Hello everyone,
while I wait for my Kompakt to be shipped, I’m starting to explore potential improvements for it
Like many of you here, most of my personal and work communication happens on Signal and WhatsApp. Since these apps have become the de facto replacement for SMS in many parts of the world, wouldn’t it make sense to show a notification counter on the lock screen?
I’d like such option but for myself, seeing/hearing any notifications is the FOMO driver, not the app itself. I might be moderately hit by the smartphone anxiety though.
I would personally also like to see this for communication apps.
It’s a tough balance for Mudita to weigh though. If these apps then why not slack, teams, discord, email, etc.
i think its worth managing expectations maybe, if an app relies on google play services for notifications, then my expectation is this wont be supported since play services arent supported as part of the design nature of this phone.
molly (as opposed to signal) can i believe support notifications outside of google play service, not sure how that works though id love some potential support for that in the future
but i dont know how much notifications can be supported without google spy apps for many if not most sideloaded apps… ?
All apps on F-Droid do not rely on GMS (Google Mobile Services) for notifications. They also strive to offer only apps that are reproducible, free of trackers and proprietary bits.
Specifically, Molly uses UnifiedPush to deliver notifications. I believe Signal-FOSS uses a local socket.
So yeah, there are many open-source apps that could benefit from this feature.
I’m not asking for full-blown notifications, but I think a small notification counter for enabled communication apps in the lockscreen is a reasonable request.
@eden We touched upon this subject in a previous topic. Our team told me that Mudita Kopakt does not have a notifications tray. It’s intentional. It’s to minimize distractions & not be bombarded with constant notifications.
As of now, Mudita Kompakt has have full-size full-screen notifications for calendar events and alarm.
@urszula that’s good to know. To be fair I don’t mind this idea either. If it’s really important, call me! Otherwise it can wait. This is the shift I think is quite important (look at how people’s brains switched in Spain recently with the power outage) but maybe will take some getting used to
Part of that instant gratification issue, it’s even present in bank apps (different topic though )
Agree!! Would love just this feature. SMS notifications show on the lock screen, so there is at least some functionality there.
Alternatively, if Mudita are keen to not have such notifications, I wish we could toggle SMS off the lock screen AND set just the message ringtone to silent. Having a hybrid setup where the phone pings but you can’t see what app received a message is not ideal.
I respect the design choice. People don’t know they don’t need it. We can just check Signal for messages when WE want to and not when the APP wants us to. We can tell our friends and family to SMS or Call if its time sensitive.
For me, lock screen notifications like shown in the mock-up would be a game changer for the Kompakt. I just want to emphasise the need for this feature — I don’t want to have to check my phone manually.
I imagine a settings menu similar to the one for the app layout, where you can enable or disable lock screen notifications for each app individually.
I think there should be an option because, for me, this would support the philosophy and goals behind the Kompakt.
A plus would be to pick a different app for the center slot on the home screen.
I also would like to have the possibility to see what kind of message just came in. I am only receiving Signal messages and emails and I can just hear the ring. Then I have to open both apps to see what came in.
I do understand the design decision behind it but for me it does not work out. When I do not want to be disturbed I have the offline switch on the side, which am actively using and very happy with it. But when I have time and want to be able to receive messages I would like to know where they are coming from.
I would really love this too! I think you should have the option to have notifications for any app, especially things like Signal, Whatsapp, and Beeper. I have tried turning notifications off before on phones and it actually makes me access them much more. If I was able to see the notification count my digital lifestyle would be much healthier and moderate.
Just posting to echo the same sentiment as many others in here. Huge selling point of the e-ink screen is being able to have a ‘live’ display that could show time and notifications at a glance without having to – physically grab it > unlock > apps > next page > check signal > no new message > check email > turns out it was junk I could have ignored just knowing it wasn’t a signal message – is not an improvement. Just because something isn’t an emergency doesn’t mean there isn’t a handful of people I would like to respond to in a timely manner. Ironically, the only SMS messages I get are junk so what I do see counters for is the things I don’t want to see. It isn’t lost on me that I am using the phone in an “unsupported” manner, but the user ethkinber is right, if it is okay to be distracted by SMS messages why would a different text messaging platform be treated differently.
Overall it is a really nice device and I am looking forward to using it more, I am grateful that Mudita built this on Android and did not put difficult blockers in the way of people wanting to sideload a few apps they deem is necessary for their day-to-day. Even with some minor gripes I am really enjoying having a device that has just enough to be connected with the people I want to be connected with, 2FA, ability to stream music, even maps and a web browser that’s enough to get by in a pinch but with enough friction that I’m not going to spend any more time in them than required. I know this is only v1.0 and improvements will come with time. I just hope Mudita continues to leave the choice in the hands of the users, having defaults that fit their specific ideology is fine but please don’t remove the option entirely. Maybe bury extra features in some menu that’s only visible if someone ‘touches’ a file through ADB or some other level of hoop jumping and I’d be completely satisfied.
I believe Signal-FOSS uses a local socket.