The Chatavion application gives access to a short message service on poor network conditions: weak signal, filtered wireless access, and even Wi-Fi hotspots regardless of authentication. Under such conditions, usual apps like WhatsApp, Snapchat or Signal cannot function. Chatavion allows a basic text messaging service.
The app is available on Android Play Store! You can also download the APK installation file as well as the source code on that page.
To use the app, enter a community address (equivalent to IRC or Discord channels) as well as a nickname. You will see the last messages from that community. Everyone can create a server to host their own communities, see the Servers section for more information.
Keep in mind that Chatavion is an experimental system. Therefore, we offer no warranty about transmissions. Loading a conversation for the first time can be long, sometimes over one minute, due to numerous checks that have to be done about the network you are connected to. Depending on configurations, the application may have to reemit transmissions or slow them down to ensure they are correctly delivered.
How does it work?
Coming soon…
Is it legal?
That question is without a doubt the most asked! Chatavion is just a tool that sends fully regular requests, like any other software. They are just used in an unusual way. The application does not allow any cracking or intrusion. Also, we designed it to make as few transmissions as possible, so it has no impact on any existing device. Owners of Chatavion servers are responsible for the messages they host. VS inno is responsible only for the chatavion.com server.
Can we send pictures or sound?
Chatavion was designed to cope with restricted transmissions. Short text messages can be sent in extreme conditions, because they translate to a ridiculously low volume of data. Sending a simple picture or any sound would be equivalent to thousands of messages at the same time. Thus, it would ruin the concept of Chatavion. The main aim is to allow very important communications in (almost) any condition. Moreover, massive transmissions could disrupt regular network infrastructures.
Servers
Running a Chatavion server requires technical skills. The software as well as some explanations are available on that page.
To try the app, you can access the following community: public@chatavion.com. You can contact us to open more communities on the chatavion.com server (even though the contact form is in French, you should be able to fill it 😉).
We do not guarantee a 24/7 access to the chatavion.com server communities. Messages can be read and deleted without notice. Make sure to not disclose community names to people who are not supposed to access them: Chatavion has no security mechanism (see below), only the community name acts as a password.
Security and privacy
Due to the very nature of Chatavion, communications cannot be efficiently encrypted. Messages are simply base32-encoded for technical purposes, and therefore very easy to decode. Do not use Chatavion to communicate sensitive information: they could be intercepted.
However, DNS transmissions – which are the heart of the Chatavion system – are untraceable. Under certain circumstances, identifying the person who actually sent a message is impossible.
Warning! Conditions to be fully anonymous on Chatavion are very precise. We suggest you get in touch with an expert to ensure your anonymity if you have special needs. VS inno, as a company, is not commited in any way about anyone’s anonymity, and cannot be responsible for any misuse of the Chatavion application.
We do not save any personal data of Chatavion users. Only the content of messages sent to chatavion.com communities is stored.
Credit
Architect: Vincent Sénétaire
Design: Lysandre Macke, Arnaud Apelbaum
Functional engineering: Lysandre Macke, Sadib Ahammad, Léo Barroux, Léo Buzelin, Martin Ricard
Development: Léo Barroux, Léo Buzelin, Martin Ricard, Arnaud Apelbaum
A thousand thanks to ESIPE, the engineering school of Gustave Eiffel university (Paris), especially the IT 2023 school year and their teachers Rémi Forax and Philippe Finkel. They all helped a lot in the whole project.
The Chatavion application and its server software are published under the MIT license. The source code is available on that repository.