Dear Ethora platform users, we want to announce an important update to the platform that is NOT FULLY BACKWARD COMPATIBLE.
To improve the platform for you, we are introducing a minor but important change to the Ethora Chat Protocol that requires an update to all client applications, in addition to other changes listed below.
1. All User JIDs and all Room JIDs now should be prefixed with App ID.
Additional chat server module (ethora_protocol) is introduced to enforce the above rule. This is required for multiple reasons including: (1) better enforcement of member-only rooms security; (2) improved attribution and granular room-level activity statistics; (3) simplify migrations of Ethora-powered applications between servers especially between multi-tenant and dedicated server configurations.
2. Display name (XMPP nickname) enforcement - additional protocol plugin logic going forward will restrict the ability of end users to modify their nickname or display name directly via XMPP stanzas. The display names of the users are now taken from /users/ API as a single source of truth. This helps combat display name spoofing when users or bots could have exploited XMPP protocol to change their display name as perceived by other users. Application business logic and users themselves should control the names via /users/ API, while client apps should now ignore the display names coming via XMPP stanzas and use the /users/ API too as the single source of truth.
3. Users sessions timestamps journalling - by popular demand, we introduce this improvement to help you obtain more detailed analytics on your app usage patterns. Additionally, for customers working in finance and healthcare verticals, this is an important compliance requirement too. Previously, Ethora would only store and display the date/time of initial signup and the date/time of the latest activity for each user. Now, your Users section of the admin interface as well as relevant CSV exports and statistics interfaces will provide data points for all users logins. You may use this, for example, to build a cohort analysis of your signups, to analyze usage patterns in relation to time of the date, important updates or events within your app.
4. Another update we are adding to this bundle is improved Chats Reporting mechanism. Users that would like to report Chat Rooms due to any reasons, have been able to use Ethora React Native and React.js apps UI to do so, however now we have added appropriate API endpoint and server configuration allowing you to specify the contact for your Trust & Safety officer to deal witch such requests.
What does this mean for me?
1. Dedicated server customers - your server will remain unaffected unless you request the upgrade and migration to the new version.
2. Ethora.com cloud server customers:
2.1. Your Apps and Users - your Apps and Users will be migrated to the new format automatically.
2.2. Your Chat Rooms and Chats History - all inactive projects on Free tier will be subject to SPRING CLEAN. This means if your project is BOTH inactive and is on the Free Tier, we make an assumption that your old chat rooms and chat history are not relevant anymore. We will create a backup file and carry out a DELETION of old chat rooms and chats for inactive projects. This will make your and our life easier in terms of migration to the new upgraded Ethora chat protocol. Whenever your application creates new chat rooms or your users write new messages, they will be automatically compatible with the new version of Ethora and we will not have to manage the backward compatibility.
To summarize, this hybrid migration + spring clean approach will ensure the ethora.com cloud server:
1. Runs the latest version of Ethora chat protocol.
2. Provides advanced analytics and improved security for its users.
3. Does not have to deal with backward compatibility and legacy chat rooms or messages going forward.
Note: Don't worry, we have a backup file! In case you read this message too late after we have already carried out the migration and spring clean and in case you had important or valuable data in your old chats, an encrypted backup of the whole ethora.com database will be available for 3 months post this notice. Just get in touch if that is the case, and we will look into options such as spinning a dedicated server with a legacy version of the platform and deploying your app backup there.