常见问题

什么是 Delta Chat？
群组
加密
多客户端
杂项

什么是 Delta Chat？

Delta Chat 是一个新的聊天应用，它通过电子邮件发送消息，并在条件允许情况下使用 Autocrypt 对其进行加密。您不必在任何地方进行注册，在 Delta Chat 中使用您现有的电子邮件帐户即可。

如何找到可以聊天的人？

通过 Delta Chat，您可以发消息到每个现有的电子邮件地址 - 即使收件人没有使用 Delta Chat 应用。不需要像其他通信软件一样，要收件人和您安装同样的应用。

与其他通信软件相比，Delta Chat 有哪些优势？

独立于任何公司或服务。您拥有您的数据。
您的数据不会保存于中央服务器，除非所有用户都在使用同一个电子邮件服务器。
您不会将通讯录分发给任何人。
快速——使用 Push-IMAP。
最广泛的用户基础——也可以与不使用 Delta Chat 的收件人进行联系。
兼容——不仅仅对它本身。
优雅、简洁的用户界面
分布式 系统
没有垃圾信息——默认情况下仅显示已知用户的消息。
可靠——可以安全地用于专业用途。
可信赖——甚至可以用于商业讯息。
基于 著佐权 与标准的自由软件

哪些消息会在 Delta Chat 中出现？

Delta Chat 自动显示：

来自您通讯录中联系人的消息
来自您先前联系的联系人的消息
对您发送的消息的回复

其他消息不会自动出现，而是可以在联系人请求中找到。如有需要，可以从那里开始聊天。

垃圾信息呢？

普通垃圾邮件文件夹中的消息将被忽略，并且所包含的地址不会被视为已知联系人。
由于来自未知联系人的消息不会自动弹出，因此通常情况下不会出现垃圾信息。
不过，如有需要，您可以屏蔽任何联系人。

Delta Chat 支持图像、视频和其他附件吗？

Yes. Beside the plain text, all e-mail attachments are displayed as separate messages. Outgoing messages get attachments as needed automatically.

谁会看见我的个人资料图片？

You can add a profile picture in your settings. If you write to your contacts or add them via QR code, they automatically see it as your profile picture.
Contacts who don’t use Delta Chat see it as an E-Mail attachment.
For privacy reasons, no one sees your profile picture until you write a message to them.
Your profile picture isn’t sent with every message, but regularly enough that your contacts will re-receive your profile picture, even if they add a new device.

Delta Chat 支持 HTML 电子邮件吗？

Yes. If an incoming e-mail lacks a plain text part, HTML-emails are converted to plain text in the app. Outgoing e-mails always use plain text.

为什么我必须在 Delta Chat 中输入我的电子邮件密码？这样安全吗？

As with other E-Mail programs like Thunderbird, K9-Mail, or Outlook, the program needs the password so you can use it to send mails. Of course, the password is stored only on your device. The password is only transmitted to your E-Mail provider (when you login), which has access to your mails anyway.

If you use an E-Mail provider with OAuth2 support like gmail.com or yandex.ru, there is no need to store your password on the device. In this case, only an access token is used.

As Delta Chat is Open Source, you can check the Source Code if you want to verify that your credentials are handled securely. We are happy about feedback which makes the app more secure for all of our users.

Delta Chat 需要哪些权限？

Depending on the operating system in use, you may be asked to grant permissions to the app. This is what Delta Chat does with these permissions:

Camera (can be disallowed)
- take pictures and videos: for sending Photos
Contacts (can be disallowed)
- read your contacts: to discover contacts to chat with
Location (can be disallowed)
- access approximate location (network location sources): for the location streaming feature
- access precise location (GPS and network location sources): for the location streaming feature
Microphone (can be disallowed)
- record audio: for audio messages
Storage (can be disallowed)
- modify or delete the contents of your SD card: to download message attachments
- read the contents of your SD card: to share files with your contacts
Other app capabilities
- change your audio settings: so you can choose ring tones and volume for notifications and audio messages
- run at startup: so you don’t have to start Delta Chat manually
- control vibration: for notifications
- view network connections: to connect to your E-Mail provider
- prevent phone from sleeping: so you can easier copy the security code during the Autocrypt Setup Message
- have full network access: to connect to your E-Mail provider
- view Wi-Fi connections: to connect to your E-Mail provider
- ask to ignore battery optimisations: for users who want to receive messages all the time

群组

创建群组

Select New chat and then New group from the menu in the upper right corner or hit the corresponding button on Android/iOS.
On the following screen, select the group members and define a group name. You can also select a group avatar.
As soon as you write the first message in the group, all members are informed about the new group and can answer in the group (as long as you do not write a message in the group the group is invisible to the members).

