Tablets not supported

[jonasvp]

I tried installing from the Play store but it says "not compatible with your device". My Nexus 7 (with 3G) can send and receive SMS. Any way to install TextSecure anyway?

[kramse]

+1

[damoser]

+1

[lapseofreason]

It would also make sense on the non-3G Nexus 7 as long as SMS are sent through the data channel. Viber for example supports it, while WhatsApp on the other hand does not. I'm not sure why that is, i.e. if there are any restrictions on the Play Store that prevent this.

[kopa]

+1

[rhodey]

At this time TextSecure still uses a phone number for ID so it is required that the target Android device have telephony capabilities. I can see a tablet working if we integrate with Google Voice and a GV number is associated with the tablet, check out #364 and #604 for details on that.

As I understand it eventually TS users will be able to use an email address as ID instead of phone number, at that time I expect tablets will be supported but unfortunately I have no time line on that.

[Maexotic]

+1
As I understand one can share one account across multiple devices.
If one exports the ID to a Nexus 7 without 3G the IM capabilities should still work and the device doesn't need telephony capabilities as it is an already allocated and verified ID, right?

[lapseofreason]

Another use case would be that somebody has a tablet but just a "dump" phone, so he could use the number of that to activate TS, but use it on the tablet. Thus the telephone capabilities would not really be required.

[mcginty]

I'll chip in that from a UI standpoint, TextSecure is not ready for tablet form factors. This is a goal, and we could definitely use help on that.

[mcginty]

@jonasvp can you checkout the repo and build/deploy to your Nexus 7? I don't have a tablet, but I can't think of a reason that wouldn't work for getting it installed at least.

[tildelowengrimm]

I haven't tested this on my device, but I read a report that it crashes on start.

[jonasvp]

Second @lapseofreason, that's how I roll - would love to use my dumb phone's number as ID. Probably trickier to set up, though.

@mcginty I'm not an Android developer so I'm not sure how to compile the thing. Once I have some time, I could try getting that set up.

[Emantor]

@mcginty below is an adb logcat from a Nexus 7 3G. Registration is working fine, TextSecure force closes if you try to open or create a new thread.

