oxen-io
Delay in receiving messages of up to 1 hour
Bug description
- Delay in receiving messages that takes up to 1 hour
Steps to reproduce
- Send messages normally, nothing special
Actual result:
- Messages are usually delayed for a couple of minutes. Sometimes for 10 minutes. [Edit: Actually 10 minutes is not uncommon, we do not strictly time it though.] One time it reached one hour.
- When delayed messages arrive, they seem to be in order. We would have to back-read to make sure we did not miss a message.
- For example, sender would send five short one-liner messages, e.g., messages nos. 1 to 5, 1 being the first and 5 being the last. Messages 4 and 5 are received, messages 1 to 3 are delayed. Or in a staggered fashion: Messages 1, 3, and 5 are received. Messages 2 and 4 are delayed.
- The one icon "Read receipt" may or may not appear on the last sent message. (IMO the "Sent" and "Read" receipts/icons should appear beside each message.)
- Restarting the app usually does not help.
Expected result:
- Messages arrive in real time.
Device info
FIRST device Device: iPhone 6 iOS version: 12.5.5 Session version: 1.11.21 (319)
SECOND device Device: iPhone 8 iOS version: 15.3.1 Session version: 1.11.21 (319)
More Info This also happens on the desktop client.
- Device: PC
- OS: Linux Mint 20.3 Cinnamon
- Session Version or Git commit hash: v1.7.7
Thank you.
ETA: Disappearing messages is enabled at 1 week.
Hi @dot-screen , thanks for the report and all the details you provided! We've noticed this issue and try to find where the problem is. If you continue to have this issue, could you please provide more details in the page? Many thanks in advance!
I'd be glad to provide you with more details, but which details in particular (for iOS)?
I could perhaps post logs etc. for the desktop client (on the other corresponding Github page of course), but I'm not sure if this is really relevant because we use the iOS app most of the time.
At the moment we are only partially using Session because of this delay issue (alongside another app), but for now we'll try using it exclusively again.
Thank you.
First instance of delay. I'm on the PC client, though. The other end on iOS (Edit: iPhone 6).
I sent 3 messages. The last one is only seen/read. The first 2 are not (but are marked Sent). For at least 30 minutes now.
(Just wanted to reiterate: The iOS client shows only one Sent and Read icon, beside the last message. There would be no way for the sender to know whether all the other messages are sent and/or read.)
Thank you.
I open up my iOS app (iPhone 8), and the 2 "un-read" messages above are there.
The other end (iPhone 6) confirmed that indeed, those 2 messages have not arrived yet.
Update: Those 2 messages are "seen/read" just now, after 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Thank you so much @dot-screen . In cases like this, the debug log won't be too helpful, instead we have to know the scenario. Just need some info to be clear:
- Is your iPhone 8 a linked device with the PC client? And the iPhone 6 is a different account?
- By saying "seen/read", did you mean messages are received and shown on the recipient's side?
- Did you get any push notifications before the messages were received on the recipient's side?
- Did you turn on the read receipts on both side?
FYI, if the message is not sent, there will be an indicator with an ellipsis showing blow the message bubble. So if there is no indicators, it means the messages has been sent on the sender's perspective.
Cheers!
Is your iPhone 8 a linked device with the PC client? And the iPhone 6 is a different account?
Yes and yes. I use the iPhone 8, the other end iPhone 6.
By saying "seen/read", did you mean messages are received and shown on the recipient's side?
Yes. The "sent" and "seen/read" icons, as we observed, are accurate on the desktop app. The "sent" icon turns "seen/read" after the other end actually reads the messages.
Did you get any push notifications before the messages were received on the recipient's side?
iPhone 6 says yes, she would get notifications but when the delayed messages arrive, no notifications.
Notifications do not apply to me (iPhone 8) because I switch off my phone's WiFi when I do not use it. But fyi my notifications are enabled.
Did you turn on the read receipts on both side?
Yes.
FYI, if the message is not sent, there will be an indicator with an ellipsis showing blow the message bubble. So if there is no indicators, it means the messages has been sent on the sender's perspective.
As we observe on the iPhone, when a message is sent, an icon, which is a check mark in a circle on clear background, would appear. When the other end reads it, the icon (background) turns black. (Theme used is System.) However, after I receive a reply from the other end, any indicators disappear.
After the initial observation/testing period, we did another one yesterday (so 2 periods total), and we got delays again. We are not using Session at the moment because it's basically unreliable to use as an instant messenger.
When we test, I would need to use the desktop app because at least we could see which of my messages are sent and read, something the iPhone does not show.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for your feedback!
As you can get the notifications on iPhone 6, the messages should be successfully sent to the network. So the issue should be on the recipient's side. Your iPhone 6 may not be polling the new messages correctly or refreshing the UI correctly.
We'll look into this and get back to you when we find something.
Thank you so much again for all there information! :)
You're welcome and thank you again. We like Session a lot because of its simplicity and of course because of the privacy part.
Your iPhone 6 may not be polling the new messages correctly or refreshing the UI correctly.
Just wanted to reiterate that the delays happen across all of the three devices mentioned (2 iPhones and 1 Linux Mint PC), especially as the receiving ends. We are strongly aware of the "sent" indicator whenever we send messages.
Sometimes delayed messages would arrive just when the recepient sends a reply. For example:
- Person A sends 5 messages (messages nos. 1 up to 5, 5 being the last).
- Person B receives and reads messages nos. 4 and 5. (messages 1 to 3 are delayed). B decides to reply later.
- Minutes pass by.
- B sends a reply. After sending the reply, messages 1 to 3 above simultaneously arrive.
- (Then back-reading eventually and unfortunately becomes a habit.)
Thank you for the new information.
Sometimes delayed messages would arrive just when the recipient sends a reply.
This is a totally new info to us. It is very important and helpful.
Cheers!
You're welcome and thanks.
It may be weird that I turn off my phone's WiFi whenever I put the phone down, but the other apps don't have that issue at all--whenever I open them up, messages arrive immediately, basically.
Please don't take that the wrong way. Session is by far our favorite app. We're looking for a privacy-oriented app that's simply dedicated to instant messaging with the ability to send images and short video clips--no calls or video-calls whatsoever--which Session precisely is. We don't have a deeper understanding about the Loki network (or how it all actually works in the background), but we can see the use case of Session and it's precisely what we need.
We are thankful to all the devs and contributors to this app. Hope the delays get fixed soon!
Any update on this? Closed groups are still broken where some messages are delayed or not delivered at all to the phone
Hi @lennylen, we are still looking into it. We are working on refactoring iOS database and the closed group protocol to fix all these issue. Will keep you updated when we fix the issue.