添加成员到群组

Every group member has the same rights as any other. For this reason every one can delete every member or add new ones.
To add or delete members, click on the group name in the chat.

什么是已验证群组？为什么它是实验性的？

A verified group is a chat that guarantees safety against an active attacker. All Messages in a verified chat view are e2e-encrypted, and members can join by scanning a “QR invite code”. All members are thus connected with each other through a chain of invites, which guarantee cryptographic consistency against active network or provider attacks. See countermitm.readthedocs.io for the R&D behind this feature.
As of Dec 2019, a “verified group” remains an experimental feature. It is continuously improved and many bugs have been fixed since the original introduction in 2018. However, there remain cases, especially with large groups where inconsistencies can occur, or messages become unreadable. Early 2020 a security review is upcoming, and several new developments around qr-join protocols are taking place so chances are we remove the “experimental” label not too far in the future.

我不小心删除了我自己。

As you’re no longer a group member, you cannot add yourself again. However, no problem, just ask any other group member in a normal chat to re-add you.

我不想再收到某个群组中的消息了。

Either delete yourself from the member list or delete the whole chat. If you want to join the group again later on, ask another group member to add you again.
As an alternative, you can also “Mute” a group - doing so means you get all messages and can still write, but are no longer notified of any new messages.

What do double ticks mean in group messages? Has everyone read my message now?

A message shows double ticks after more than half of the recipients have seen the message on their display.
Note that some recipients might have disabled read-receipts for privacy-reasons.
If more than 50% in a group disabled read receipts, the double ticks will never show up. For more detailed information, see this blogpost.

加密

Delta Chat 支持端到端加密吗？

Yes. Delta Chat implements the Autocrypt Level 1 standard and can thus E2E-encrypt messages with other Autocrypt-capable apps.
Delta Chat also supports a strong form of end-to-end encryption that is even safe against active attacks, see “verified groups” further below.

为了激活端到端加密，我必须做什么？

Nothing.
Delta Chat apps (and other Autocrypt-compatible e-mail apps) share the keys required for end-to-end-encryption automatically as the first messages are sent. After this, all subsequent messages are encrypted end-to-end automatically. If one of the chat partners uses a non-Autocrypt e-mail app, subsequent messages are not encrypted until an Autocrypt-compliant app is available again.
If you want to rather avoid end-to-end-encrypted e-mails by default, use the corresponding Autocrypt setting in “Settings” or “Advanced settings”.

如果端到端加密不可用，则连接是否完全未加密？

With most mail servers, Delta Chat establishes transport encryption (TLS). This only secures the connection between your device and your e-mail server. Whereas e2e-encryption provides safety between your device and a friend’s device.

How can I verify cryptographic status with a sender?

If you are within immediate distance of the chat partner:

Select QR Invite code on one device and then Scan QR code on the other one and scan the code. If both devices are online, they will introduce a chat channel with each-other (if it doesn’t exist already) and the encryption keys will also be verified. Both will see a “sender verified” system message in their 1:1 chat.

If you are not near the chat partner, you can check the status manually in the “Encryption” dialog (user profile on Android/iOS or right-click a user’s chat-list item on desktop):

For end-to-end-encryption, Delta Chat shows two fingerprints there. If the same fingerprints appear on your chat partner’s device, the connection is safe.
For transport encryption, this state is just shown there

How can I check the encryption of messages?

A little padlock shown beside a message denotes whether the message is end-to-end-encrypted from from the given sender.
If there is no padlock, the message is usually transported unencrypted e.g. because you or the sender have turned off end-to-end-encryption, or the sender uses an app without support for end-to-end-encryption.

端到端加密使用了哪些标准？

Autocrypt is used for establishing e2e-encryption with other Delta Chat and other Autocrypt-capable mail apps. Autocrypt uses a limited subset of OpenPGP functionality.
Delta Chat implements countermitm setup-contact and verified-group protocols to achieve protection against active network attacks. This goes beyond the opportunistic base protection of Autocrypt Level 1, while maintaining its ease of use.

What is the difference between verified groups and 1:1 chats with verified contacts?

1:1 chats with a verified contact and verified groups are not the same, even if there are only 2 people in the verified group. One difference is that you could easily add more people to the group, but there are other implications as well.
Verified groups are invariably secured. Any breakage (cleartext or wrongly signed messages etc.) will be flagged and such messages will not be shown in this chat. You can trust all messages in this verified-checkmark chat to have not been read/altered by middle parties.
1:1 chats are opportunistic, it is meant to allow people to communicate no matter if they change e-mail clients, devices, setups etc. That’s why there is no verification checkmark, even if you have verified the contact.

