Pachli 2.5.0 2.5.1 is now available. This version refreshes some of the UX, simplifies tab management, fixes security certificate issues for Android 7 devices, continues improvements to the left-side navigation, has assorted bug fixes, and continues support for non-Mastodon servers.
Version 2.5.1 contains a fix for a potential crash when viewing notifications.
Read on for more details about these, and other changes in this release.
New features and other improvements
Refreshed screen transitions through the app
The most immediately visible change is transitions through the app are now faster. The full “slide” from one side of the screen to the other is kept for navigation with a strong spatial component, such as going from a post to its thread, and back. Otherwise a combination of rapid slide and transparency change, consistent with newer Android versions is used. These transitions now honour the right-to-left setting on your device, and will move in the appropriate direction.
Pachli should now feel faster in day to day use.
If you have enabled Predictive Back navigation on your device you’ll notice Pachli now supports that too.
Timeline management
Work to make managing timelines easier has continued.
A frequent user complaint in Pachli (and Tusky before it) was “How do I get to the Federated timeline?”. My first contribution to the Tusky project was writing the FAQ entry.
I always thought this should be easier, so I’ve made it easier. The Federated timeline is now always available from the main navigation menu, as are the “Local” and “Direct Messages” timelines.
If you’re viewing a timeline in a tab the ⋮-menu now has a “Remove tab” item to quickly remove the tab, and a “Manage tabs” item which takes you to “Account preferences > Tabs” where you can make further changes.
If you’re viewing a timeline that hasn’t been added to a tab there is now an “Add tab” item (typically appearing as a tab icon) which will immediately add this timeline to a new tab.
The different “Trending” timelines (hashtags, links, and posts) now have different icons to make it easier to distinguish between them in tabs. Those timelines now fetch more content as well.
Correcting an earlier oversight, “Favourites” can now be added to a tab too.
Android 7 devices and Let’s Encrypt
If you use an Android 7 device you may have had problems connecting to some servers; if a server’s security certificate is issued by Let’s Encrypt Android 7 no longer trusts Let’s Encrypt certificates and refuses to connect.
More technical detail about this at https://letsencrypt.org/2020/11/06/own-two-feet and https://letsencrypt.org/2023/07/10/cross-sign-expiration.html.
Pachli 2.5.0 includes a copy of the Let’s Encrypt certificates, so you can continue to connect to those servers. This is perfectly safe; it’s the same mitigation technique browsers like Firefox and Chrome on Android use.
While debugging this problem I’ve increased the amount of detail in error messages shown during login.
This affected a number of people, including myfta, and Jocelyn. Thank you to them for providing feedback when troubleshooting the problem.
Disable filter functionality if you use Sharkey
The “Sharkey” server software does not support filters. If you sign in with an account on a Sharkey server Pachli disables the filter functionality.
Updates to translations
Languages with updated translations are:
- Finnish by Kalle Kniivilä
- Kabyle by ButterflyOfFire
- Spanish by Miles Krell (their first contributions to Pachli)
If you would like to help improve Pachli’s translation in to your language there’s information on how you can contribute.
Significant bug fixes
Talkback actions for notifications and direct messages
Pachli wasn’t enabling TalkBack accessiblity features on the Notifications and Direct Messages timelines. That’s been fixed, thanks to @TalkingDroid@tweesecake.social reporting it.
“Stuck” video on slow networks
@gmoon@aus.social reported a problem playing videos on slow networks; when opening the video it could appear to “stick” in the timeline until enough of it had started to load (#598). Transitions when returning from a video have been improved as well.
Wrong character count if you wrote, then hid, a content warning
If you wrote a post, decided to write a content warning, then changed your mind and hid the content warning, Pachli used the hidden content warning text when computing the length of your post, and could mistakenly prevent you from posting if your post was too long.
Set filter expiration to “indefinite”
If you changed a filter’s expiration from “indefinite” to some other value, Pachli wouldn’t let you set it back to “indefinite”.
Proper caching for non-chronological timelines
Pachli’s cache for timelines incorrectly assumed posts in a timeline are always in chronological order. This is not always the case; for example, if you bookmark a post from today, then scroll back and bookmark a post from a few weeks ago, the posts in your bookmarks timeline are in the order you bookmarked them, not the order they were posted.
In some cases this incorrect assumption would result in posts briefly appearing on screen before being replaced.
Thank you
Thank you to everyone who took the time to report issues and provide additional followup information and screenshots.
Download Pachli 2.5.1 from Google Play, F-Droid, or the GitHub release page.