One day the Tor lib for Android will be so good that Amethyst can start a new session (different exit node) for each relay request we make. It's going to be ~20 sessions running in parallel, like using 20 different VPNs at the same time.
Discussion
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The dream
Amen -- but I have an immediate problem :-) I noticed Amethyst keeps eating data even when the phone is on data saver mode .. I have Amethyst off but I allow chrome and maps to use data ( in data saver mode) .. It looks like my phone thinks of Amethyst as a chrome session ! just speculating ...
No idea what the "data saver" mode does. But if it's killing connections, Amethyst will try to reconnect almost immediately. Which means killing connections or killing the app constantly significantly increases data consumption because of the constant restarts.
https://source.android.com/docs/core/data/data-saver
All app developers must act to implement Data Saver, including OEMs and carriers with preloaded apps. See Data Saver on developer.android.com for app developer instructions on detecting and monitoring Data Saver states. See the sections below for additional details helpful to partners.
To optimize for Data Saver mode, apps should:
Remove unnecessary images
Use lower resolution for remaining images
Use lower bitrate video
Trigger existing “lite” experiences
Compress data
Respect metered vs. unmetered network status even when Data Saver is off
Conversely, to work well with Data Saver, apps should not:
Autoplay videos
Prefetch content/attachments
Download updates / code
Ask to be whitelisted unless background data is truly part of core functionality
Treat whitelisting as a license to use more bandwidth
> All app developers must act to implement Data Saver,
Lol...never going to happen.
Data saver is garbage.
Google insisting that devs make everything compatible their amp servers so that Google can see everything you do, that's never going to happen.
Making Google the relay for everything that goes through your phone, never going to happen.
You can stop flogging that data saver dead horse. Nostr will never be a Google data collection service.
Fair point - may be Amethyst can provide an offline mode .. like Gossip does ..
In offline , you can still write your notes but they wont be relayed till you go online and same for downloading the notes ..
Data saver on Android just sends all http requests to Google's AMP severs to get AMP versions of a website, which saves a little data while Google gets to see every Web page you visit.
Data saver doesn't work with web socket connections so none of the relay connectors in Amethyst will be using Google's AMP severs.
It is important when traveling abroad with limited data .. half my data was consumed by Amethyst in Japan last month and in Mexico brfore that .. I am not complaining .. but it is an important point ..
In fact a desirable design choice is - when in data saver mode , store all new notes automatically in draft mode and sync them automatically when in wifi ..
Yeah, data saver won't help you with nostr.
When you're traveling abroad, why don't you just buy a local data only sim? Use a cheap burner phone for your existing sim if your current phone can't use two sims but you still need to get phone calls and SMS. Local data sims are almost always way cheaper than roaming charges.
eSim services like Aerlo , are pretty much the same price as local data sim .. around 10 dollars for a 2 gigs per week option ..
Amethyst eats away , almost a gig .. that is around five dollars a week for international travel .. not a deal breaker for me, but this should be addressed or at least informed to the users ..
One day? Is there something you know? Or are you dreaming? I like your dream.
Right now I want 2 always on vpns on my phone... Looking at an idea to use holepunch as a workaround.
They are slowly getting there. The Tor library for Android has just been a huge mess. Maybe holepunch gets there first... who knows..
I am still waiting for a way to route a zap from nostr to a lightning node on tor without needing to run an external proxy.