02-27 21:10:32.969    2115-2119/? D/dalvikvm﹕ GC_CONCURRENT freed 251K, 4% free 8336K/8628K, paused 2ms+2ms, total 24ms
02-27 21:10:33.199      515-683/? D/dalvikvm﹕ GC_EXPLICIT freed 526K, 19% free 16775K/20544K, paused 2ms+8ms, total 86ms
02-27 21:10:33.289      515-529/? I/ActivityManager﹕ Displayed org.thoughtcrime.securesms/.SingleContactSelectionActivity: +686ms (total +4s829ms)
02-27 21:10:33.439    2115-2119/? D/dalvikvm﹕ GC_CONCURRENT freed 344K, 5% free 8455K/8844K, paused 1ms+5ms, total 50ms
02-27 21:10:37.859    2289-2289/org.thoughtcrime.securesms I/SingleContactSelectionActivity﹕ Choosing contact from list.
02-27 21:10:37.889    2289-2289/org.thoughtcrime.securesms W/RecipientProvider﹕ Cache miss [SYNC]!
02-27 21:10:37.889    2289-2289/org.thoughtcrime.securesms W/CanonicalAddressDatabase﹕ Hitting DB on query [ID].
02-27 21:10:37.929      515-801/? I/ActivityManager﹕ START u0 {cmp=org.thoughtcrime.securesms/.ConversationActivity (has extras)} from pid 2289
02-27 21:10:37.959    2289-2289/org.thoughtcrime.securesms W/KeyCachingService﹕ Decrementing activity count...
02-27 21:10:38.379    2289-2289/org.thoughtcrime.securesms D/ConversationActivity﹕ Empty list of recipients retrieved from RecipientsPanel.
02-27 21:10:38.379    2289-2289/org.thoughtcrime.securesms D/ConversationActivity﹕ Empty list of recipients retrieved from RecipientsPanel.
02-27 21:10:38.409    2289-2289/org.thoughtcrime.securesms W/RecipientsPanel﹕ org.thoughtcrime.securesms.recipients.RecipientFormattingException: Recipient List Is Empty!
            at org.thoughtcrime.securesms.components.RecipientsPanel.getRecipients(RecipientsPanel.java:110)
            at org.thoughtcrime.securesms.components.RecipientsPanel.addRecipients(RecipientsPanel.java:88)
            at org.thoughtcrime.securesms.ConversationActivity.initializeRecipientsInput(ConversationActivity.java:766)
            at org.thoughtcrime.securesms.ConversationActivity.onResume(ConversationActivity.java:197)
            at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnResume(Instrumentation.java:1192)
            at android.app.Activity.performResume(Activity.java:5310)
            at android.app.ActivityThread.performResumeActivity(ActivityThread.java:2778)
            at android.app.ActivityThread.handleResumeActivity(ActivityThread.java:2817)
            at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2250)
            at android.app.ActivityThread.access$800(ActivityThread.java:135)
            at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1196)
            at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102)
            at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:136)
            at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:5017)
            at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
            at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:515)
            at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:779)
            at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:595)
            at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
02-27 21:10:38.439    2289-2289/org.thoughtcrime.securesms W/Session﹕ Checking session...
02-27 21:10:38.439    2289-2289/org.thoughtcrime.securesms W/SessionRecordV1﹕ Checking: 2
02-27 21:10:38.469    2289-2410/org.thoughtcrime.securesms W/dalvikvm﹕ threadid=11: thread exiting with uncaught exception (group=0x417c4ba8)
02-27 21:10:38.479    2289-2289/org.thoughtcrime.securesms I/Choreographer﹕ Skipped 30 frames!  The application may be doing too much work on its main thread.
02-27 21:10:38.549    2289-2410/org.thoughtcrime.securesms E/AndroidRuntime﹕ FATAL EXCEPTION: AsyncTask #1
    Process: org.thoughtcrime.securesms, PID: 2289
    java.lang.RuntimeException: An error occured while executing doInBackground()
            at android.os.AsyncTask$3.done(AsyncTask.java:300)
            at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.finishCompletion(FutureTask.java:355)
            at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.setException(FutureTask.java:222)
            at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:242)
            at android.os.AsyncTask$SerialExecutor$1.run(AsyncTask.java:231)
            at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1112)
            at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:587)
            at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:841)
     Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
            at org.thoughtcrime.securesms.mms.MmsSendHelper.hasNecessaryApnDetails(MmsSendHelper.java:117)
            at org.thoughtcrime.securesms.ConversationActivity$8.doInBackground(ConversationActivity.java:690)
            at org.thoughtcrime.securesms.ConversationActivity$8.doInBackground(ConversationActivity.java:687)
            at android.os.AsyncTask$2.call(AsyncTask.java:288)
            at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:237)
            at android.os.AsyncTask$SerialExecutor$1.run(AsyncTask.java:231)
            at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1112)
            at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:587)
            at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:841)
02-27 21:10:38.589      515-725/? W/ActivityManager﹕ Force finishing activity org.thoughtcrime.securesms/.ConversationActivity
02-27 21:10:38.619    2289-2423/org.thoughtcrime.securesms W/MmsSmsDatabase﹕ Executing query: SELECT _id, body, read, type, address, address_device_id, subject, thread_id, status, date_sent, date_received, m_type, msg_box, part_count, ct_l, tr_id, m_size, exp, st, transport_type FROM (SELECT DISTINCT date_sent * 1 AS date_sent, date * 1 AS date_received, _id, body, read, thread_id, type, address, address_device_id, subject, NULL AS m_type, NULL AS msg_box, status, NULL AS part_count, NULL AS ct_l, NULL AS tr_id, NULL AS m_size, NULL AS exp, NULL AS st, 'sms' AS transport_type FROM sms WHERE (read = 0) UNION ALL SELECT DISTINCT date * 1000 AS date_sent, date_received * 1000 AS date_received, _id, body, read, thread_id, NULL AS type, address, address_device_id, NULL AS subject, m_type, msg_box, NULL AS status, part_count, ct_l, tr_id, m_size, exp, st, 'mms' AS transport_type FROM mms WHERE (read = 0) ORDER BY date_received ASC)
02-27 21:10:38.669    2289-2289/org.thoughtcrime.securesms W/KeyCachingService﹕ Incrementing activity count...
02-27 21:10:38.909    2289-2289/org.thoughtcrime.securesms W/KeyCachingService﹕ Decrementing activity count...
02-27 21:10:39.019    2289-2289/org.thoughtcrime.securesms W/KeyCachingService﹕ Incrementing activity count...

