FluffyChat Official Website | FAQ

Häufig gestellte Fragen

Du kannst dieses FAQ auf Weblate bearbeiten oder übersetzen.

# What is FluffyChat?

FluffyChat is a user-friendly, free, and ad-free open-source app based on the Matrix protocol and works similarly to Telegram or WhatsApp.
With FluffyChat, you can chat with your friends privately, create group chats, exchange voice messages, share pictures and videos, and even send your location.
And the best part:
FluffyChat is compatible with other Matrix messengers!

# Who is FluffyChat for?

FluffyChat is for anyone looking for a fast, user-friendly, and secure alternative to centralized messaging apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, or WeChat.

# Who created FluffyChat?

FluffyChat is developed by the community and was initiated by Christian (Krille) Kußowski. However there are a lot of contributors, either code or translations. You can find them here.

# How is FluffyChat funded?

FluffyChat is a non-profit project driven by volunteers and totally funded by donations.

# Is FluffyChat available on my device?

Yes! You can use FluffyChat on mobile phones, tablets, and as a web version on your PC. Available on Android (Play Store and F-Droid), iOS (App Store), as a web app and as a desktop app for Linux (Flathub, Snap Store). It even works on Linux phones by using the Arm64 version of the Flatpak/Snap. You can compile it for MacOS and Windows by yourself if you like, but that is not yet supported.

# How do I create a FluffyChat account?

When you first launch the app, you'll be asked to create a new Matrix account. Select a server (e.g., matrix.org), enter your desired username, and a secure password. Optionally, you can add an email address (this is helpful for password recovery, but not required).

# What is a Matrix ID?

Your Matrix ID is your unique username on the network, e.g., @name:matrix.org. It consists of your name and the server on which your account is located.

# How do I log in to FluffyChat?

If you already have a Matrix account, simply enter your Matrix ID (e.g., @name:matrix.org) and password. You can log in to any Matrix-compatible server because FluffyChat is decentralized.

# Do I need an email address for FluffyChat?

No, an email address is not required. However, it is recommended if you want to reset your password or verify your account.

# I forgot my password. What now?

If you provided an email address when creating your account, you can reset your password via the server website (e.g., https://matrix.org). Unfortunately, recovery is not possible without an email address. In this case, you will need to create a new account.

# I changed my device and now all my messages are encrypted. What now?

To read your encrypted messages on the new device, you need to restore the backup you created previously. Enter your backup key or password when setting up FluffyChat on the new device. Only then can your messages be decrypted. If you haven't created a backup or have lost the key, your encrypted messages unfortunately cannot be restored.

# How do I create a backup key in FluffyChat?

Open FluffyChat and go to the settings to the Chat Backup. There you can set up an encrypted chat backup. You will be asked to save a recovery key. Important: Make a note of this key or keep it safe. Without it, you won't be able to restore your encrypted messages on a new device.

# I found a bug. What now?

You can report bugs directly on Github. Alternatively, there's a public group chat on Messenger (#fluffy-space:matrix.org) where you can ask questions or send feedback.

# How can I get Push Notifications without Google Services?

Push notifications are a great way to make sure you don't miss important messages in FluffyChat. For users who do not use Google Services (for example Huawei Phones, Amazon Fire tablets or custom roms), setting up push notifications is slightly different.

FluffyChat attempts to set up push notifications automatically every time you launch the app. However, if you do not have Google Services on your device, you may receive an error message. In this case, it is necessary to use the an UnifiedPush app such as Ntfy, UP-FCM Distributor (Google) or Conversations.

Table of Contents

Using Ntfy

In this article, we'll show you how to configure push notifications on your Android device using the ntfy app.

🏪 Step 1: Installing and Setting Up ntfy

  1. If you already have FluffyChat installed but are not receiving push notifications, close the app completely (by swiping it away in the overview) and open the PlayStore (or F-Droid) on your Android device.

  2. Search for the app ntfy and install it.

  3. After installing ntfy, open the app at least once.

  4. Now, return to FluffyChat and open the app.

🔋 Step 2: Deactivate Battery Optimization for ntfy

To ensure that FluffyChat can reliably send push notifications, it's important to deactivate battery optimization for the "ntfy" app.

  1. Go to the [Android settings] on your device.

  2. Look for "Apps" or "Applications" and select "ntfy" from the list of installed apps.

  3. Tap on "Battery" and select "Battery optimization."

  4. In the list of apps exempted from battery optimization, make sure "ntfy" is selected.

✅ Step 3: Checking Push Configuration in FluffyChat

  1. Open FluffyChat and navigate to the [Settings].

  2. Choose "Notifications" from the menu.

  3. In the notification settings, you'll see a list of "Pushers." The "Pusher" for "ntfy" should be at the bottom of the list.

