Send images

[rachelhamlin]

Image Sending Specs

cc @errorists @flexsurfer :)

User Stories

As a user, I want to send media from my device in 1:1, group and public chats.

• I want to take new photos/videos and send them.
• I want to upload existing photos/videos from my device and send them.

POC: https://github.com/status-im/status-react/pull/9455

• Relies on IPFS rather than Status IPFS service.
• Reduce image resolution when uploaded.
• Camera flow is not complete yet.
• Users can not enlarge images in chat.
• Image aspect ratio not maintained in thumbnail.

MVP: Still images only

• iOS and Android
• 1:1, group and public chats
• Still images only
• As a sending user, I can:
  • Launch camera and take a new image from chat
  • Upload an existing image from my device
  • Note: There is a wait while the image uploads; it appears to be okay if the user navigates away from the chat (e.g. to Stickers tab) while uploading, but should be tested further.
  • Send image OR text; can not couple them in the MVP
• As a receiving user, I see image thumbnails in their proper aspect ratio within a chat.
  • I can tap on an image for a full screen preview.

Technical Requirements

• Images will be pinned using Status IPFS service.
• Images will be read from Cloudflare.
• Need to decide which resolution to store in order to display different sizes of the image.
  • Possibly upload two versions: one for the thumbnail, and one for the full size view.
  • We'd have to upload the image twice and it would have two different hashes. You would click the thumbnail, see a loader, and then see the full size image.
  • Even small file sizes on our gateway can take 1 minute to upload.
  • If we have 1,000 people uploading images, it could be a problem. Should discuss with Jakub.
• IPFS hash should be changed to multihash (similar to stickers).

v1, v2: UI enhancements

To be prioritized according to user feedback. Ranked here according to effort/complexity:

• Image gallery integrated into Status chat modal
• Batch send multiple images
• Reply to images
• Coupling text with images
• Download/save images to device
• Copy images from within Status and from the web as well

Technical Requirements

• Some of these ideas require interaction with native parts, e.g. downloading and copying, and thus can be quite tricky.

Future versions: Send video and other files

• Requires more supportive protocol than IPFS

[flexsurfer]

offtopic: I'm wondering how it worked for avatars, we had pretty huge images for avatars

[cammellos]

We are talking about decreasing the PoW, that's one option. It's a good point for avatars, as a matter of fact I believe many times the image was not sent (it's probabilistic, so you might get lucky every now and then a get it). For example when syncing contacts I had to remove images as they would not be dispatched (I believed at that time it was the size rather than the PoW, but likely it was the PoW instead).

[flexsurfer]

so if we're going waky way my suggestion is to add image sending support only for 1-1 and group chats for the first time and see how it goes, wdyt @andremedeiros @cammellos @hesterbruikman

[hesterbruikman]

so if we're going waky way my suggestion is to add image sending support only for 1-1 and group chats for the first time and see how it goes, wdyt @andremedeiros @cammellos @hesterbruikman

Agreed. Less spam sensitive as well. Is it feasible to offer link unfurling for public chats in parallel?

[cammellos]

Is it feasible to offer link unfurling for public chats in parallel?

This is a feature to be tracked separately, probably best to have a separate conversation, but it has no dependencies on this work.

[hesterbruikman]

Url handling in chat epic for future reference: https://github.com/status-im/status-react/issues/10516