1. Install fdroid to get conversations for free
2. Install conversations from fdroid
3. Tap the invite link and follow the onscreen instructions in conversations
   1. If tapping the invite link doesnt open conversations, copy paste the invite link into the url of your phone’s web browser and press go.
4. Conversations will prompt you to disable battery optimizations. Make sure you do so.
   1. If you forget to disable battery optimizations, follow the instructions on this website: https://dontkillmyapp.com/

• Notifications are disabled by default on group chats.
  • To enable notifications in a group chat: open the group chat, press the three dots on top right, and tap “enable notifications”
• Make sure you disable encryption for large group chats. Otherwise, you will be stuck on a “Trust OMEMO Fingerprints” screen when sending a message to the group chat.
  • To fix: Open the group chat and tap the lock on the top right. Choose unencrypted.
• Some phones have trouble with notifications not working.
  • To fix: Conversations (main screen) three dots on top right => Settings => Expert Settings => Run service in foreground (at the bottom)

1. Get invited
2. Install chatsecure from app store
3. Enable notifications for chatsecure:
   1. Ensure there a green switch next to chatsecure on “Background App Refresh”:

1. Ensure there a green switch next to “Background App Refresh” on Chatsecure settings:

Have fun!

On iOS, if you notice that you’re not getting message notifications, your push connection may have been lost. This usually happens if you don’t use the app for awhile. You can reset it by doing the following in ChatSecure:

1. Tap the gear
2. Tap the (i) button beside your account
3. Tap “Server Information”
4. Tap “Reset”

Now you can exit settings.

If you see an ’X’ under push registration, then it needs to be reset.

This issue occurs on iOS devices because Apple doesnt allow apps to stay connected to 3rd party push servers, and intentionally forces the connection closed to encourage the use of iMessage. Consider a different platform that respects your freedoms¹.

Facebook, Slack, etc. used to allow you to connect to their services while having an account @anotherdomain.com similar to email ^{2 , 3}. However, since these companies make their money mining your data, allowing users to keep even some of their data private was against their business model ⁶. As such, they removed this feature. Furthermore, these services are run by companies which need to exponentially increase their profit every year. Communication platforms are inherently limited by the number of people that need their services. When the communication platform captures 90% of the market as a result of the network effect, the only way to turn the exponential profit increase the shareholders require is by abusing the users to a greater extent. The issue is the social structure of big tech corporations that produces the symptoms of centralization and a disregard for privacy. Fortunately, an alternative social organization can be understood by non-tech heads and tech heads alike!

What is the alternative social organization to Tech megacorps?

• Free software ⁷

Here, free refers to freedom NOT price. These freedoms are ensured by the software license and give the user the freedom to use, study, modify, and redistribute unmodified/modified copies of the software. These freedoms matter for non-programmers too! Consider the scientific process of peer review in which people with different financial interests review the content. Similarly, with free software, users with different financial interests can collectively and individually control the software on their computers. In contrast, with the proprietary program, only the proprietor is allowed to know what the program is doing and modify it. With nonfree software, studying what the program is doing is often illegal according to the terms of services of the program. The absolute power given to proprietary software companies by the end user license agreement often corrupts them ⁸.

• Federated network services

If the users believe the network (or server operator) is not sufficiently fulfilling their duties, they can switch with federated network services. For example, if you switch email providers from Gmail to Hotmail or Yahoo Mail you can still communicate with your old friends on Gmail. Any service that doesnt allow this should be resisted at all costs because it’s an artificial constraint that forces users to stick with a provider that mines their data just to communicate with their friends.

To encourage this alternative social organization, I run my own server which allows you to connect using @anotherdomain.com (federation), use free software apps, and use the best encryption (OMEMO) available so even the server operator (anjan) cannot read your messages ⁹. I pay the money for the server out of my own pocket (24$ a month) and run the maintenance myself (about 1-2 hours a week). I pay with time and money so you don’t have to. =)