🥳 Step 4: Receiving Push Notifications

To ensure that everything is set up correctly, ask a friend to send you a message in FluffyChat and check if you receive a push notification.

Using Conversations

If you are using XMPP in addition to Matrix and already have Conversations configured, you can follow these steps to get FluffyChat push notifications through it:

  1. Open Conversations.
  2. Touch the three dots on top right.
  3. Select Settings and scroll down to UnifiedPush Distributor.
  4. Touch XMPP account and select the XMPP account you wish to receive notifications through.
  5. Open FluffyChat. If it doesn't offer to receive notifications through Conversations, check the notification settings (see step 3 for Ntfy above).

Following these steps should successfully set up push notifications in FluffyChat for users without Google Services. If you are interested in hosting your own push service, you can take a look at unifiedpush.org.

# How can I extend this FAQ?

On Weblate you can edit all entries of the FAQ and provide translations for your language. To edit a source entry of the faq, you need to edit the english version. As an admin you can also write new entries to it by going to English and tap on Add new translation. There you then need to define a key for the FAQ entry.

The key always starts with faq_questions. or faq_answers., then consists of the questions in lower case snake case. For example, the key of this entry is faq_answer.how_can_i_extend_this_faq.

Please note that you must provide a question and an answer, so you have to define two new translations.

If you are not an admin you can edit this json file in GitHub.

# How to use end to end encryption?

FluffyChat supports end to end encryption. You can enable it per chat. Once enabled it cannot be disabled anymore for security reasons. You can not enable encryption for public rooms as this makes no sense when anyone can join and leave the room anyway. Once you have enabled encryption, the server is no longer able to read the content of your messages. It will encrypt all text messages and files.

To be safe from man-in-the-middle attacks, you should take a look at the device list. You can do this in the encryption settings of a chat. Is there a suspicious device which you or your chat partner don't know? Then you can block it by moving the toggle to the left.

The color of the toggle shows you the security state. Orange means, that this device is not verified. Grey means that it is blocked and won't receive the encryption keys. This means that this device won't be able to read your messages anymore! Green means that this device is verified.

To verify the devices of another user, start the verification in a direct chat. For this you have a "Start verification" button in the encryption settings of a direct chat. Be sure that you are standing next to this person or you are connected via phone or any other secure channel. When you have started the verification, you will both see a set of emojis on your device. Compare them and tap on "They match". Wait a little bit and then you should see that all devices become green.

# How can I fork FluffyChat?

Table of Contents

1. License

FluffyChat is licensed under AGPL. Read the license (https://github.com/krille-chan/fluffychat/blob/main/LICENSE) and make sure that your fork is open source under the same license and that you fulfill all requirements. Maybe you should consider contacting a lawyer before you publish your fork.

2. Disable end-to-end encryption!

Due to US export regulations you are not allowed to publish your app in a store or anywhere on a US server before you have removed everything regarding the encryption or fulfill the regulations.

Learn more: https://www.bis.doc.gov/index.php/policy-guidance/encryption

If you need help from us with using E2EE in your fork read more below under the topic "Official Support".

3. Stay up to date!

FluffyChat contains security related stuff. If we find a security bug, we will try to fix it as soon as possible and ship it with a new version. But this means that your fork is out of date and a security risk. You can't be awake 24 hours a day so you must decide how you protect your users by chosing one of the following methods:

  1. Make your fork as minimal as possible and enable repository mirroring. Set up a CI which publishes new versions automatically if FluffyChat publishes a bug fix.
  2. Never sleep and pay a big team where one guy at least is never sleeping.
  3. Contact famedly.com to buy official support.

4. Official Support

FluffyChat is free as in free speech and not free beer! Please contact my company famedly.com for offers and official support and take in mind that it costs a lot of work and time to maintain FluffyChat or the Famedly Matrix SDK. So we can't give you support for free. So please expect around 1$ per month per user of your fork.

# How do I find other users?

There are several ways to find other users in FluffyChat.

  1. Search by display name: You can enter a person's display name in the search. This only works if:
    • You've already shared a chat with the person,
    • They're in a public room known to your server,
    • Or your server allows searching for other users.
  2. Enter Matrix ID directly: If you know the Matrix ID (e.g., @krille:janian.de), you can enter it directly in the search. It works similarly to an email address: @username:servername.
  3. Scan QR code: You can scan the other person's QR code or display your own for scanning.
  4. Share invitation link: Anyone can share an invitation link to a room or chat. Clicking the link will connect you directly.