[Explorer72]

+1

[jonasvp]

Guys, would you mind not simply "+1" this? Just click on "Subscribe" under notifications in the right sidebar to stay up-to-date on this topic.

[stiltgit]

+1

I'd like to see this feature, too, as it is possible to install whatsapp (by sideloading and possibly assisted by whatsapp2date e.g) and telegram on wifi-only tablets like the nexus 7. Both apps connect the user account solely to a telephone number, too.

You can just delegate a mobile phone number you use in an old fashioned cellular phone or even a voip / pstn number to register these apps on a wifi tablet.

I also tried installation on my nexus 7 by sideloading just like whatsapp but also encountered the crash Emantor reported, when trying to send a message

[martinstingl]

Is it possible to donate or do something as a non-programmer to get this issue fixed?

[martinstingl]

I just compiled Textsecure and installed the debug .apk on my Nexus 7.
Here is the debug info which was available after the crash which occurred when I wanted to add a contact:
http://hastebin.com/xunajiluko
One more, after selecting a group (creation worked even if a another crashed occurred immediately when creating):
http://hastebin.com/bubilunaco

[Wikinaut]

I had similar effects on my MEDION tablet (without phone services). I could register it using the telephone voice registration, but when I click on a received message, the TextSecure program on the tablet crashes.

My current thinking is that a subroutine tries to fire a service, which requires an SMS or Phone library, which is not present on the tablet.

it looks, as if this could be solved by avoiding the call with a try-catch construct, but I haven't had a look to the code.

[martinstingl]

The latest Version does not crash.
Is the Problem solved?

[Stefan126]

Dear All,

I read the response on the #1560 page that due to limited resources on the development side, TS for tablets will not be available any time very soon, but I was wondering whether you had any indication as to how long it might still take to have this feature. Many thanks for all your efforts!!

[lub]

I've compiled it myself and installed it on the (old generation) Nexus 7 3G and it works very well...

[Strubbl]

I tried to install it on the latest Nexus 7 with WLAN only (so no 3G). That worked until i wanted to send a message. When I am in my contact list and i push on a contact, who has textsecure to send her a message, the whole application crashed and shutdown. This is reproducible all the time.

[stiltgit]

#847 contains apparently a bugfix

[Stefan126]

Thanks for all your answers. I have the same crashing of the application when I install it outside of the Play Store from an apk file and the known "device isn't compatible with this version" message inside the Play Store. I am an interested (average) user and not an expert, so would it be possible to get some more information on how to compile the programm by oneself (also why does it work then?) or what the solution on #847 exactly means (if there is any).

And still the original question to the developers as to when roughly one could expect tablet (wifi only) support by default within the app.

Many thanks

[martinstingl]

For compilation see:
https://github.com/WhisperSystems/TextSecure/wiki/How-to-build-TextSecure-from-the-sources

[stiltgit]

latest version (2.1.0) from playstore doesn't crash any more on my Nexus 7 2012 wifi, is marked as incompatible in the playstore, though and has to be sideloaded

[yawnbox]

Installing via APK on a Nexus 7 2013 LTE tablet works good. This particular tablet is also running Cyanogenmod which may or may not impact TS from functioning. T-Mobile's LTE tablets have a phone number (for cell network communication) that they push messages to, so all other incoming and outgoing SMS works. There are two oddities:

1. Incoming SMS from non TS users still creates an additional pop-up window with the SMS message, one that does not allow replies to, and is independent of TS. TS still gets the message and replies can be made with TS. Disabling the Messaging app does not resolve this, it's something else apparently.
2. The "Android Firewall" app, when enabled and when allowing TS over 2G/3G/4G and/or Wi-Fi, is preventing TS from sending or receiving messages. Android Firewall cannot be used in conjunction with TS.

[hadiasghari]

Hi, is there any update on this? I am trying to install it on my Samsung Galaxy Tab that is running official Android firmware and has SIM card support.
I would suggest that it is not blocked on such devices.

[lhlmgr]

+1, we need an alternative for threema pls!!

[foss-]

+1 no news on this?

[Mangoes]

+1
Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 Wifi (Intel cpu) and it says Signal is not compatible with this device.

Telegram, WhatsApp, Viber, hangouts, Linphone, etc... they all work fine.

So, what's the problem with Signal?

Thanks.

[automated-signal]

GitHub Issue Cleanup:
See #7598 for more information.