App stuck on first screen if it can't connect to matrix.org server

[licaon-kter]

Steps to reproduce

0. Netguard firewall blocking all apps that are not allowed (it responds with error 3 NXDOMAIN)
1. Install Element
2. Start Element
3. Press "I already..."

Outcome

What did you expect?

See input fields for account and/or server

What happened instead?

Nothing, app is stuck with an animated circle

Your phone model

No response

Operating system version

AOSP11

Application version and app store

1.4.34 from F-Droid

Homeserver

No response

Will you send logs?

No

Are you willing to provide a PR?

No

[bmarty]

I think this may be fixed by #6888, in 1.4.34, but this is already the version you are using, so there is something else. Adding some label for now.

[ouchadam]

currently the app relies on the network request to fail in order to fallback to another homeserver address, I'll try out NetGuard locally

[ouchadam]

After playing around with NetGuard locally I can confirm #6888 does fix this issue however, NetGuard causes the network requests to timeout rather than fail, which by default takes around 30 seconds per request.

In the case of the initial sign in/up when we pre-select matrix.org we make a well-known request and if that fails due to a connection issue (like a socket timeout) we then make a versions request, totalling to around 60 seconds of timeouts

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If we reduce the timeouts we risk failing the network requests for slower servers.

I'm tempted to close this issue as a won't-fix side effect of using a blocking service which unnaturally swallows the requests without responding to them, what do you think @bmarty ?

[gdt]

I agree that shortening timeouts to accomodate people who block packets is not a good idea. Even 30s is maybe quick as it would be nice if matrix worked over very slow networks.

I wonder about having feedback to the user showing that a network connection is in progress. This could be shown only after 1-2s, and it would let the user know that element is waiting for the network.

[licaon-kter]

In the case of the initial sign in/up when we pre-select matrix.org

This is the issue actually, why would you insist in making matrix dot org the SPOF of an decentralized app exactly?

I also find this behaviour to be a PII leak, you basically log (on your server) every Android app install with IP and device info (and whatever else the useragent has), no matter if they use matrix dot org or a different instance. Why exactly does the app need to phone home?

Schildi Chat has the better start screen, offering the user to either connect or make an account, BEFORE connecting to any server.

[linsui]

It's not only about NetGuard. Matrix.org is blocked in China Mainland.

[gdt]

It's not only about NetGuard. Matrix.org is blocked in China Mainland.

All the more reason not to connect to anything without the user's request/consent. @licaon-kter has an excellent point.

[ouchadam]

Does the Chinese firewall swallow the requests and cause timeouts or return an error/invalid response?

The issue with NetGuard (and possibly other firewalls) is that it doesn't kill/cancel the network request, which leaves the app waiting for a possible response, there's no way for us to differentiate between a slow server or NetGuard swallowing the request.

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For context around the pre-selection, there's no malicious intention here, we interact with the homeserver to find out the possible login/registration mechanisms (such as username/password or SSO options) and as matrix.org is currently the default, that's the homeserver we query.

ELEMENT WEB	ELEMENT ANDROID

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I acknowledge that it's complex to meet everyone needs and potentially there's a case here where we show an option to skip waiting if the request hasn't complete within X seconds rather than wait for 60 seconds.

At the moment the workaround is to either temporarily allow matrix.org (if possible), temporarily disable wifi when tapping I already have an account and then re-enabling, launch the app with a deeplink to another homeserver pre-selected, or wait for the matrix.org network requests to timeout.

[linsui]

Does the Chinese firewall swallow the requests and cause timeouts or return an error/invalid response?

No, it's blocked by RST. But Element stuck for more than 1 minutes.

I'm confused what's the usage of the connection to matrix.org. After the timeout Element still set the matrix.org as the default url. It knows that matrix.org is unavailable but it decides to insist on it's choice.

[ouchadam]

which version of the app are you using? when timing out the app asks the user to enter a new homeserver url

* with the timeout reduced for the gif recording

NETGUARD TIMEOUT