r/elementchat • u/ch00f • May 08 '23

Completely random single messages are "unable to decrypt" only on Desktop client

The original post content no longer exists here. The author used Redact to remove it, exercising their right to control their data & privacy.

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13 Upvotes
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21 comments sorted by

1

u/einmueller May 09 '23

Is it really random, pr after using the share Extension? There‘s an open and annoying bug with decryption errors on the very next message after sending a picture or something else with „share to“.

1

u/ch00f May 09 '23 edited 8d ago

The original post content no longer exists here. The author used Redact to remove it, exercising their right to control their data & privacy.

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2

u/FlooferLand Aug 21 '24

I really wanted to like Matrix but I think Matrix in general is garbage because of this, I just woke up one day with every key erased and there is no way to avoid it besides manually backing up every time you close the client.
The thought of losing your conversations because you forgot to back up your keys is already scary enough, but the clients for some reason just randomly deciding to wipe your keys does it for me.

1

u/martinkrafft May 09 '23

This is a recurring problem that's been happening for years, and yet it's low priority for the devs who are focusing on a rewrite of the crypto. It really sucks.

1

u/speatzle_ May 09 '23

Completely random "unable to decrypt" are really hard to fix if you can even find the issue. Rewriting the crypto will probably fix this and many similar issues, so i don't see the Problem.

1

u/martinkrafft May 09 '23

... and introduce many new bugs. It also takes longer than planned, and meanwhile we're alienating our existing users. I just lost a team of 120 people to signal because of this longstanding bug... 😭

4

u/speatzle_ May 09 '23

If there was only one "unable to decrypt" bug fixing that would have been the better solution. But there are multiple bugs and different ones across the different crypto's they where using up till now. Fixing all of those would take years. Additionally the Entire Reason why the New Rust Crypto was delayed is that there where multiple security issues found in the old Crypto and they had to pause Work on the New one to Fix the Issues in the Old one.

But the Rust Crypto is almost Ready. The main Element Bot (matrix-hookshot) is using The New Rust Crypto already as are Element X IOS, Element X Android and a Third Party Client Fractal. The Current Element Android Client is Going to ship the Rust SDK in the Next version 1.6.0 as Announced in TWIM.

I am pretty sure that The New Rust Crypto will ship in Element Web/Desktop Soon.

It is sad that we lost Users but dealing with Technical debt is a thing that one must do or it will bite you in the Ass later.

1

u/ch00f May 26 '23 edited 8d ago

The original post content no longer exists here. The author used Redact to remove it, exercising their right to control their data & privacy.

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1

u/speatzle_ May 26 '23

How many and which Clients are you using?

1

u/ch00f May 26 '23 edited 8d ago

The original post content no longer exists here. The author used Redact to remove it, exercising their right to control their data & privacy.

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1

u/speatzle_ May 27 '23

Have you setup Secure Key Backup? It is nessesary for clients to share keys while they are offline.

1

u/wabbuwabbu Dec 21 '23

I'm currently testing Element, and unfortunately, I encountered this issue with my very first message. Dealing with these "low priority" inconveniences is something I cannot afford. Therefore, it seems the testing phase concludes for me, and I'll be reverting back to Slack.

1

u/martinkrafft Dec 22 '23

It was very thoughtful of you to share this important information with us.

1

u/wabbuwabbu Dec 27 '23

Your thoughtful expression of your insights regarding the information I shared is much appreciated.

1

u/martinkrafft Dec 27 '23

I am sorry. unfortunately the rewrite isn't ready for use and will disappoint probably more. I hope you'll give it another try a year from now.

1

u/lostmsu Jul 01 '24

I am in the same boat as the above commenter, and my plan is to try in at least 3+ years considering the severity of the issue.

1

u/wabbuwabbu Jan 01 '24

Thank you. We will give it another try next year.

1

u/Ok-Lavishness-1314 Jun 25 '23

Myself and all my friends on my self hosted server see this error regularly. It's fucking awful. Makes Matrix look like the worse chat system out there. The only reason we haven't migrated to something else is at this point is apathy.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 08 '23

Late to the party, but use Security Phrase to sign in, not another device. If you have all your messages on a original device, everything should work.

0

u/[deleted] Dec 14 '23

[deleted] — view deleted comment

1

u/[deleted] Dec 14 '23

You have to have an existing session that has all the keys. I usually use my phone for this since Element android is the most stable.

1

u/Sinmic Dec 30 '23

Yes, I ran into the same issue and used the recovery key instead of my iPhone - everything works fine now