[omemo] Add optional setting to enable encryption by default

Hi and thanks for a great plugin!

I couldn't find any existing issues on this.

What I am missing is a setting in the plugin's options to require encryption by default, so I don't send unencrypted messages unintentionally. In an older version of gajim/the plugin, sending unencrypted messages was very noticable due to the feedback from the UI, but now I can go a long time before noticing the unlocked lock icon.

It would be great if I could make encrypted messaging the default, requiring my disabling it manually for each chat every time if I want to chat unencrypted.

Thanks for reading!

changed title from [omemo plugin] Setting to require encyption by default to [omemo] Add optional setting to enable encyption by default

added Feature OMEMO labels

changed title from [omemo] Add optional setting to enable encyption by default to [omemo] Add optional setting to enable encryption by default

mentioned in issue #329 (closed)

mentioned in merge request gajim!366 (closed)

Please add this feature as soon as possible. It happens that people accidentally leak their messages until they realize they are not encrypting... There is no warning but a false sense of privacy...

This keeps happening to me, accidentally sending messages unencrypted.

This option is really needed. It keeps happening to me with new contacts, and other people I've set up with Gajim are also falling victim to this.

Yeah we are in the same boat. Imho its insane that this is still an issue. Keeps happening to ne and my friends as well.

This is now increasingly becoming a problem with my non-technical friends and family who are trying to use XMPP on their desktop.

Combined with the (in their eyes) dated look of Gajim (stacked messages, instead of easier to identify left and right positioned bubbles) this leads to frustration and leaves them with a negative experience of XMPP.

Some of them continue to use WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger amongst themselves, even thought they now have each other on XMPP too, meaning they're effectively only using XMPP to stay in touch with me.

The Conversations app for Android does a good job of making XMPP as easy to use as all the proprietary messaging apps they're using with everyone else, but on the desktop the XMPP experience needs major improvement for people to be willing to switch, instead of just humouring me.

The benefits of XMPP over the other platforms are obvious, so it shouldn't be this hard to get people to switch away from WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger to XMPP instead of Telegram and Signal.

Please provide a simple option to enable OMEMO encryption by default.

couldnt agree more. its a shame that this is still an issue...

Yeah, shame nobody wants to invest their free time.

Teach me how to code to your level of expertise, and I will fix this myself.

This is one of the most unhelpful types of reaction developers can give: "if you want feature X so bad, code it yourself."

I fully appreciate it must be frustrating, getting user after user after user, "demanding" that this gets fixed, that gets added, yet seemingly being unwilling to contribute.

I'm not unwilling to invest my free time. I simply do not have the skills to do the work. I have zero coding skills. I could invest my free time in learning how to code, but a) I don't have the chops for it (I've tried in the past, and majorly struggled), and b) even if I did, it would take me years to get to the same level as an experienced developer such as yourself and be able to work on a project like Gajim.

I am always more than willing to donate some of my time to a project. I helped EteSync with extensive testing of the integration modules for Evolution and Kontact, despite the fact I don't use either of those applications (I use Thunderbird + Lightning). I found bugs, reported them, did more testing, etc., I just couldn't contribute code to help fix the issues.

I also donate money to projects I believe in and/or actively use. Earlier this year I donated money to the Snikket project, despite the fact that I wasn't using it at the time. Unfortunately my money is extremely tight at the moment, due to having been out of work since March last year as a result of the ongoing pandemic. When money picks up again I will happily make a financial contribution to Gajim as I use it on a near daily basis.

As it stands, the lack of an option to enable encryption by default is a major annoyance that caught me out again just now, and I have no way of helping you out with the actual fix. That's should not stop me from reporting on it, or adding my voice to it.

I appreciate the hard work you put into this project, but please understand that some users are exactly that: just users who will report issues and request changes and new features, without being able to contribute in a meaningful fashion.

There are simply different priorities at the moment. We're working on updating Gajim's look, how conversations are organized and displayed (which you mentioned as well). And I see and support your point.

It's perfectly fine to add your voice to this issue here, but it's not if it's shaming developers for not working on this specific issue. That's what my snappish comment was about.

Thanks for explaining your position, much appreciated. I completely understand, both the need for prioritizing one issue over another, and not wanting to be called out for not having worked on a particular issue.

I'm really pleased to hear about the work being done on changing Gajim's appearance. In my experience "ordinary" users are really turned off by simple things such as the look of the app and/or the conversations. The fact that new chats are not encrypted by default is another one of those things.

Sadly it's those same users that hinder the adoption of XMPP as a genuine alternative to WhatsApp and the likes. They are easily swayed by looks and gimmicks (stickers, GIFs), and don't care about features that really matter, such as E2EE and privacy, because they don't understand them. If their XMPP app doesn't look as glitzy as, and/or is perceived to be harder to use than what they're used to, they will not change.

I'm fine, I run my own Snikket XMPP server now, but literally all my XMPP contacts only use it to communicate with me. Between themselves they still use WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, even if they have each other on XMPP as well, because they perceive those apps to be easier to use and more modern.

This encryption by default issue is a minor annoyance to me, and I can live with the current looks, but my contacts are actively dissuaded from using XMPP because of those issues; to them the encryption issue is a major annoyance. Two of them, whom I recently put in contact with each other on XMPP, have since taken their conversation off XMPP and over to Facebook Messenger, despite both of them still using XMPP with me. That says it all, really. Sigh.

Don't hesitate to contact me if I can be of assistance to the project in any other way than contributing code.

You should be able to use gajim!366 (closed) as a starting point. This should work, but I failed to debug why. But probably you'll get a lot of conflicts while rebasing, because the code is 2 years old.

I consider this a design error of the highest order. Couldn't be more counterintuitive, for anyone, not just new users. Why hasn't this been addressed properly for over 3 years?

I would honestly think this has much higher priority than a complete UI overhaul.

I apologize for the way this sounds, but I just started a new conversation, again, with an unencrypted message, one that most definitely should not have been unencrypted. Every single time this happens, it's just such an awful feeling.

Couldnt agree more... !

I'm closing this in favor of #583 (moved), which provides more details for a possible solution.

closed