Spreed: Notifications for chats are not showing when browser tab/window is inactive

[jcastang]

Steps to reproduce

1. Join a chat and stay in room but change browser tab
2. Make someone in the room send you a message
3. No notification raised

Expected behaviour

As the browser tab or window is not active, user should be marked as inactive and the receive notification.

Actual behaviour

No notification is raised because of user not being marked "inactive" on window change.
So you are to miss all messages from other until you go back to Nextcloud talk tab/window

I removed many of items asked in this bug in order to keep it clear. Those were not revelant.

If you miss any information, please feel free to ask.

Browser ALL

Operating system: Ubuntu
Browser name: Firefox/Chrome

Browser version: 65 for Firefox

Spreed app

Spreed app version: 5.0.2

Custom TURN server configured: yes

Custom STUN server configured: no

Operating system: Ubuntu

Web server: Apache

Database: Maria

PHP version:

Nextcloud Version: 15.0.4

[nickvergessen]

Yeah, that is currently done intentionally, but we start to feel we should try to solve this in another way. But we also want to not pop notifications all the time when you are actively monitoring the chat on one device.

[jcastang]

Yes I know this could be annoying.
As a user:

• No notification if I am on Chat tab/window
• Notifications if window/tab is inactive if fine.

Maybe make a notification on window title or tab title is fine too.

[putt1ck]

I think an approach where user focus is or appears to be on interaction with the chat means no notification but all other scenarios gets a notification i.e. on a desktop cursor is in the chat response box (and the tab/window is active) for that chat, in touch environment the device is active (unlocked) and the chat app is not backgrounded (including sharing the screen) and that chat is active. Any other situation needs a notification or the chat will be missed.

Q. if someone is logged into the NC instance but doesn't have chat open do they get notified in some way that's even a little intrusive?

[nickvergessen]

if someone is logged into the NC instance but doesn't have chat open do they get notified in some way that's even a little intrusive?

They receive Browser notifications if accepted once.

[putt1ck]

We're struggling to reproduce notifications. We get the little red dot on the bell in an NC tab, but nothing if you're not viewing the tab. The browser shows "send notifications Allowed" for the NC instance. Is there anywhere we should look to see related errors?

[georgehrke]

We're struggling to reproduce notifications. We get the little red dot on the bell in an NC tab, but nothing if you're not viewing the tab. The browser shows "send notifications Allowed" for the NC instance. Is there anywhere we should look to see related errors?

The same for me. I was never asked for a permission to receive notifications and i also don't receive any.

But we also want to not pop notifications all the time when you are actively monitoring the chat on one device.

We should just use the same setting that's already there and show notifications based on the users choice.

[putt1ck]

We're still struggling to get some notification of a chat being started or a message sent. We've tried with multiple installations and different browsers, and with setups that have STUN and TURN servers just to make sure we're covered our bases. Any idea where we can look now?

[stratoss]

They receive Browser notifications if accepted once.

@nickvergessen even the browser notifications are delayed, sometimes up to 5 minutes, which doesn't do the job.

I have deployed Talk as a Skype replacement in the company I work for, and the lack of proper notifications is forcing us to use jabber/phone to say "Hey, I wanna share my screen with you, can you please check the call I just initiated with you?" which... isn't how it is supposed to be.

We are willing to donate some amount of money if that is going to speed-up the development for reliable notifications.

[nickvergessen]

I'm currently thinking, if we should send the notifications even when you are in the conversation and only mark them automatically read after 30 seconds. This way they would still pop in the browser, while not being left behind as a list of things that has been dealt with already.

[stratoss]

That would be nice. I would also suggest to have some non-annoying 'Blip' sound on received message, as well as updated tab title like 'X new messages... | Talk'.

Maybe even favico.ico replacement to attract more attention.

[nickvergessen]

Unread count in title is handled in #798
Automatic playing of audio is currently not possible because chrome and firefox prevent this.

[putt1ck]

@nickvergessen sound seems to work with other browser based chat systems. Or at least Google's. What would prevent NC from adopting a similar solution?

[nickvergessen]

The sound option of web notifications was unsupported by all browsers and has now even be removed completly:
https://github.com/nextcloud/notifications/issues/116

Also other "auto playing of audio" is prevented by firefox and chrome. So you can only play sound once the user interacted with the media element.

[stratoss]

@nickvergessen I've tested the audio tag and it works without any interaction on both Firefox (60.7) and Chrome (73).

proof of concept

Can't we trigger such play event on a new notification ? That would also fix #1444 .

[putt1ck]

@stratoss does require the user first allows autoplay for the site (FF) but that's the same for notifications anyway.

[stratoss]

Hm Firefox says that no special permissions has been granted for that page, but yes, even if that's the case, audio notifications will greatly improve the UX.

[mcnesium]

please make those audio notifications opt-in :fearful:

[stratoss]

@nickvergessen are there any plans to introduce real-time noticeable notifications on new call / new message ? It is a basic functionality which all major web-based communication apps already support.

[nickvergessen]

Yes of course.

A first step was done with #2438 for #798
The missing part is to detect the "window is inactive" case and still trigger call notifications in that case. This is what this issue is for.

[CoreyBurger]

I would note that not notifying when tab is inactive is a crucial missing feature and chosing not to notify if "Always notify" or "Notify @ mentions" makes Nextcloud offside with other chat apps. One option: rather than pushing a full notification, just amend the page title like a dot or a number as Facebook or Flow do

[nickvergessen]

Which is exactly what we did as i commented right above you

[CoreyBurger]

Is the notification only for new calls, or for new messages as well. Because my install of Nextcloud 17 with Firefox, I wasn't receiving any chat notifications when the chat was active, but the tab was not.

[nickvergessen]

Well its with the upcoming version

[ruedigerkupper]

Possible duplicate: #3388