Signal-desktop: Sent messages not syncing on across desktop sessions

[Dosenpfand]

I am using Signal Desktop on two PCs. The messages I sent only show up on the desktop app they were sent from (and the mobile app) not on the other desktop app.
The received messages are synced properly across both desktop sessions (at least the ones received after the installation of the desktop client, see #444)

I am using:
Signal 3.6.1 on Android
Signal 0.1.3 on Windows
Signal 0.1.3 on Linux

[2-4601]

Debug logs might be helpful: http://support.whispersystems.org/hc/en-us/articles/215188737-How-do-I-submit-a-debug-log-from-the-Desktop-

[liliakai]

Debug log from both desktop apps would help.

[irdan]

I experienced the same issue.

The debug log for the Linux desktop that did not received the messages I sent: https://gist.github.com/anonymous/322c0631045003396aa8

And the debug log for the osx desktop that did the sending:
https://gist.github.com/6ed45c0c286d97a1c90f

[psyfx]

Had the same issue. Then I found that as soon as the second desktop client sends a message in the used conversation the problem does not occur any more.
So the messages from a desktop client does not show up on the other desktop client, but as soon as the second desktop client sends a message in the conversation, every message shows up on every client as it should no matter what client is used.

EDIT:
Turns out it doesn't fix the problem. Messages still dont't show up, on the second desktop client.
Steps to reproduce:

1. Pair Android Client with 2 Desktop Clients
2. One desktop client is offline
   3.Write a message with the first desktop client
   4.The message is displayed on the android client but does not show up when the second desktop client comes online (every message written from contacts are displayed on every device. Only your own messages written by a desktop client are affected)

[Natanji]

I've seen this happening as well today, I wrote the messages yesterday on my home desktop, and now when logging into my work desktop, these messages I wrote to a single contact that I wrote are missing from the conversations; their replies were received however.

Log from the work desktop here: https://gist.github.com/anonymous/511b5d40b1ad699fc314

The problem is not easily reproducible for me. I had like 4-5 conversations in which I wrote yesterday from my home desktop around the same time, and where my own replies were synced just fine to the work desktop.

Things I can tell, perhaps to narrow this down further:
-_all_ my messages to that one contact that I wrote yesterday were missing. So basically all my messages from the same "session". Around 10 messages total.
-the conversation in which my messages are missing was the last I wrote in yesterday evening. Same thing happened when this problem occured earlier, as documented in #469.
-corollary: so far, only a single conversation has been affected by this bug every time a Desktop instance received old messages that another Desktop instance had already received

[Natanji]

I retract my earlier comment about just a single conversation being affected. Logged into my Desktop computer just now, 4 out of 5 conversations are missing _all_ of the messages that I sent today (while again, my contact's replies are just fine). A group conversation was also affected. Home desktop log here: https://gist.github.com/anonymous/d82c4ca47ab62e4d5b74#file-debuglog-txt-L131

The earlier comment about only the "latest" messages being affected still holds true, however. The top 4 conversations are missing my messages, while the fifth in the order (where I also remember I sent my very first message today from my work desktop) synced the single message that I sent today correctly.

[corppneq]

I have the same problem:

Linux: https://gist.github.com/anonymous/924b017bda1a601a83c5
Windows: https://gist.github.com/corppneq/2ab2aed1b4529ec24e2b
Android: https://gist.github.com/anonymous/f7f9db898cdebbe464aa

The first one from Windows and Android (sent from Windows) is missing on Linux.

[Natanji]

It seems like this problem is becoming worse over time, I've had this again happen to me in most of my conversations. Over 90% of my messages are now lost every single day to one of the Desktop instances. I'd really like to help out more to fix this, it is annoying as hell - but I guess we are waiting on confirmation from developers that they are even looking at this, and have a hunch what to do with those logs and what is going on?

