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by kvisner 78 days ago
So most messaging apps rely on a phone number or centralized server to provide a means of making atleast the initial connection. In a purely P2P messaging system, how do I, as a user, find the other person I might want to talk to?
2 comments
Realman78 78 days ago
Third party info exchange. I don't see that as an issue though. For example, for discord, you also 100% exchanged usernames via a third party system. I mean, even phone numbers are exchanged via third parties. Now that I think about it, the only place where you can search people somewhat reliably are social media sites
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blamestross 78 days ago
I'm a fan of "face to face mutual qr code key exchange." I should implement that someday.
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Realman78 78 days ago
QR code key exchange is convenient, but I did not plan phone support.
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blamestross 78 days ago
Nobody does "face to face" key exchange like I imagine. Just two phones facing each other spamming QR codes for the other to read.

What I REALLY want is an app that builds a big bank of nonces between you and your peers over short range radio or QR codes and then lets you use a 1-time pad.

Ultimately, I'm only offering criticism because I have spent a lot of time working on exactly this problem, but I am not in a position to actually implement it. This is awesome and you should be proud of it.

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Realman78 78 days ago
I appreciate the criticism, really. In the current version users only have to exchange the username or peer ID via third party and then find each other on the DHT...

However, there is also another way, which is already implemented and I am currently writing the how-to on my blog site, and that is using "trusted users". Basically, instead of 2 users trying to find each other on the DHT, they can just export their profiles in the "Profile" section. That prompts them to create a shared secret and exports a ".kiyeovo" file. You send that file to the other party, they click on the "+" in the sidebar header ->"import trusted user", select the ".kiyeovo" file and voila!

I know it's not nearly as convenient as what you're describing, but it's just a more "trustable" way of creating a contact which is also not that inconvenient.

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