[Alpha] Greenline - A qml Whatsapp client for Ubuntu Touch

ChromiumOS-Guy

you need to add the ability to send files, you currently don't have the option so i cannot upload a .pptx for example.

brenno.almeida

@Linus67 The chat list is the source of truth for contact information, there's no separate list of contacts in this app. This makes the code easier to undersand and with fewer moving parts, but the tradeoff is that to render the person name in the group it needs to exist as a individual in the list, so removing chats is not possible.

This is unlikely to change, would add a complexity I don't want to manage. However I do plan to add basic filtering in the list, similar to how Teleports works, which should mitigate this.

brenno.almeida

@pparent No plans for a confined version, mainly due to the burden of mantaining two versions of the same app. The best move here is to work with UT devs for proper support of backgroud services for click packages, so this app can run confined as is.

Support for pausing the daemon when app closes is planned tho, which achieves the same result I think.

brenno.almeida

@ChromiumOS-Guy contributions are welcome! But support for all message types is planned before going beta

StephPTi

i just found something. i deleted a whole conversation thread on my whatsapp android but i still can see it on greenline and i cannot delete it. i had this behavior on other whatsapp web based apps

Linus67

@StephPTi
Now you can see in Greenline: Meta stores all your actions on WhatsApp. If you like a comment in a group, that contact is stored in the database linked to your phone number. You can view all these records now in Greenline.
You now have a complete list of the phone numbers (contacts) to which you have ever reacted or commented. This is part of the metadata that WhatsApp stores permanently on its servers: when you interacted with whom. This means that most of what you delete in WhatsApp is simply hidden.

In a future version of Greenline, it may be possible to hide this ‘metadata’.

brenno.almeida

There's a new release for this app. I recommend disconnecting an connecting Whatsapp after installing this update using the settings since there was some rework on how messages are represented, which can lead to old glitched messages. Since its an alpha, I'm not guaranteeing consistency on each update:

https://github.com/brennoflavio/greenline/releases

Better offline mode: now if the app has no connection, messages are queued to be sent once connection is back
Optimizations for rooms that had a lot of replied messages, should load faster now
Now the pending / sent / delivered / read icons matches closely with whatsapp
Better handling when whatsapp servers are unavailable, avoiding app crashes
Better media previews: now you can zoom in / out images, its easier to pause / reproduce videos, and better look and feel
Fixed a bug where if the person used whatsapp on two devices (like web and app), its chat appeared duplicated and in groups the profile picture did not appear when the message was sent from the second device
Prevent app crash when trying to download media while offline

Linus67

@brenno.almeida
The installation went smoothly and without any issues.

One thing that would be really useful:

When there are lots of new messages for a contact or in a group, I can see the correct number (e.g. 20). Perfect!
When I go into the chat and want to read the messages, I can’t tell which 20 are the new ones.
When the contact or group chat is opened, you should be able to see which messages haven’t been read yet.
When you leave the chat, all messages should be marked as read.
Now I have to spend time reading the messages to figure out if I’ve already read them.

Many thanks for your work on this exciting implementation of a third-party WhatsApp solution in QML for Ubuntu Touch!

nbdynl

@brenno.almeida great work!only use your app now since it is fast smooth and reliable.

only hickup, anyone else keeps missclicking the send button? its really hard to press for some reason (xiaomi redmi note 9 pro)

mihael

@nbdynl said:

anyone else keeps missclicking the send button?

I don't have this problem.

projectmoon

@nbdynl said:

@brenno.almeida great work!only use your app now since it is fast smooth and reliable.

only hickup, anyone else keeps missclicking the send button? its really hard to press for some reason (xiaomi redmi note 9 pro)

I have this issue on the Quintus. Maybe the mouse area is too small?

mihael

Thank you again for this app!

If I can draw attention to one detail (I don't want you to be overwhelmed with requests):

The app somehow refreshes itself at a few seconds interval.
That makes that, while I scroll down the list of messages in order to look for an older conversation, suddenly the app takes me back to the top.
I think the same thing happens inside a conversation when there is a long message and I click on "read more" - after a few seconds the message collapses again.

I opened an issue for it: https://github.com/brennoflavio/greenline/issues/4

Again, a big thank you!

nbdynl

@brenno.almeida the version after fixes the counter that kept growing till reboot. amazing

brenno.almeida

Thanks you all, keep feedback coming, it helps a lot. No problem to report usability / polish issues aswell.

@nbdynl yeah broke that a while ago, still not 100% correct as muted chats still counts but at least consistent now.

Vlad Nirky

@brenno.almeida
Thanks a lot for this great app!
I get the impression—purely subjective, mind you—that the app uses quite a bit of power.
Do you think it would be possible to add an option in the settings to set the refresh rate for new messages (or even to stop it unless I check manually)?
Or am I mistaken?
What do you think?

Linus67

@Vlad-Nirky I use the latest version from yesterday and test it over last night.
I haven't noticed any increased battery drain. The Pixel 3a switches to deep sleep mode without any issues. < 2% battery drain per hour. Tested last night with notifications enabled.

brenno.almeida

@Vlad-Nirky Its not an impression, the app is inefficient in its current state, optimizations are needed. The perception will vary depending on the amount of whatsapp data you receive. Its a combination of having the backend written in python (which means that on receiving new events, a python process is created to process it on the fly) and the qml frontend re-rendering on each event that emits a qml update. So for example receiving a new chat means re-rendering the whole chat list.

Not too worried about it yet, but something for me to look in the future. I'm not 100% decided on how this app will manage its data so not gonna waste time optimizing something that might change. Probably will get back to this once the app support all possible Whatsapp events / message types, which will give clarity on how to model everything.

ChromiumOS-Guy

@brenno.almeida so a premenantly temporary solution.
yeah just make sure to refactor at some point. great client as is but i recommend you structure the client around the data not the other way, that way lies pain suffering and keyboard bashing.

brenno.almeida

@ChromiumOS-Guy please keep the discussion on feedback and suggestions, avoiding giving orders or similar statements.

The way you put it is a bit rude for my taste. It does not sound intentional, but with a bit of out of context to me. Its not that the app is being developed without a data model in mind, more like new requirements (replies, edits, new message types, etc.) requires rethink on how things are done, which is pretty common on any medium o higher complexity project.

ChromiumOS-Guy

@brenno.almeida i am sorry i did not mean to hurt you or be rude. as for permanently temporary solutions again my advice is to avoid this or refactor after the fact.
high complexity means compromises what im advising here is that for what your describing i don't think you should compromise right now because you won't be able to back out without a lot of effort.