Briar is a messaging app designed to be used by groups of people to allow for secure and censorship resistant communications.
This technically isn’t self hosted in the strictest sense but I think it is still relevant.
Briar is a messaging app designed to be used by groups of people to allow for secure and censorship resistant communications.
This technically isn’t self hosted in the strictest sense but I think it is still relevant.
Messages are only sent when both online though, thet’s the bigger difference (unless using Briar Mailbox). Also it can send over wifi and bluetooth without internet connection i.e. no other devices involved.
That’s an entirely different thing, yes. 😄
I’ve always wondered what the utility is in sending messages over Bluetooth. Exchanging data secretly and securely in person, I guess?
Anytime you have bad/no cellular reception. Think being at a large event where the cell network is saturated, or in a rural area with no cell service.
Right, but you have to be so close to each other for Bluetooth to work, so it seems very limited in utility. But of course, data exchange in person would be one thing.
Bluetooth has a pretty significant range, especially outdoors. So you might be watching something on the stage while a friend or family member is 300 feet away at a concession stand.
That’s pretty far, that makes it better I guess. Like you could send messages across buildings if you have line of sight e.g. That’s neat.
No one else then the parties messaging can see that the communication even occurs.
Right, but you have to be so close to each other for Bluetooth to work.
It transfers across other peers; you don’t have to have a direct connection to the recipient, just an eventual connection to them.
But you have to directly connect to other people’s devices via Bluetooth along the way, right? Like a relay race of handing over the message until you either reach a network, or the recipient?
I… don’t actually know. I wouldn’t think that would be necessary (at least manually).
If not, it goes against everything I thought I understood about Bluetooth 😆 Curious to know how it actually would work.
I’ve used it to message someone while on a flight.
That’s brilliant use, I like it.
So how does it work? Do you just need to “have Bluetooth turned on” and it reaches the recipient, or do you need to connect to each other somehow? Can this work for a group chat with a family, or colleagues on a conference trip perhaps?
You need to enable Bluetooth as a method of connection in the app settings (and can turn off wifi and data there).
The phones can be in airplane mode but with Bluetooth turned back on (as you would to use earbuds).
I don’t recall pairing the phones, but there is a “connect via Bluetooth” option on each chat that might be doing that automatically.
You link accounts to each other by scanning qr codes.
It does have a group chat but I haven’t used it, so I don’t know if that works with Bluetooth alone.
I just tried testing this with an old phone of mine, but can’t get it to work right now (maybe because it has Graphene os?), but I have actually used it on flights in the past.
I tested some more and can’t get it to work any more. I found a post saying it worked in 1.5.2 so maybe something broke in newer versions.