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a-iv edited this page Feb 5, 2013 · 1 revision

Frequently asked questions

Power consumption

Xabber drains my battery!

Xabber must be connected to your server for receiving incoming messages.
So even if your don’t send any message your GSM / WiFi module is in use.

Note:
Power consumption can also depends on you device, firmware and installed applications.

What about GSM idle state?

Server requires heartbeat to be received from Xabber.
It requires FACH power level to be used frequently.
If you use a lot of accounts then heartbeat can raise power level up to DCH.
Also Xabber receives your contact’s presence update.

Note:
Power level timeouts and limits depend on your operator.

Why don’t you use PUSH / C2DM notifications?

For us to implement push technology our service must be directly connected to your jabber server.
Thus we need to store your password on our server side.
But we don’t actually want to.

OTR encryption

Why can’t I read OTR encrypted messages on my second device?

OTR is meant to encrypt 2 person conversation.
There is a specification for multi-party OTR, but Xabber doesn’t support it for now.

Can I export my long-term keys from one device to another in order to read OTR encrypted messages?

OTR provides perfect forward secrecy.
So you have no possibility to decrypt messages on a third-part client using your long-term keys.

Why can’t I decrypt OTR messages sent while Xabber was not started?

OTR uses temporary session keys for encryption and decryption purpose.
Session keys are volatile and they are stored in memory only.
So they are available if only temporary disconnection with a server occurres.
When Xabber restarts, there is no possibility to decrypt a received offline message.

What about OpenPGP?

For now Xabber does not support OpenPGP.

Contact list integration

How does Xabber aggregate his contact with system one?

Xabber uses Android built-in aggregation methods.
Android will maintain aggregation on future changes.
Aggregation is based on:

  • Email.
  • Nick.
  • Structured names.

Which information is stored by Xabber in the system contact list?

  • IM address – Jabber ID used in contact list.
  • Nickname – allias used in contact list.
  • Groups – groups used in contact list.
  • Structured name – formatted name from the contact’s vCard.
  • Email – JID for aggregation purpose.

Why are some of my contacts not aggregated?

  • Nickname in often ommited for the regular phone contacts.
  • Formatted name in vCard is rare fielded by the contact on its XMPP server.
  • Email can differ from JID.

Note:

  • In most cases suggestion that email equals the contact’s jid gives profit.
  • Android system doesn’t support aggregation based on IM addresses.

Messages

Why does Xabber loose incoming messages sometimes?

XMPP used for communication purpose doesn’t provide a possibility to check if message sent by server was successfully received by client and vice versa.
Thus it is possible that your mobile network temporary becomes unavailable. But your server being located far from you still thinks you are online and sends you new messages.
Such messages will be lost somewhere in commutation devices.

What about Message Delivery Receipts?

Xabber will mark a message with a green tick if end point client confirms the message has actually been received.
This is possible only if another client supports such receipts and it is currently online.
It is up to you to decide to resend message if you didn’t receive an confirmation.

Any suggestions?

Xabber has built-in message archive support.
Thus all your conversation occurred while mobile device was offline will be received on the next connection.
For now mod_archive plugin for prosody xmpp server is well tested.