Delta Chat 支持前向保密吗？

No, OpenPGP doesn’t support Perfect Forward Secrecy. Perfect Forward Secrecy works session-oriented, but E-Mail is asynchronous by nature and often used from multiple devices independently. This means that if your Delta Chat private key is leaked, and someone has a record of all your in-transit messages, they will be able to read them.
Note that if anyone has seized or hacked your running phone, they will typically be able to read all messages, no matter if Perfect Forward Secrecy is in place or not. Having access to a single device from a member of a group, will typically expose a lot of the social graph. Using e-mail addresses that are not easily tracked back to persons helps group members to stay safer from the effects of device seizure.
We are sketching ways to protect communications better against the event of device seizure.

Delta Chat 如何保护我的元数据？

As Delta Chat is a decentralized messenger, the metadata of Delta Chat users are not stored on a single central server. However, they are stored on the mail servers of the sender and the recipient of a message.
Each mail server currently knows about who sent and who received a message by inspecting the unencrypted To/Cc headers and thus determine which e-mail addresses are part of a group. Delta Chat itself could avoid unencrypted To/Cc headers quite and always put them only into the encrypted section. See Avoid sending To/CC headers for verified groups. For opportunistic chats the main concern is how it affects other mail apps who might participate in chats.
Many other e-mail headers, in particular the “Subject” header, are end-to-end-encryption protected, see also this upcoming IETF RFC.

我可以重复使用现有的私钥吗？

Yes. The best way is to send an Autocrypt Setup Message from the other e-mail client. Look for something like Start Autocrypt Setup Transfer in the settings of the other client and follow the instructions shown there.
Alternatively, you can import the key manually in “Settings” or “Advanced settings” and then “Import secret keys”. Caution: Make sure the key is not protected by a password, or remove the password beforehand.

If you don’t have a key or don’t even know you would need one - don’t worry: Delta Chat generates keys as needed, you don’t have to hit a button for it.

我无法将现有的 PGP 密钥导入 Delta Chat。

The most likely cause is that your key is encrypted and/or uses a password. Such keys are not supported by Delta Chat. You could remove the passphrase encryption and the password and try the import again. If you want to keep your passphrase you’ll have to create an e-mail alias for use with Delta Chat such that Delta Chat’s key is tied to this e-mail alias.

Delta Chat supports common OpenPGP private key formats, however, it is unlikely that private keys from all sources will be fully supported. This is not the main goal of Delta Chat. In fact, the majority of new users will not have any key prior to using Delta Chat. We do, however, try to support private keys from as many sources as possible.

Removing the password from the private key will depend on the software you use to manage your PGP keys. With Enigmail, you can set your password to an empty value in the Key Management window. With GnuPG you can set it via the command line. For other programs, you should be able to find a solution online.

为什么不使用 pEp（pretty easy privacy）？

Delta Chat uses the Autocrypt e2e-encryption standard. For a discussion of Autocrypt and pEp, see the Autocrypt FAQ.

多客户端

我能同时在多个设备上使用 Delta Chat 吗?

If you want to use the same account on different devices, you should export a backup from the old device, and import it into the new device:

On the old device, go to “Settings” or “Settings / Chats and media” and then to “Backup”. Enter your screen unlock PIN, pattern, or password. Then you can click on “Start Backup”. This saves the backup file to your device. Now you have to transfer it to the other device somehow.
On the new device, on the login screen, instead of logging into your email account, choose “Import Backup”. After import, your conversations, encryption keys, and media should be copied to the new device.
You are now synchronized, and can use both devices for sending and receiving E2E-encrypted messages with your communication partners.

有推出 Delta Chat Web客户端的计划吗？

There are no immediate plans but some preliminary thoughts.
There are 2-3 avenues for introducing a Delta Chat Web Client, but all are significant work. For now, we focus on getting stable releases into all app stores (Google Play/iOS/Windows/macOS/Linux repositories) as native apps.
If you need a Web Client, because you are not allowed to install software on the computer you work with, you can use the portable Windows Desktop Client, or the AppImage for Linux. You can find them on get.delta.chat.

为什么我可以选择不监视收件箱？

This is an experimental setting for some people who are experimenting with server-side rules. Not all providers support this, but with some you can move all mails with a “Chat-Version” header to the DeltaChat folder. Normally, this would be done by the Delta Chat app.

Watching the Inbox makes sense to turn off, if you have both:

enabled a server-side rule to move all messages with Chat-Version header to the DeltaChat folder, and
have set the “Show classic emails” setting to “no, chats only”.

