Session Release Roundup #12: Open Groups Overhaul

Open Groups V2: Electric Boogaloo

I know it’s been a little while since we last chatted, but I think you’re going to enjoy what I’ve got for you today. We’ve been sequestered away grinding out lines of code at breakneck speed and the resultant improvements have arrived.

We’re rolling out V2 Open groups with this release, and we’re excited to see you all jump in and discover the joys of our new and improved Open group system. V2 Open groups offer significant performance boosts, as well as stability improvements for all.

Our new open groups also have the ability to support sub groups within the same server, and make the process of hosting a server much easier for everyone. On the development side the new Open groups will help to make the implementation of new features easier in future.

Due to this upgrade we will be shutting down V1 Open groups in the near future, keep an eye on our socials for the exact date, this is just a heads up to make sure that everyone has the time to migrate.

Just by the way, our highly anticipated audit was completed recently and the results are available here. The audit raised relatively few issues, most of which have been fixed already. You can check out our response detailing all of the audit-related fixes here.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

• New and improved open groups! Open groups are now suggested to you, and all new groups are faster and more reliable (iOS, Android, Desktop)

The headliner of this release — V2 Open groups are here. This change introduces sub-groups within open groups and streamlines the setup process, along with some performance boosts. 

• Made performance and reliability upgrades to closed groups (iOS, Android, Desktop)

Closed groups have been fiddled with behind the scenes to optimise and streamline the code, but you don’t care about that — you just want to know what that means for you, and I’m happy to tell you: closed groups are faster and more reliable than ever. These changes will, however, only take effect for newly created closed groups.

• Laid the foundation for faster and more reliable file transfers (iOS, Android, Desktop)

No more waiting around for your files to send, we’re speeding up the process so you can fire off memes at rapid speed.

• Longer TTL for undelivered messages (iOS, Android)

Not around to open Session for a couple of days? No problem, the Service Node network now stores messages for longer, so undelivered messages will still be there if you’re away from Session for a while. 

• Improved Russian translation and added a Slovak translation (iOS)

We’re always working on making Session more accessible to our international communities, and this round of releases is no exception. We’ve got improvements to our Russian translation thanks to community member Dmitry, and a shiny new Slovak translation thanks to community member Vlado.

• You can now set a screen lock timeout of less than 60 seconds (Android)

Session now has the ability to lock itself up quicker than ever. You asked and we heard, 60 seconds is enough time to download and set up Session, so it’s definitely enough time for a nefarious trickster to grab your phone and look at your messages.

• Encrypt attachments locally (Desktop)

All attachments are now encrypted while stored on your computer, so you can be sure that your files are safe from prying eyes even when they’re not in transit.

• General performance improvements (iOS, Android, Desktop)

Just a little bit of under-the-hood tinkering to make sure that Session is delivering the most streamlined and reliable experience possible.

• Fixed bug causing bad performance in longer conversations (iOS)

Now there’s no need to worry about your main conversations slowing down as they drag on — you can chat for as long as you like without that pesky lag.

• Fixed an issue causing timestamps to display incorrectly (iOS)

This one is pretty straightforward. Timestamps shouldn’t lie to you. Now they don’t.

New month, new look for Android

The future is looking bright for Session, and we’re looking forward to sharing our upcoming improvements and fixes with you. We’ve got further improvements to open and closed groups coming down the pipeline, an overhaul of  the Android conversation screen, and a bunch of bug fixes and general performance improvements on the way too — stay tuned for more on that front.

Thank you!

We’re just chuffed with how Session has been progressing over the last few months. We’ve made huge strides in performance and reliability across all platforms — and we could never have done it without you! To everyone reading these update notes, sending in feedback, and talking to their mates on Session — thank you so, so much.

See you next time!

— The Session team

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