element-hq

element-ios

Swift2020–2023

element-hq / element-ios

element-ios

Element's Classic app for Matrix collaboration on iOS

Mobile & Desktop

Explore on GitHub Read Hacker News discussions

7Distinct people

10Mentions

0Explicit recommenders

1.8KGitHub stars

REPOSITORY AT A GLANCE

What to know before exploring

What it is

Element's Classic app for Matrix collaboration on iOS

GitHub

Where it is used

No documented product use has been verified yet.

What people are saying

No recommendation phrase was found in the indexed comments.

No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.

Also in these discussions

No other repository is repeatedly linked in the same discussions.

This week on Hacker News

Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 3:03:16 PM UTC.

No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.

Mentions over time

HN mentions by year10 dated mentions

Observed mentions: 2020-10-30 10:22:19 UTC to 2023-09-21 17:53:29 UTC.

Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.

View mention counts and date ranges

UTC ranges include their start and exclude their end. Select a period to filter the source evidence.
Period	Start (UTC)	End (exclusive, UTC)	Mentions	Submissions	Comments
2020	2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2	1	1
2021	2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	6	0	6
2022	2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	0	0	0
2023	2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC	2	0	2

What Hacker News says

10 sources

Arcuru·Sep 21, 2023

There are quite a few issues that they've stopped fixing in the Element app in favor of doing it in Element X, the one I've been following is where the iOS app causes a breakage in E2EE when you use the share extension, so they just disabled the share extension entirely and said they'd fix in X - https://github.com/vector-im/element-ios/issues/7618 But X requires Sliding Sync on the server, which is still a separate service to run alongside the homeserver and doesn't have a stable API. I am increasingly disappointed with how centralized Matrix is becoming, since AFAIK there isn't really an alternate client close to the same level of quality as Element. I probably would've made all of the same decisions myself though, so I don't blame them I'm just a bit disappointed in how it's shaking out.

In Matrix 2.0: The Future of Matrix

Arathorn·Feb 13, 2023

Element X is an entirely new client written in Rust + Swift UI/Jetpack Compose (https://github.com/vector-im/element-x-ios and https://github.com/vector-im/element-x-android) which will eventually replace the legacy Element apps (https://github.com/vector-im/element-ios and https://github.com/vector-im/element-android). The features already exist serverside; we're just working on getting them out of beta.

In Matrix 2.0: How we’re making Matrix go voom

cvwright·Sep 28, 2021

You're being downvoted, but I originally had the same question. It's actually a native app. It's mostly Objective C, but increasingly written in Swift. https://github.com/vector-im/element-ios There is clearly room for improvement, but apparently they just hired a handful of new iOS developers to work on it. Good things should be coming soon.

In Spaces launch in Element

vector_spaces·Jul 27, 2021

Above all else, it's because core functionality is frequently broken and issues like this[1] languish for months and years without updates. When things don't work, it's rarely transparent to users whether this is due to a bug on Element's end (or on the server side), user error or misconfiguration, or operator misconfiguration. Further, there's virtually zero documentation for end users. There are no in-app explainers as to what E2EE is or why anyone should care, leaving the onus on operators to document and explain these things to non-technical users. [1] https://github.com/vector-im/element-ios/issues/3762

In Element raises $30M to boost Matrix

leesalminen·Mar 16, 2021

I’ve been having an issue with E2E encryption in a Room on a self-hosted homeserver with ~10 users. It has to do with a user having multiple devices, I think. There’s an ongoing issue on GitHub [0]. It’s been the only downside to Element for us, so far. Other than that I’m happy with Matrix in general. Kind of a pain trying to troubleshoot decryption keys cross-country with my mom. [0] https://github.com/vector-im/element-ios/issues/3393

In Telegram is booming but needs advertisers and $700M soon

pkulak·Feb 19, 2021

Every issue I had with Signal, and listed here, is solved. One issue I have with the Element iOS client is that it doesn't respect system font sizing. So, for older relatives, that app can't be used. I put my mom on something called "Fluffy Chat" though, which does respect font sizes. If Element fixes that, I'll move her back again. It's kinda nice having multiple clients to choose from, though Element is by far the most polished. https://github.com/vector-im/element-ios/issues/3245

In WhatsApp to move ahead with privacy update despite backlash

Avi0n·Jan 15, 2021

Element clients are very close to finishing their SSO implementations which will help immensely with the on boarding process. Here’s the iOS pull request for example: https://github.com/vector-im/element-ios/pull/3890

In Signal is having technical difficulties

vector_spaces·Jan 4, 2021

Yep, I've stopped recommending Matrix because 1. There is virtually zero user-facing documentation. Need to know how to backup keys, verify another user, or what E2EE means? Ask your server operator. Basically the onus is on operators to document this stuff for their users. Except the stuff we're documenting is hard even for server operators, and especially challenging to document in a way that both nontechnical and technical users can understand. 2. Because this stuff is challenging even for more technically minded users to understand, it leads to a kind of burnout for interested non-technical users where they learn all they can about some feature and how it works at a high level from out of date random blogs, try to use the (complex, multi-step) feature, but then something won't work, and it isn't be clear whether it was because the use

Read the rest

r did something wrong or because the clients or server implementations are broken 3. Issues where core functionality is broken (e.g. two mutually verified users on my homeserver haven't been able to talk to each other in months -- see [1], [2], [3]) languish for months with zero response from maintainers. 4. While core functionality is both broken and undocumented, the maintainers announce rabbit hole features that no one asked for and seem very much like distractions, like their recently-announced microblogging view/client[4] In short the Element maintainers have shown little interest in making the platform accessible to the people who need its differentiating features the most, and have prioritized the "mad science"/technical aspect of their platform at the expense of the human element (end-users and operators). It'd be cool if Element used their resources to hire some UX folks and community advocates whose sole focus is addressing the horrid accessibility of their platform. I think most users would rather see that than further "mad science". [1] https://github.com/vector-im/element-ios/issues/3762 [2] https://github.com/vector-im/element-ios/issues/3572 [3] https://github.com/vector-im/element-ios/issues/3393 [4] https://matrix.org/blog/2020/12/18/introducing-cerulean

In Slack is down

vector_spaces·Dec 1, 2020

Element / Matrix are great in principle, but it's probably not helping that there are fatal bugs in the iOS app that break core functionality (see [1]). Outside of that, it has major issues with accessibility in general -- user facing documentation is non-existent, for example. Users on my server complain sometimes that they feel they need to have a degree in computer science to do simple things. I feel like Element's complications around branding are a great metaphor for the Matrix ecosystem in general It's a shame -- I'm hopeful that the situation will be better in the next year or so, but if these issues aren't corrected I can't see how they won't forever be in the shadow of mainstream apps like Slack, who have much stronger sensibilities around UX and accessibility (dark patterns and lack of E2EE notwithstanding). [1] https://github.c

Read the rest

om/vector-im/element-ios/issues/3762

In Salesforce Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Slack

vector_spaces·Oct 30, 2020Submission

Core Element functionality is broken

1 points · Open discussion