[liliakai]

I can reproduce this fairly easily (steps below are about the same as the ones posted by @psyfx), but I don't understand what's causing it. To repro:

• Have two desktop clients (installing on separate chrome profiles on one machine is fine)
• Take one client offline by disabling it in chrome://extensions
• Send a message from the other desktop client
• Re-enable the offline client. It does not receive the sync message.

Inspecting the network log of the sender shows that it does indeed contain an encrypted message for the other desktop device, but that client never receives it from the server, even though it does receive any pending messages from other phone numbers, and sync messages from android.

If the second desktop is online, everything works as expected.

The sender isn't doing anything differently when the other Desktop client is offline (we have no way to detect if it is or not), so I'm suspecting there may be a server-side issue here.

[moxie0]

@liliakai Does the second client get normal messages sent while it was offline? The server doesn't know the difference between sync messages and normal messages, so if it receives the latter it's unlikely to be a server issue.

[liliakai]

@moxie0 Yeah, it's only the sync message that is lost, and only the one for the offline desktop client. The one for the Android client is delivered, so we know the HTTP post to /messages worked, but when the offline client comes back, it only gets its normal messages (from other phone numbers) and its sync messages from android.

[moxie0]

Do sync messages from Android also get lost to the second desktop, or just from the first desktop?

[liliakai]

Just from the first desktop.

[liliakai]

Discovered an interesting correllation today. Missing sync messages seem to be matched by doubled delivery receipts from Android arriving at the sending desktop client. Is it possible that android is somehow consuming a message intended for the offline desktop? Can anyone else reproduce/confirm this pattern?

This is the online desktop sending sync messages to the server, followed by double delivery receipts from the android device:

PUT https://textsecure-service-ca.whispersystems.org:4433/v1/messages/+[REDACTED]046 200 Success
delivery receipt from +[REDACTED]046.1 1450511307663
delivery receipt from +[REDACTED]046.1 1450511307663

Here's the log from the android client which consumes the above message 1450511307663. https://gist.github.com/anonymous/792c60377e995df5fec1

[liliakai]

This should be fixed up now. Thanks for your patience, everyone.

[ubergeek77]

Can this issue be reopened please? If Signal isn't running on the desktop at the time the message was sent or received on my Android phone, it won't sync the messages. Even worse, if you uninstall the Chrome app and re-link it, no messages get synced at all.
debuglog.txt

[mrdaemon]

This is still occuring. I dual boot Linux and Windows (for work and leisure, respectively) and upon rebooting in windows (or vice versa), the signal desktop app syncs all received messages but the sent ones are missing.

They show up on mobile in both cases though. Just not on the desktop client that was closed in the intervening period.

[ghost]

I also experience various levels of incomplete message synchronisation across different systems with Desktop installed.

[riyapenn]

@Orbixx Please refrain from adding comments similar to "I also experience this" "+1" "me too" without adding any NEW or ACTIONABLE information like debug logs. If you really want, there is an emoji icon in the comment header that allows you to "Add your reaction".

[Natanji]

The problem seems to be that the logs do not mention anything about the missing messages; I posted mine way above and there is nothing in them to suggest anything going wrong client-side, and @ubergeek77 did so too. People are posting +1s because this issue was closed, but the behaviour is still happening. This issue should be reopened. @liliakai, can you do that please?

[voodoorai2000]

@rileyjshaw if the issue is not fixed, please reopen it.

[develroo]

This issue is not resolved. My signal desktop client is simply not updating at all but still shows messages from weeks back. It is like it is disconnected from my phone or does not recognise it.

Please give some progress on this. Thank you.

[Phobix]

Definitely not fixed

[HieronymusCH]

not syncing all messages

[jdwisc]

Not syncing across android and chrome apps. I am trying to message myself to test the system. I can see both the sent and received messages and attachments in android but only the sent messages and attachments in chrome.

Chrome log: https://gist.github.com/a8614bd1f3f74362618c3a09172ed669

android log: https://gist.github.com/e5484ddc6f220ca0e894013c8c603b7f

[rdkap42]

Definitely not fixed. Please re-open.

