Messaging — Community App Review
Version: 1.5.2
An SMS and MMS app for e-ink, with Desktop Sync: a page the phone serves to your own machine so you can text from a keyboard. A fork of QUIK, and a spiritual continuation of lamdanAmiti’s popular InkMessage app. This has been my daily driver for a while now and I want to share it with the community–enjoy.
Review for version 1.5.4
User rating: ★★★★★
I have just started using this for messaging. It has been great so far.
The Desktop sync allows you to see pictures that people send you in color, which is great for people you can’t convert to alternative messaging.
Review for version 1.5.4
User rating: ★★★★★
This is the one! I noticed on 1.5.8 that you managed fit all the settings on a single page to avoid scrolling. Would be great if this paging behavior was on Contact lists, and conversation lists, but otherwise this is now my default app. Great work.
Review for version 1.5.4
Author’s rating: ★★★★★ · Author of this review
I’m taking the paging behavior into consideration–thanks for the suggestion.
So glad you are digging the messaging app!
edit: I added the paging behavior straight from the MDD style guide and it’s so much better–thank you again for suggesting it! Latest release has it.
Review updated by @wander
- Version:
1.5.4→1.6.3- Checksum:
75b873cf646cdb0f0d6303527aa1fc9175f1aa5b491d7157078eb11a2f9238fd→27ecb93ea13047fd222758f90d3f63f1931647305c5dafa05f45ec972ec60ea1
Review for version 1.6.3
User rating: ★★★★★
You’re patching faster than I can report issues, how do i give six stars? 
Review for version 1.6.3
User rating: ★★★★★
Looks great. Two points on the desktop sync: I also encountered the IP bug reported on GitHub, but worked around it as suggested by temporarily toggling cellular data off before generating the link. Second, it’s not possible to copy the text of the link with the long token; you have to type it by hand, and it’s very difficult to tell the difference between characters like “lI1” and “O0”, so it can take some time to figure out the correct URL.
Review for version 1.6.3
User rating: ★★★★★
Haven’t attempted the desktop sync but I downloaded the app to see if I would like the layout better than InkMessage, and I do! Thanks for this, very clean and minimal while including features I prefer to have, like voice messages.
Review for version 1.6.3
Author’s rating: ★★★★★ · Author of this review
I used InkMessage basically since it was released–such a great app. But I was craving the Desktop Sync (I used to have Google Messages thru Google Fi). It can work on LAN if you’re home pretty easy.
Glad you like it!
Review for version 1.6.3
User rating: ★★★★★
Verrrrrry happy with this. Thank you so much wander. You and Claude did an awesome job over the last week of intense development on this. (I read through all the commit messages.)
Only been using for a week or so, but if you’re reading this far in the future and I haven’t edited this comment, you can assume my opinion still stands the same. Try it out. It’s way better than the stock SMS app and got tons of improvements over InkMessage too.
Review for version 1.6.3
Author’s rating: ★★★★★ · Author of this review
yeah! i’m having so much fun with these updates (tokens were 50% 
); really getting lots of polish in. i am having fun sharing too–knowing you all are appreciating it motivates me to keep tinkering.
<3
Review updated by @wander
- Version:
1.6.3→1.11.2- Description updated
- Checksum:
27ecb93ea13047fd222758f90d3f63f1931647305c5dafa05f45ec972ec60ea1→3f2721001ca664752f326b34e727f50748ecb851f4a91c05cf5c8e375a42bec5
Review updated by @wander
- Version:
1.11.2→1.12.0- Description updated
- Checksum:
3f2721001ca664752f326b34e727f50748ecb851f4a91c05cf5c8e375a42bec5→ff121b4876d8f104605b3309ef6b647572b7a7f5c6f70ef5211d507ea116562d
Review for version 1.12.0
User rating: ★★★☆☆
Is there a way to see the sources for this ? I guess you didn’t implement the cryptographic part yourself so which projects did you use to do that?
Review for version 1.12.0
Author’s rating: ★★★★★ · Author of this review
Yes — all of it: GitHub - wanderwildwood/kotozute: Messaging — SMS, MMS and Signal for e-ink screens, with a web page for texting from your own computer. · GitHub . GPL-3.0-only, inherited from QKSMS by way of QUIK and InkMessage, and it’s what the release APKs are built from.
You guessed right, none of the cryptography is mine. Signal support links Signal’s own published libraries, unmodified:
libsignal (org.signal:libsignal-android:0.102.0) — the protocol itself, AGPL-3.0
signal-service (com.github.turasa:signal-network:2.15.3_unofficial_152) — a fork of Signal’s service layer, GPL-3.0
That’s the same pair signal-cli builds on; I read the artifact and version out of its gradle files rather than guessing. The app holds a Signal identity of its own and talks to Signal’s servers directly, as a device linked to your account or registered on your number — no bridge, no relay. It is an unofficial third-party client and none of this code has been reviewed by anyone at Signal, which is worth weighing before you point your account at it.
Desktop Sync has no home-made crypto either: plain HTTP confined to your Tailscale tailnet, which encrypts the connection, plus a random 120-bit token per install. Or you can choose to completely confine this feature to your own LAN if you choose.
The README covers the reSignal and Licence —including why the built app can’t honestly be called GPL alone once libsignal is in it.
Please let me know if you have any other questions 
Thanks for the review. I appreciate your blog! Happy trails.
Review for version 1.12.0
User rating: ★★★★★
is there any chane that whatsapp can be implemented in this as well? It looks very nice.
Review for version 1.12.0
User rating: ★★★☆☆
Hey, thanks for the lengthy reply. It is really clear and helpful. I put 3 stars because I was forced to review but I haven’t tested the app yet because I wanted to investigate a bit the code before trusting it with my signal account 
Review for version 1.12.0
User rating: ★★★★★
Adding Signal is awesome! If WhatsApp were added too, that would make every European happy, …but I want to reject everything from Meta, so I guess I’m one of the exceptions. So you’ve created the perfect opportunity here to make the switch 
.
Question: do you have any idea why sending photos via Signal causes them to appear as attachments instead of as photos? I can’t view them on the Mudita Kompakt itself, the web app makes it a downloadable attachment.
I did a test and this was the outcome… (below are two screenshots at the same time):
Review for version 1.12.0
User rating: ★★★★★
exactly, in the Netherlands at least I know 1 person who uses it. Everyone uses WhatsApp. If there was WhatsApp support for this it would be amazing.
Review for version 1.12.0
Author’s rating: ★★★★★ · Author of this review
Thanks for finding all of these with me and helping resolve them! It was a key-name mismatch–the latest version has this fixed.
As for WhatsApp integration: I’m not a fan of tech conglomerates–FOSS is a deep value of mine. Likewise, because WhatsApp isn’t open source (and I don’t have an account personally), it would be a lot of work to implement. So… it’s not happening.
Sorry Europe, we are socially integrated with big-tech in ways that are hard to reconcile here too 
.
