Author: shadow_wp_admin

The new Shadow server v2.7.0 brings support of the Google’s modern HTTP v1 API. Users are encouraged to upgrade to v2.7.0 lest push notifications stop working after Google phases out its legacy FCM API on June 21st, 2024.

The new Shadow server v2.6.0 enables support for cryptocurrency payments on the server side. However, cryptopayments are still unavailable in the clients at present. The respective client-side functionality will be enabled in future releases of the Shadow client.

The new Shadow client v1.19.0 provides client-side support for secure conferencing. This feature requires upgrading your Shadow server to version 2.5.0.

The new Shadow server v2.5.0 brings support for audio/video conferencing with end-to-end encryption implemented as group calls. This is made possible through inclusion of the open-source Signal SFU (selective forwarding unit) into the Shadow system.

Client-side conferencing support will be introduced in the forthcoming release of the Shadow client.

The new Shadow server v2.4.0 brings TURN over TLS support for better firewall traversal of voice and video calls. This is fully optional and may be enabled in addition to (the default behavior) or instead of plain TURN.

Also, an autonomous Shadow proxy module (which is nothing else than an adapted version of Signal proxy) is now introduced – to be optionally used in conjunction with the Shadow server in scenarios when your Shadow server is inaccessible to users located in a certain administrative domain.

The new Shadow client v1.17.0 introduces client-side support for proxying the client-server traffic. Registering on a Shadow server via a proxy is also made possible. The proxy server information can be shared directly or via an Android deep link (much like with Shadow groups). The Shadow proxy module will be published with the forthcoming release of the Shadow server.

Beside that, the new release of the client brings forth chat wallpapers, editable user status descriptions and last, but not least, internet connectivity check upon initial registration. Yes, the most popular technical support case has been that a user tried to register without internet connectivity on their smartphone – hopefully, now there’s the end to that.

Starting with Shadow client v1.15.0, one can access a Shadow group via a group link. The group link is just an HTTPS link. Despite its being tied to our domain, it is not intended to bring the Shadow client anywhere on our website or other servers. Instead, it is used by the Shadow client to parse information encoded in the link itself (even without resolving it into an IP address) – which subsequently allows it to access the group in question. During this process, the Shadow client does not hit our servers at all (and hence your IP address is not revealed to us).

The only case when you would hit our website using the group link is when you open it with a web browser – the obvious scenario for that, of course, being when you do not have a Shadow client installed (and the web page where you land will tell you exactly that). If you have Shadow installed, then Android is instructed to open group links with Shadow, not with your web browser.

Android 11 is now officially supported with the new Shadow client v1.14.0.

The new Shadow client v1.13.0 brings forth the following functionality:

• zero-knowledge groups
• mentions
• controllable updates (the Shadow server admin is now able to forbid client updates)
• server-side control of attachment limits
• official support for Android 10

It is not backward compatible with old versions of the Shadow server and requires Shadow server v2.03.

The new Shadow server v2.03 introduces server-side support for ZK (stands for “zero-knowledge”) group system – a group system based on anonymous credentials. The client-side ZK group functionality will be activated in the forthcoming release of the Shadow client, hence it is recommended that you upgrade your server to v2.03 without delay, lest new group creation is broken for you with the client update.