file server
    • For more information see our most recent Discreet Log #17: Filesharing FAQ
  • Streamer/Redaction Mode - Hide sensitive data (addresses etc.) when showing Cwtch to others
    • Enable in Settings
• Bug Fixes / Improvements:
  • Light Mode Fixes
  • Fix Crash that sometimes occurred after Deleting a Group
  • Reply buttons on Android now auto-hide
  • Shutdown button on Mac now works
  • Invitations on Android now persist state
  • Linux / Mac packaging / installer Improvements
  • (Tapir) More robust cryptographic checking on Cwtch addresses (these would have previously been caught in higher level authentication protocols, but are now rejected when importing addresses)
  • (Tapir) Duplicate connections are now explicitly resolved down to a single connection. This should improve performance and latency, especially in mobile environments
• Accessibility / UX:
  • Completed French Translation

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Cwtch Beta 1.2 - August 31st 2021

For a more detailed overview of changes present in the 1.2 release see issues tagged cwtch-beta-1.2 in our issue tracker.

A special thanks to the volunteer translators and testers who made this release possible.

• New Features:
  • Mac OS Version! Please help us test this.
  • An icon is now displayed when blocking of unknown contacts is enabled.
  • Chat now maintains your last read position and provides a quick way of scrolling to most recent messages.
  • The IME_FLAG_NO_PERSONALIZED_LEARNING flag on all text fields (private keyboard mode)
  • (Cwtch Server) New Docker Container
  • Archive Conversations
• Bug Fixes / Improvements:
  • Restyling of Message Composition bar buttons
  • Double Pane Scrolling Fixes
  • Fix Keyboard Issues on Android
  • Fix Cursor Issues on Android
  • Message Rows now have draggable/animated feedback for gesture-based actions
  • Upgrade to Flutter 2.5
  • Memory Use Improvements
  • (Group Experiment) Previously, group signatures assumed that Group ID was kept secret from the server in order to preserve metadata privacy. This is no longer assumed 1.2 which now only relies on Group Key being kept secret. This change is backwards incompatible and as such 1.1 clients will not be able to verify group messages from newer clients. For more information please consult the cwtch secure development handbook
• Accessibility / UX:
  • Completed French Translation
  • References to Peer replaced with more specific language (e.g. Contact or Conversation) throughout the UI

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Cwtch Beta 1.1 - July 15th 2021

For a more detailed overview of changes present in the 1.1 release see issues tagged cwtch-beta-1.1 in our issue tracker.

A special thanks to the volunteer translators and testers who made this release possible.

• New Features:
  • Support for Quoted Messages / Reply-to
  • Support for Multi-line Messages
  • Enable Autofill for Password Fields on Android
  • New Windows Installer
  • Improved Linux Install Scripts
• Bug Fixes / Improvements:
  • Client-side filtering of messages from blocked contacts when in group conversations
  • Improved handling of syncing groups on Android
  • Prevent sending empty messages
  • Prevent sending messages to offline contacts / servers
  • Fix high CPU usage on Windows
  • Fix for unintentional shutdown prompt when clicking on a notification in Android
  • Fix non-truncating contact names on Android
  • Fix regression that preventing unblocking contacts (v1.1.1)
• Accessibility / UX:
  • Completed French Translation
  • Updated German and Italian Translations (now 85% complete)
  • Improved Window Icon
  • Improved Group Syncing UI
  • Contextual explanations for encrypted/unencrypted profiles
  • Tooltips for various UI elements