Monal - XMPP Chat

Works well.

There seems to be an issue with the app’s sound settings. On the iPhone 15 Pro Max, incoming messages fail to trigger notification sounds!

This app is the most feature filled XMPP client for iOS. I’ve tried almost all of them and Monal is a cut above the rest. It certainly deserves more 5-star reviews which is why I am penning this one. Aside from one minor glitch, the app is stable , well integrated into the iOS ecosystem ie can share/send image files etc - it is a highly capable app and highly recommended.

It seems to me Monal has come a long way since release. Some devs just release their app and never work on it again - but not Monal! The Monal devs are reasonably active with maintenance & bugfixes. They’ve put together a very useful, feature-rich, easy-to-use XMPP client while keeping a minimalist feel. Monal crashes occasionally, but not so much as to impede my usecase. I just close/reopen the app, or ignore the crash warning, and pick up where I left off. (To devs: I’ll have to remember to send you the crash report next time. I think I tried once and it said my phone wasn’t set up to send emails? I dunno. I’ll try.) Overall, the app works great and has all the necessities. Works flawlessly with my cheap low-end VPS running ejabberd. Calls connect fast, voice is clear, no lag. OMEMO works; but I did have some issues with it early on where my recipient couldn’t read msgs (or vice versa) even though we had confirmed each other’s keys. To be fair this could have also been a user error. This was eventually resolved. I would like to see additional privacy options. OMEMO is fine. I would like to see PGP implemented (for example, I believe the Linux XMPP client “Dino” has the ability to use PGP as well as OMEMO) Perhaps even encrypted voice calls (assuming they are not already encrypted)

I can't login to my works xmpp server. Doesn't matter what I try or what they do. This doesn't work.

Use jabber? Have iOS? Use monal p e r i o d. Recent iOS versions probably work extremely well. iOS: 16 does have a couple quirks, I think. Haven't zeroed it in. yet. Devs: I know I am using an ancient iOS version but my contacts and I have extreme trouble getting video calls to connect sometimes and they will drop randomly. It's likely a network issue, but we notice that if we use wired or no headsets, symptoms seem to subside and dissappear or, at very least, seem to help with initial connection speed and success rate. Not sure if we will ever upgrade from 16. not a big deal.

Wow Monal for iOS has come a long way. Years ago it wasn’t my first choice. Neither were there any viable alternatives to be honest. Monal 6.4.0 performs really well for me. Kudos! Obviously apple being apple I don’t get notifications if I didn’t touch the app for a while. This is something all third party apps have to contend with on iOS.

Why not adding OTR feature which already exists in Chat Secure app; This will make this app work more efficiently with other xmpp clients on other OS’s

This is in no way functionally comparable to Conversations on android but having tried ALL the recently updated xmpp text apps on iOS this is by far the best option Using the Conversations server as sender and recipient often there are huge delays for iOS clients on WiFi and Verizon 5G. Don’t give up on us.

I had a mistaken view that there were no good XMPP options on iOS. Perhaps that was true before, but now it’s false. Additionally, the XMPP standards have added a lot of things to make the protocol very usable on mobile devices. Monal is good, usable, and actively developed. There are some minor UI issues but they are fixable, and a small trade off for a communications channel you actually have control over. This is one app I’ll be pushing my friends to use. Monal is open source which means you can have confidence that it can continue being updated for many years. I would consider this a significant strength for any software, but even more so on iOS which breaks apps once they are too old (guessing half of the iOS apps I’ve paid for don’t work/can’t be install anymore?)