Chrome Log: https://gist.github.com/2adbb5fc569e7ff2d21e8330a944851b

Android Log: https://gist.github.com/a66301314d325e747a11dc2ee03eb09d

[DarthApron]

The problem still persists.
I installed the desktop client and all conversations from the Android version are empty.
One conversation is missing completely, which means that the contact is not listed.

[miyl]

Same here, received a message while Android Signal (AS) was online and AS received it, but it's not synced to Desktop Signal (DS). DS was probably offline at the time of AS receiving the message.

[scottnonnenberg]

@DarthApron @miyalys Please include debug logs from the desktop and ideally also whatever mobile primary you are using so we can track this down. What we're looking for is error messages in the logs to help us track down the problem. It's good to know that messages you expect to be there are not there, but it's not enough to move forward on a solution.

If you do notice an error in your log, you might consider searching existing issues based on that error, then adding your log to one you find. Or adding a new issue.

[DarthApron]

@scottnonnenberg

Chrome log: https://gist.github.com/anonymous/838e42bedc3a9e4595dc40475132ccb8
Android log: https://gist.github.com/9854cb7478ec2aa877d89bdf08b426f9

I would be happy if I could import my XML backup into the desktop version.

[ipeacocks]

Very strange behavior for me too. I cannot see in desktop client all messages from my Android device. Desktop client log https://gist.github.com/anonymous/b7118998b07614438330ddd5f52a3595

[scottnonnenberg]

@DarthApron Based on the logs you posted, your desktop is sitting there happily doing nothing, getting nothing from the server whenever it connects. Can you tell me a little more about the history of that install? When did you link it? Did it ever sync anything with your mobile device? If you attempt to link it again, I'd love to see a debug log covering that.

@ipeacocks Your log seems to indicate normal behavior except for some very strange-looking crashes. I notice that you do process some messages normally, but other times you get errors like I've pasted below. Is there any pattern to those, perhaps they show up when the window is not showing? Also, if you could provide a log from the mobile device which isn't syncing messages properly, that would help us track things down. Thanks!

TypeError: Cannot read property 'window' of undefined
    at extensions::app.window:205:29
    at Array.map (<anonymous>)
    at Object.<anonymous> (extensions::app.window:204:19)
    at Object.handleRequest (extensions::binding:64:27)
    at Object.<anonymous> (extensions::binding:374:32)

[Stvbez]

Still not resolved on Mac OS ... messages sent on mobile not reflecting in message chain on desktop. I cannot send the debug log as the message stream is confidential. There needs to be a way to refresh the message chain from the server ... it seems currently the desktop version does not see the mobile additions to the message chain.

[scottnonnenberg]

@Stvbez The desktop app is set up to download all messages whenever it can connect to the Signal servers. If that's not happening, we can't do much to help you without that debug log. Even with confidential messages, you should still be able to send us a debug log, since it doesn't include the contents of the messages - just timestamps and phone numbers redacted to the last three digits.

[claudiobizzotto]

@scottnonnenberg, since I'm having the same issue on a Mac, I've placed a log here.
Short description: installed Signal on a MacBook Pro (High Sierra) but it doesn't sync messages with Signal on mobile device (Android). Everything else (contacts etc.) looks fine.

[claudiobizzotto]

Quick update on my previous comment: things seem to be working now. I have no idea why. It could be that the desktop app took a while to sync. [I'm leaving the log file there for a few days]

[ryekerjh]

I am having this same issue. Debug log can be found there. Mine happens when I sync an Android (latest OS) LG smartphone with two mac OS High Sierra laptops. The Android syncs everything that is typed into any conversation, but the mac laptops dont keep any new messages. When I type into a message, the message just disappears.

[gasi-signal]

@ryekerjh This issue is closed and I will lock it so we can get more information from people with similar issues through our issue template. Would you mind opening a new issue and providing us with the information requested?

We’d be especially interested if you could elaborate on:

When I type into a message, the message just disappears.

Does it disappear after you click Enter? Or before? What are the version of Signal Android, etc.?

Thank you very much.