Below is an overview of what accompanied WeeChat: WeeChat not only acts as a bouncer to keep message logs (logging messages permanently to a file), but also acts as an intermediary server allowing third party apps/WeeChat clients (called relays) to connect to WeeChat over HTTPS. Additionally, the server side is not open source, and message logs are not encrypted.Įventually, I settled on rolling a DIY solution with WeeChat, an open source, terminal-based IRC client with a suite of features and plugin support, meeting all of my feature requirements. However, this was far from perfect as on the free plan, you are: limited to two maximum connections (what messenger does this?) only able to stay connected while inactive for only two hours (making it pointless as a bouncer) not allowed to connect to password-protected servers (!). One possible solution I found at the time was IRCCloud, a cross-platform, cloud-based IRC platform. This was too big of a sacrifice to make just to meet these features. The majority of Android IRC clients keep connected to IRC channels by running a background service which consumes CPU and network resources (and therefore battery power) even when the phone is idle.

There were two main features I needed: push notifications if I was mentioned, and keeping message logs by staying connected (commonly known as a bouncer).

The main requirement for me was finding a decent way to stay in touch with IRC channels on my Android phone.

Given I wanted something more permanent than a browser IRC client, I looked into clients for Windows and Android and was met with disappointment: unsurprisingly, the feature sets of these clients were a downgrade from modern messengers, and a modern user interface was too much to ask for.

During the WannaCry ransomware attacks, I found myself joining various IRC channels to stay in touch with the latest developments. Despite the influx of modern messengers with features such as push notifications, websockets, message history and more, IRC is still going strong.

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