FAQ - Frequently asked questions

Android: “Conversations” (for a small donation from the Google Play Store or for free via the F-Droid Open Source App Store)
Windows: Gajim
Linux: Gajim and Dino
iOS: Monal

As an alternative you can use the trashserver.net Webclient on all platforms: XMPP Webchat

“Which Clients do support OMEMO End-to-End Encryption?”

An overview of the status of the OMEMO implementation in various XMPP clients can be found here: https://omemo.top/

“How can I change / reset my password?”

Change password: Most XMPP clients offer a “Change Password” function. In case your client doesn’t have that feature, you can use https://xmpp.trashserver.net/account/change_password
Reset password: If you’ve lost your password, there is nothing I can do about it. Since I don’t have enough information about you and your account, there is no way I can make sure that you really own that account. Please use password managers to keep track of all your passwords, and note them down before you enter them during account registration.

“How can I delete my account?”

Use this link to delete your XMPP account: https://xmpp.trashserver.net/account/delete
Note that your account is deleted automatically after 2 years of inactivity.

“Why are Push notifications not working for me?”

There can be multiple causes:

With Conversations

Conversations was installed on a smartphone without Google Libraries and therefore without GCM (Google Cloud Messaging). Push does not work without GCM. There is an alternative solution, but it consumes more energy: Conversations Settings => Expert Settings => Run service in foreground (at the bottom)

With ChatSecure\

According to some user reports, ChatSecure generally still has problems with push. Causes can be:

Push was not activated when setting up ChatSecure
Low battery
Active energy saving functions of iOS

On iOS, settings for notifications and background data may need to be adjusted. (Unfortunately I can’t describe more details due to lack of an iOS device).

“Why can’t you reset my password?”

I’ve written an article about that: https://thomas-leister.de/en/password-resets/
TL;DR: I don’t provide password resets (anymore) because they are a security risk. During registration there is no data saved about your identity. That means that ownership of your account cannot be proven without doubts. Your password is the only proof.

“I’m getting an error message »401 Unauthorized« on the registration page.”

This error is given if you open the web page too often in a certain period of time. Please wait for a few minutes and try again. This mechanism protects the server against attacks.

“How does Push work with conversations? Which data is transferred?”

Find more information on that topic here: https://github.com/iNPUTmice/p2/blob/master/README.md

“I do not agree with the message logging and want to disable it”

If you do not agree to the storage of chat messages for the specified period, you can disable MAM via a compatible XMPP client of your choice. In Conversations you will find the appropriate setting under[Account Overview, Select Account] => Menu top right => Archiving Settings. Put there “Never”. The logging for MUCs can be changed via the MUC settings. Unfortunately, Conversations does not allow you to define your own preferences. But you can use another client like Gajim or Dino to set the setting “Enable Archiving?

“My Messages are not getting through”

First check if OMEMO is active. If so, temporarily disable OMEMO on your device (+ in group chat on all other devices) to check if this is the cause of the error. If the messaging without OMEMO works, you have probably not accepted another user’s OMEMO key (or vice versa). Example: User A does not receive messages from User B. Cause: User B does not encrypt messages to A with the appropriate key. Workaround: User B makes sure that all OMEMO keys are activated in his contact details for User A.

“Which data is stored by the server?”

See Privacy

“Will trashserver.net still exist in X years?”

It is currently not foreseeable that this service will be closed down. As long as I don’t get into financial difficulties or there are other serious reasons, I will offer the XMPP server. A termination would of course be announced in good time.

If you want to secure the long-term operation of trashserver.net, you can participate in the financing.

“Why do you offer this service?”

I want to motivate more people to use independent services for their communication and not to rely on centralized platforms. Privately I use XMPP with my family and friends. So why not offer XMPP to everyone right away?

“Why is this server called »trashserver«?”

When the service went online in 2012, I had no better idea - and even today it is a challenge to find reasonable domain names that are not yet occupied or not sold for huge sums. Meanwhile all have resigned themselves with the name and since then the server is called so :-)

“Why are you using Ejabberd / Why did you move from Prosody to Ejabberd?”

I’ve written a blog post about that. You can find it here: https://thomas-leister.de/en/migrating-trashserver-prosody-ejabberd/