In this case, Delta Chat doesn’t need to watch the Inbox.

“给自己发送副本”设置有什么用处？

Sending a copy of your messages to yourself ensures that you receive your own messages on all devices. If you have multiple devices and don’t turn it on, you see only the messages from other people, and the messages you send from the current device.

The copy is sent to the Inbox, and then moved to the DeltaChat folder; it’s not put into the “Sent” folder. Delta Chat never uploads anything to the Sent folder because this would mean uploading a message twice (once through SMTP, and once through IMAP to Sent folder).

The default setting for copy-to-self is “no”.

为什么我可以选择监视“已发送”文件夹？

The only reason one wants to watch the Sent folder is if you are using another mail program (like Thunderbird) next to your Delta Chat app, and want your MUA to participate in chat conversations.

However, we recommend using the Delta Chat Desktop Client; you can download it on get.delta.chat. The option to watch the “Sent” folder might go away in the future. It was introduced at a time where there was no Delta Chat Desktop client available on all platforms.

为什么我可以选择不监视 DeltaChat 文件夹？

Some people use Delta Chat as a regular email client, and want to use the Inbox folder for their mail, instead of the DeltaChat folder. If you disable “Watch DeltaChat folder”, you should also disable “move chat messages to DeltaChat”. Otherwise, deleting messages or multi-device setups might not work properly.

杂项

Does Delta Chat work with my e-mail-provider?

With a rather good chance: Yes :)
However, some providers need special options to work properly, see Provider Overview

使用电子邮件的 Delta Chat 真的是_即时_通讯工具吗？

Sending and receiving messages takes a few seconds, typically. Sometimes there are cases where it takes longer but that is arguably true as well for any other messenger.
Instant chatting works fast if both parties are actively using the app. It’s sometimes slower if the app is running in the background.
Receiving messages then can take minutes because both Android and iOS often stop Delta Chat from running in the background, and only wake it up occasionally. This artificial delay is usually worse on iOS than on Android.
Note that Delta Chat doesn’t use Google Cloud Messaging (GCM) or the Apple Push Notification Service (APNS), because this leads to user tracking and central control which Delta Chat aims to avoid as much as feasible.
However, Android and iOS kill apps running in the background is a problem for many legitimate apps. For more information, see dontkillmyapp.com.

Delta Chat 与 Protonmail / Tutanota / Criptext 兼容吗？

Yes and No.
No, you can not use your Protonmail, Tutanota, or Criptext account with Delta Chat; they do not offer receiving mails via IMAP.
In any case you can use Delta Chat to send Messages to people who use Protonmail, Tutanota, or Criptext. Those messages will not be End-to-End encrypted, though. The End-to-End encryption those providers offer is only working inside their platforms, and not compatible with anyone outside.
Delta Chat can e2e-encrypt through any e-mail provider with any Autocrypt-enabled e-mail app.

我对技术细节很感兴趣。能告诉我更多吗？

See Standards used in Delta Chat.

Delta Chat 的开发是如何被资助的?

First of all, Delta Chat does not receive any Venture Capital and is not indebted, and under no pressure to produce huge profits, or to sell users and their friends and family to advertisers (or worse).

Delta Chat developments have so far been funded from four major sources:

The NEXTLEAP EU project funded the research and implementation of verified groups and setup contact protocols in 2017 and 2018.
The Open Technology Fund has given two grants. The first 2018/2019 grant (~$200K) majorly improved the Android app and allowed us to release a Desktop app beta version, and also moored our feature developments in UX research in human rights contexts, see our concluding Needfinding and UX report. The second 2019/2020 grant (~$300K) is still ongoing and helps us to release Delta/iOS versions, to convert our core library to Rust, and to provide new features for all platforms. See the ongoing blog posts for more info.
The NLnet foundation granted EUR 46K for completing Rust/Python bindings and instigating a Chat-bot ecosystem.
Last but by far not least, several pro-bono experts and enthusiasts contributed and contribute to Delta Chat developments without receiving money, or only small amounts. Without them, Delta Chat would not be where it is today, not even close.

The monetary funding mentioned above was organized by merlinux GmbH in Freiburg (Germany), and then distributed to almost a dozen contributors.

Funding for 2020/2021 is yet to be determined. We are pursuing several opportunities with different organisations and partners. We also are considering to ask for donations. In fact, we experimentally started a little Delta Chat / Liberapay donation account but have not published this yet. There were also around 3-4K so far donated to Bjoern’s (the original author of Delta Chat) paypal and bitcoin donation channels.