.@`ODELL` thank you very much for the conversation! A great summary is here:

Citadel Dispatch

CD196: EVGENY POBEREZKIN - SIMPLEX PRIVATE CHAT

Evgeny is the founder of SimpleX Chat, a private and secure comms protocol that has a radically different approach to the concept of user identity....

More news is coming! View quoted note →

Thanks guys, a great episode with loads of technical information. I've installed #simplex again to give it another try. Feel free to message me.

SimpleX Chat - Invitation

It's my only messenger

Been using SimpleX w my family, close friends & work colleagues (when we need to avoid Big Brother Teams) for over 18 months now. Have it running on iOS, Mac OS, and Start 9. I still think Keet renders photos, videos & calls better, but SimpleX is a champ for text messaging.

SimpleX doesn't work in Russia. Session is blocked too. Seems like it was much easier to block than Telegram (they're trying right now and it still works). SimpleX depends only on it's own infrastructure + Flux servers and it doesn't survive in restricted conditions.

It appears Telegram also does not work without VPN in Russia. We will be implementing connection rotation and redundancy it may reduce the impact. In any case, preventing transport-level blocking is a hard problem, especially if they start using LLM for traffic analysis. It is better to solve it in dedicated VPN solutions, not in the apps.

Does Tor work in Russia?

In my region (of Russia) Telegram is sometimes work without VPN, sometimes not, depending on ISP and mobile/WiFi connection. Govt controlled media yesterday signalled about Roscomnadzor is struggling to block Telegram with somehow limited resources, and it seems likely, for now at least. Maybe they just want more money for DPI infrastructure and playing, idk. I gave up on SimpleX when their support told me they doesn't have plans to implement any circumvention tools (similar to Signal's solution or others). And many many people in Russia did the same when it stop working without VPN. I hope SimpleX's position "other services must provide connection, not us do anything" will change. The difference between SimpleX's non-commercial basis and all vpns, that are paid (directly, or ads/data selling), is completely understandable... By the way in my case mentioned Session, that is still installed on my device, is not working with or without VPN, idk why. Session lasts longer than SimpleX, much longer, but since the end of 2025 I never had session online.

Mate, just use some VPN like Mullvad, Nym, Sentinel (this one provides this free with

Independent DVPN

Independent dVPN is a free, decentralized VPN for mobile built on the Sentinel blockchain

Yes, obfs4 or webtunnel bridges with fake SNI works when Cheburnet is off. When it's on, it's hard to connect to anything even "white listed" domains itself.

Dude, you have no idea what's going on here. What Mullvad are you talking about — it hasn't worked here for a long time. Sentinel and others "decentralised" are farming civilized West's money with shitcoins, it's not about VPN quality and resilience. Every other person in Russia keeps two or three VPN services on their phones in case the latest twice obfuscated VPN protocol suddenly stops working... Some people switch foreign VPS servers like gloves just to stay connected to the outside world. Telegram started being blocked partly because it's the most convenient source of VLESS keys (and Tor bridges), places to buy cryptocurrency, and "forbidden" information from opposition media. So your advice is a bit off the mark, man. We're on the front lines of a passive fight for free access to information.

I see. I stand corrected then. But if even if VLESS isn't working, how do you think Simplex will do something better to bypass all the censorship?

nice try FED

DPI is not everywhere and it can't be everywhere, at least this day. In Russia when they're hardly trying to block 2-3 popular protocols or global services at once, some old shit like Shadowsocks or Wireguard and even Socks5 starts working. There's always will be a pretty solid path until total Cheburnet activated. And I mentioned Signal for a reason. It devs implemented feature that bypass DPI blocking with one checkbox activated. Idk how it works and if it is working right now or not (I'm not a Signal user), but I know the only problem with Signal in Russia was to register and log in to the messenger (you can't just receive SMS with code and you can't first-time connect without VPN), so their solution works, but not from the box, and not for everyone. I hope SimpleX and others "decentralized" guys will not turn away from the users from Russia like many service providers does for any reason (sanctions, politics, war, etc.) BTW your governments will try to implement some kind of blockade (nation-wide network) earlier or later, so be prepared.

What about Tor, i2p, vray or HydraVeil?

Rnode, meshtastic, Meshcore open?

Why not set up your own SimpleX server?

Tor with bridges. I2P for what? Darkweb or something like it? I tried to connect for experiment and in my area it never connects, "reseed seems to be totally failed". Vray idk what it is, v2ray is a popular client for Xray and sometimes it works with the right configured keys. What is hydraveil? Never heard of it.

There's many enthusiasts in big cities developing mesh. But using radiowaves with strong encryption is dangerous - fsb can fuck you anytime. If your network will grow to status "public", you must give up keys and register in SORM. In other ways (without encryption) you rely on "nobody cares/listens/reads" and "I had nothing to hide". Easier to use the "national messenger" Max.

DPI doesn't care from what IP to what IP the traffic is going. It uses LLMs and other soft to find the signatures of blocked protocols or kinds of obfuscation and drop it immediately, no matter it legal or illegal, it doesn't care. That's why when our people buying VPS's, installing VPN/proxy tunnel there, they're trying not to use it with banks, governments and other surveillance apps. Because from the moment vps's ip known, earlier or later connection to it became "depressed" automatically. DPI doesn't care why you use this tunnel. That's why when white list regime is working, even whitelisted hosts could be unavailable - DPI still doesn't care, and nobody could stop it. In couple of years or even less nobody would buy a server for VPN - that's their goal. To make it useless waste of time and money.

i thought you guys in russia are using things like VLESS-XTLS-uTLS-REALITY? am i correct? i don't think mullvad, nym etc. is gonna work there

I think what kind of is common between us is that you kind of dislike the place where this world arrived. Right? And you do what you can in your place with your resources, with your abilities to make this world a little bit better. I think that's why we're building communications technology because I I care about communications. [...] I really care about people being able to connect to other people. There is nothing more important. And me seeing, like, the whole world is converted into some kind of surveillance panopticon when, like, you can't really talk to anybody anymore. That's just not right. Then try to do something. Exact I was saying that something has to do something for the last twelve years. Yeah. Fifteen years now. Right? So, like, four years ago, I said that less than who? Yeah. Four years ago, I said, alright. Nobody does anything. I have to do something. View quoted note →

So can you use SimpleX over Tor?

nostr + citrine + samiz? That's my dream and world 😎

People are using the wrong frequencies. There is this hype for microwaves but longer waves prevent triangulation and give privacy. Old good wave knowledge is getting lost. All are all software guys

Do they work more with IP blocks or DNS blocks?

Agree. I bet a possible solution will be to have some hardware VPN server positioned abroad and VPN tunnel on that. I see they lock VPNs based on IP lists.

With Tor you can use anything that works trough Tor. But 1. Tor is slow and sometimes can't connect. 2. I can't teach everyone how to use Tor (bridges, SNI, troubleshooting). 3. So why do I need SimpleX working only on Tor?! I can chat with you if you want, haha.

What do you mean? How long waves should be and what protocol/technology supports it?

Digital Data Modes

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) is the national association for amateur radio, connecting hams around the U.S. with news, information and re...

they cannot triangulate long waves sources with a precision better than about 2-3 wavelength. There is plenty of space from the old pirate 45 Mt frequency to lower unused long waves broadcasting freq