flare/README.md

Flare

Flare is an unofficial app that lets you chat with your friends on Signal from Linux.

Screenshot

Installation

Flatpak
Arch Linux (AUR)	[flare](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/flare)
Arch Linux (AUR - binary)	[flare-bin](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/flare-bin)
Alpine Linux (testing), Postmarket OS (edge)	[flare](https://pkgs.alpinelinux.org/package/edge/testing/x86/flare)
Self Compile	See [Compilation](https://gitlab.com/schmiddi-on-mobile/flare/-/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md#compilation).

Dependencies

Flare uses the libsecret library to store credentials. To use the Flatpak, you must install libsecret as a system package.

If you would like sound or vibration for Flare's notifications, install feedbackd as a system package.

Features

For a list of features to be added, see the wiki

• Linking device
• Sending a message
• Receiving messages
• Replying to a message
• Reacting to a message
• Attachments
• Message storage
• Encrypted storage (As I am not a security-expert, I do not guarantee anything. Read the Security-section)
• Notifications, optionally in the background

Translation

Flare can easily be translated for other languages, as it uses gettext. Please consider contributing translations using Weblate, as an alternative you can also open merge requests and I will notify you if updates are necessary. Thanks to Weblate for free hosting and all the translators for their great work keeping the translations up-to-date.

Contributing

This project is open to contributions. Please refer to CONTRIBUTING.md for more information.

Code of Conduct

This project follows GNOME's Code of Conduct.

Donate

Please consider donating to Signal first as they run the servers in use and therefore have a high cost of actually providing this free service.

After you have already donated to them and still have money left, consider donating to this Monero address:

86oyawuujDNVpT7jjYghhPc8xZjGB1DwQ3NX4mVhqxXZdRXjMEq7SWU3spD8L8stmYgEWV5BrAdY7X1uCKzRdrYcDwLt8cB

Security

To my knowledge, most data (see below) this application uses (contacts, linking credentials, ...) are stored encrypted in ~/.local/share/flare (path will be different in Flatpaks). Messages sent and received by this application are stored equivalently.

Even though things are encrypted, I do not guarantee for the security of your data. This application will probably worsen the security compared to official Signal products. Use this application with care when handling sensitive data.

Encrypted

• Linking credentials
• Contact and group details
• Message contents

Not Encrypted

• Number of contacts and groups
• Number of messages in a chat (but without information on what specific chat; does not only include "visible" messages but also messages to synchronize between clients)
• Message timestamps

More detailed notes on encryption

This application stores data using sled using matrix-sdk-store-encryption encryption. The passphrase for the encryption is stored and retrieved using libsecret.