Signal-ios: Enhanced UX when phone offline

[FredericJacobs]

• [ ] Lock the send button: a lot of applications do this to avoid having the user to send.
• [ ] We made a decision previously to have a loading bar: this is confusing and non-intuitive for the users because there is no way. I suggest going back to a network status indication bar similar to the one present in the Facebook messenger app where a dropdown appears while connecting and when the device is offline. This is way clearer to the user about what he should expect from the app given the network status.
• [ ] When the device is getting back online, automatically retry sending messages who were queued up in the sending queue without requiring user interaction.

[abcdev]

I don't know how the facebook messenger app dropdown looks like but what about changing the already implemented connection indicator to the behavior:

Not connected

Connecting

Connected

(Imagine the "Send" and Phone button grayed out)
I don't know what colors and size to use but it should be more visible then the current indicator.

[FredericJacobs]

That's what we used to do. But @abolishme proposed a loading bar. I think a Facebook-like connection bar is the best trade-off we can make between representing what actually happens and what the user expects to happen.

[bvorak]

I thought there is no on- or offline status for asynchronous messaging?

[FredericJacobs]

@bvorak: Your phone can be online or offline. It indicates if it's able to reach the TextSecure server or not. But you're always "online" in the sense that you can receive messages at all times.

[thenktor]

BTW: Threema uses the same method that @abcdev has suggested.

[FredericJacobs]

That's what we used to do but @abolishme got it changed. Can you chime in and open/close necessary issues?

[nimarb]

I think that disabling the send button is not very user friendly. As on Android, it makes more sense in my opinion to leave the send button active and indicate on sent messages that they are not delivered yet (keep light blue colouring). Then queue those messages for sending and send them when connected to the network again. This way, people can write and send longer messages while offline (very, very useful feature for e.g. train rides with spotty connectivity).

[MacLemon]

Threema has a similar bar at the top that indicates connection status.

One problem with this is, that the user's focus is not there, but at the text input field. So this is very likely going unnoticed.
A greyed out Send button conveys the message that sending is not available, but leaves the user with the experience of “sending doesn't work half of the time, I'm using something else” because I need to send a message now.
While they switch to another messaging app the connection briefly returns and they're able to send their message from another app, and they're gone, perhaps using the messenger that works forever.

It's absolutely key to tell the user why sending is not available at that exact spot. So maybe change that button from “Send” to “Offline”. This also brings the problem of how to tell people that they need a data connection, because “I do have cellular reception, and I can always send SMS. So why doesn't this work? I'll just use SMS instead.”

This won't apply to some of the tech-savvy people, here or elsewhere, maybe not you, maybe not me. It does apply to the majority of users out there though and we should improve upon the lessons learned from other messengers since we're given the opportunity.

[paoesco]

Hi !
I join the conversation because this is really important.

A bit of context : London Underground, poor connection, can connect during station stops but it is sporadic. It's still possible to have a conversation though.

In other messaging apps (like WhatsApp), you can write the message and press Send even if the phone is offline. The message is stored locally and the app sends the message when the phone is back online.

It's great in term of UX because it's kinda "Fire and Forget" or "Write your message and we will take care of it". "Sit back and relax".

Blocking the user of sending a message because the phone is offline is surely an anti feature that could defeat the entire purpose of a messaging app, that is to send message !

The only problem with the current implementation is I have to manually hit retry instead of the app doing it for me.

Let's not try to reinvent the wheel here. Let's just copy what WhatsApp does

[michaelkirk-signal]

In other messaging apps (like WhatsApp), you can write the message and press Send even if the phone is offline. The message is stored locally and the app sends the message when the phone is back online.

Hi @paoesco - we have a feature in the current beta release which does just this. If you'd like to try it out, and are willing to brave some occasional sadness that comes with using a beta release (possible crashes, data loss), sign up instructions here: https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007318471-How-do-I-join-Signal-s-beta-

Then hop on the tube, fire away, and let us know how it goes.

edit: hop in the tube? (not from london 😉)

[paoesco]

hop on 👍