Tindroid: Tinode Messaging Client for Android

Android instant messenger using Tinode backend. Beta-quality software. Debug APKs are available in releases.

This is NOT a standalone app, this is just a frontend, a client. It requires a backend. See installation instructions.

Tindroid is an Android client, not a standalone service. Before using it, deploy or connect to a Tinode backend; see the backend installation instructions.

• Android Studio with Android SDK Platform 36 installed. The app is built with API 36 and supports devices running Android 8.1 (API 27) or newer.

• JDK 17. Android Studio's bundled JDK can be used; command-line builds require JAVA_HOME to point to a JDK 17 installation.

• A Firebase google-services.json for the Android application ID co.tinode.tindroidx, placed at app/google-services.json. The file is intentionally ignored by Git. See Push notifications for setup.

• A local keystore.properties file in the repository root. The current build script loads this file for every build, including debug builds. Do not commit it. For example:

  storeFile=/absolute/path/to/release.keystore
  storePassword=your-store-password
  keyAlias=your-key-alias
  keyPassword=your-key-password

Clone and build a debug APK:

git clone https://github.com/tinode/tindroid.git
cd tindroid
./gradlew assembleDebug

The APK is written to app/build/outputs/apk/debug/app-debug.apk. To install it on a connected emulator or device, run:

./gradlew installDebug

You can also open the repository root in Android Studio, let Gradle sync, then select the app debug configuration and run it.

Run local unit tests with:

./gradlew test

With an emulator or device connected through adb, run instrumentation tests with:

./gradlew connectedDebugAndroidTest

assembleRelease produces a minified, signed release APK using the credentials in keystore.properties:

./gradlew assembleRelease

The release APK is written to app/build/outputs/apk/release/app-release.apk.

Debug builds use sandbox.tinode.co as their default server; release builds use api.tinode.co. These defaults are defined as default_host_name in app/build.gradle and can be changed when maintaining a custom build.

If you are not cloning but building from a downloaded archive, open the build.gradle file in the root of the extracted archive, find the definitions for gitVersionCode() and gitVersionName() functions and replace their Git-based values with static values, for example:

static def gitVersionCode() {
   return 1234
}

static def gitVersionName() {
   return '1.23.4'
}

You still need the local keystore.properties and app/google-services.json files described above.

• Read client-side and server-side API documentation.
• For support, general questions, discussions post to https://groups.google.com/d/forum/tinode.
• For bugs and feature requests open an issue.
• Use https://tinode.co/contact for commercial inquiries.

• If you appreciate our work, please help spread the word! Sharing on Reddit, HN, and other communities helps more than you think.
• Consider buying paid support: https://tinode.co/support.html
• If you are a software developer, send us your pull requests with bug fixes and new features.
• If you use the app and discover bugs or missing features, let us know by filing bug reports and feature requests. Vote for existing feature requests you find most valuable.
• If you speak a language other than English, translate the apps into your language. You may also review and improve existing translations.
• If you are a UI/UX expert, help us polish the app UI.
• Use it: install it for your colleagues or friends at work or at home. Please contact us if you want to participate in closed testing.

• One-on-one conversations and group chats.
• Channels with unlimited number of read-only subscribers.
• Video and audio calling one-one-one.
• Attachments, inline images and videos, voice messages.
• Unread message counters.
• Push notifications and in-app presence notifications.
• Message status notifications: message delivery to server; received and read notifications; typing notifications.
• Markdown-style formatting of text, e.g. *styled* → styled. Implemented as spannable.
• Editing sent messages, replying and forwarding messages.
• Trusted account badges: verified account, staff, etc.
• Form messages suitable for chatbots.
• Muting/unmuting conversations and other granular permission management.
• Integration with Android's stock Contacts.
• Invite contacts to the app by SMS or email.
• Transport Level Security - https/wss.
• Pinning conversations to the top of the list.
• Pinning important messages to the top of a conversation.
• Offline mode.

• End-to-end encryption.
• Recording of video messages.
• No support for switching between multiple backends.
• No support for multiple accounts.
• Mentions, hashtags.
• Previews not generated for audio, links or docs.

• Jackson for JSON serialization.
• Java-WebSocket for websocket support.
• ICU4J for Unicode support.

SDK contains no Android-specific dependencies.

• Google-Services for push notifications. See below.
• Crashlytics for crash reporting.
• Google MLKIT for QR code scanning.

• Google Flexbox, Google Material UI components.
• Coil for image downloading and caching.
• OSS Licenses Plugin for legal compliance with OSS licenses.
• LibPhoneNumber for phone number parsing and formatting.
• WebRTC build for audio and video calling.
• ICU4J for Unicode support.
• QR Code Generator for generating QR codes.
• Standard Android dependencies.

Demo avatars and some other graphics are from https://www.pexels.com/ under CC0 license.

Background patterns from http://subtlepatterns.com/, commercial and non-commercial use allowed with attribution.

The contacts.vcf contains a list of contacts which can be used for testing. Push it to your emulator using command

adb push contacts.vcf /sdcard/contacts.vcf

If you want to use the app with your own server and want push notification to work you have to set them up:

• Register at https://firebase.google.com/, set up the project if you have not done so already.
• Download your own config file google-services.json and place it to the app/ folder of your copy of Tindroid project. The config file contains keys specific to your Firebase/FCM registration.
• Copy Google-provided server key to tinode.conf, see details here.
• Recompile the app. If you add google-services.json incorrectly the app will compile but will later crash with non-obvious exceptions.

The app is currently available in the following languages:

• English
• Chinese (simplified)
• Chinese (traditional)
• French
• German
• Hindi
• Indonesian
• Italian
• Korean
• Portuguese
• Romanian
• Russian
• Spanish
• Ukrainian

More translations are welcome. See instructions.