Quicksy is available for Android and iOS

Axel Reimer

This month, there is a big change in the world of XMPP. The app Quicksy has been released for iOS. This is the first time there is an equally named XMPP app for smartphones which is available for free for iOS and Android (Play Store, F-Droid) and offers a very easy XMPP registration flow. Some people might complain that there is already an app named Snikket. This is true but Snikket does not allow registering a new XMPP account without having an invitation.

Introduction

Typical smartphone messaging apps share a common thing: Users need to install a specific app and communicate via a fixed provider. Users become heavily dependent on the provider and this dependency rises with market share. It is hard for a user to deny new terms of use because a user needs to motivate all of his contacts to move to a new messaging app when this happens.

If we take a look at the communication via e-mail the world looks different. It is completely normal for users to select an e-mail app and an e-mail provider. If users do not like an e-mail provider anymore they can switch to a different one and are still able to communicate with their friends. Companies and private users who like to host their own e-mail servers are able to do so. There are well-defined standards.

In the world of instant messaging there is also such a standard. It is called XMPP. From a users perspective the principle is the same: A user selects a messaging app and a messaging provider and is able to communicate with all other XMPP based instant messaging users. But: While it is a normal thing for e-mail users to do such a selection it is not common for todays instant messaging users to think about it. Most people are used to simply enter a mobilephone number and to be able to directly start a communication with their friends (which are automatically presented after synchronizing the address book).

Note: When reading this introduction you might recognize that it is not so easy to explain the advantages of using XMPP for instant messaging…

What Quicksy is about…

This is where Quicksy comes into play. What is the difference of Quicksy to normal XMPP apps?

  • Quicksy users cannot select their XMPP addresses or even the initial password. Instead, Quicksy asks for their phone numbers and generates an XMPP address phonenumber@quicksy.im.
  • Quicksy only supports a single XMPP address. Users are not able to add a second one.
  • Quicksy scans the phone numbers in the address books of the smartphone (if the users allows Quicksy to), compares the numbers with the Quicksy-directory, and adds other Quicksy users (or users who entered their XMPP address explicitly in the Quicksy directory) to the Quicksy contact list.

This means: Quicksy is as easy to use as any other instant messaging app (but uses XMPP). Users just enter their phone number and (in the happy case) the user already starts with a few contacts in her/his list to communicate with. The users do not have to care about their provider, usernames, or passwords.

You might say: This is exactly the problem which we have with other messengers. People need a phone number for messaging and are directly dependent on their provider. Additionally, users are sharing mobilephone numbers of other people with their provider to find contacts. Where is the digital sovereignty?

Quicksy is presented as an easy entry to XMPP and does not offer the choice of selecting a provider to the user (for simplification reasons). But Quicksy users are still able to communicate with people on other servers using different providers. Quicksy is not a walled garden.

By the way: After installing Quicksy, users are free to use another XMPP app to use their Quicksy account. Inside the Quicksy app, users can identify their password and connect with any other XMPP app to their account. Users will loose the ability to scan your phone book to find new Quicksy users because only the Quicksy app is able to do so (if every app could scan this directory, it would be easy to collect user data). If users decide to use a different XMPP app, they are also able to use other XMPP accounts (additionally to the Quicksy account). This means: The provider dependency is gone, the only remaining dependency is the additional function of automatically finding contacts which is just a comfort function.

Personal Opinion

Personally, I think digital souvereignty is very important. I do not think that a mobilephone number should be linked to a messaging account. This means: I am not inside the target group of Quicksy. But there are many people who might see this differently and I respect this opinion.

Quicksy might be a gamechanger for the XMPP ecosystem. People who want an easy to use messenger are able to enter the world of XMPP. This offers a chance for other users who put emphasis on digital souvereignty (selecting a provider, selecting an appropriate app) to communicate with their friends who need an easy entry.

I decided to enter my mobilephone number and my current XMPP address in the Quicksy directory to give Quicksy users a chance to find me as a first contact (if they have my phone number). But I can understand everyone who does not want to be listed there. It is not necessary to do this. Just tell Quicksy users your XMPP address and they can add you manually to their contact list.

My personal advantage: If I do not have the time to explain the advantages of XMPP I can just say: “You can contact me via Quicksy!”.

By the way: The Quicksy app is developed by people you also develop the XMPP apps Conversations (Play Store, F-Droid) and Monal (iOS). It is based on the same code.