#deltachat Desktop can now run on Firefox and Safari, entirely avoiding Electron and Chromium! It's an intended side-effect of the "porting Desktop to Tauri" effort led by @npub1t0n6...7d8g which aims to provide a non-Electron packaged version of the Desktop. Here is a video and deep dive into what's working on regular browsers now, and what's missing for a full Web version:
For those wondering about Microsoft Recall because of #Signal's blog post about an option to block screenshots on Windows: #deltachat Desktop on Windows and MacOS have an option to disable screenshots in "Advanced" settings since beginning 2025. It's not enabled by default because we first need to work hard on drafting a big blog post about it .... just kidding :) We'll see if we change the default. We certainly agree that Microsoft needs to change their AI-grabbing and privacy violations.
Transparency report: #deltachat gave out data for the following number of users in the last years: 0, nada, zilch. granted, it helps to not have data to begin with :) #Telegram is the exact opposite: they have _all_ the data about users, message histories, contacts, group and channel memberships, phone numbers, media files, bot interactions etc .... all in the clear on their central server, ready to be grabbed.
It had to happen: in-chat multi-player #Quake III Arena #webxdc app, running over @npub1pez7...6yrq and using the fine work of folks. Quake3 app is 1.2MB but you need to download once a game file of ~50 MB. It's only one level. Realtime-P2P-networked multiplayer gaming with games arranged in securely end-to-end encrypted email. Both Quake3's in-game chat as well as gameplay messages have forward-secrecy. What a weird future, eh? :)
Russian authorities continue to demand the impossible, namely that we give them user data we don't have. Today the Moscow City Court rejected our objections and sided with the communication surveillance authority Roskomnadzor and the Federal Security Buereau (FSB). Not too surprising. Many more details and next step considerations you can find in this press release 📄.pdf #deltachat #russia #e2ee #chatcontrol
In the bottom left corner of Germany, we are staging a cross-community gathering called "DIFF" during June 7-17th. See our invitation video and blog post. It's probably the best opportunity so far to become part of what is happening behind the scenes ;)
We increasingly hear about China travellers who use #deltachat successfully where Whatsapp and Signal fail to work. Recently a family onboarded including a 85 old mother, to prepare for China travel. Everbody succeeded, no troubles! #deltachat is all about resiliency and "just works" user experiences. Despite ongoing and prospective network blocking attempts, our apps manage to mitigate and remain working everywhere. Meanwhile we are preparing some next level resiliency/security features ;)
1 cent per five years .... is the current marginal hosting cost for a #chatmail address, with which #deltachat apps facilitate world-wide private messaging including interactive #webxdc apps that run end-to-end encrypted in any chat group. <1 Million EUR per year is the estimated marginal hosting costs for 350 Million EU citizens. Such scaling requires, however, research and development, including careful UX and #cryptography work. Related writing from @npub16sw5...4c8a image
Yesterday, 20 people from the community onboarded with #DeltaChat in Lusaka, Zambia. Everything worked! Usability, privacy and #OfflineFirst ops were appreciated and #webxdc app based organizing met strong interest. Many participants engage in addressing challenges from surveillance state actors, family and partner abuse. Moreover, people with visual impairment were happy about Android's screen reader support. It's events like this that validate our efforts! #africa image
We have several ground breaking developments going on in the background, and frankly, it's sometimes hard to not pre-announce them excitedly :) However, we struggle to acquire public funding after the OTF contract broke away in February. Current need is around ~50K per month for ~10 people. , and we would like to support some contributors to switch their day job. Fallback: even if funding dries up, #deltachat is bound to continue to work. It's pretty maintainable and intrinsically motivated.