Sideband 1.9.0

This release brings a range of bugfixes, usability, performance and reliability improvements.

Changes:

• Fixed RNode BLE connectivity issues when moving in and out of BLE range of the RNode
• Added runtime fix for broken Kivy on Python 3.14
• Better plugin loader error handling, thanks to @ant9000
• Links in messages are now clickable, thanks to @MatthieuTexier
• Fixed attachment/audio/image messages with no text content not displaying in user interface
• Fixed UI message state not updating on direct message failure and PN retry
• Fixed invalid announce interface attachment on AutoInterface peer availability after no peers
• Refactored guide screen
• Refactored keys screen
• Refactored hardware screen
• Updated RNS and LXMF to latest versions, fixing path resolution issues on busy networks

Sideband 1.8.2

This release adds full support for all voice features of Sideband on all supported platforms. All audio processing is now handled by the internal LXST backends, improving and simplifying multi-platform audio handling. This also means that the number of external dependencies have been greatly reduced. Several other improvements and bugfixes are also included.

Changes:

• Added native filters and AGC to LXST voice calls
• Added full support for voice calls on Windows and macOS
• Added full support for voice messaging over LXMF on Windows and macOS
• Added in-call profile switching for voice calls
• PTT button now ignores very short / accidental presses
• Moved LXMF audio message processing to use LXST as audio backend
• Improved call status feedback and decreased call connect timeout
• Improved voice call UI feedback on establishment failure
• Removed a whole bunch of now unnecessary dependencies
• Sideband is now much easier to install on many different devices and operating systems, thanks to significantly reduced external dependency complexity
• Reduced build size
• Fixed saved window positioning not working on rotated displays
• Fixed notifications not appearing on Windows
• Fixed macOS build error that meant Sideband could not run on ARM-based macOS devices
• Fixed repo server not serving filenames with spaces

Sideband 1.8.1

This release adds support for LXST voice calls on Android, to and from all other LXST telephony clients over Reticulum. It also fixes a number of issues with BLE stability and power consumption on some android devices, and adds a whole range of other improvements and fixes.

Changes

• Updated LXST to version 0.4.1 to include Android audio backend
• Added voice call support on Android
• Added voice call notification channel on Android
• Added low-latency output mode configuration for LXST on Android
• Added ability to start Sideband at device boot on Android
• Added call profile selection to voice screen
• Added automatic incoming call profile configuration
• Added missed call notifications
• Added a call log to the voice screen
• Added reject button to the voice screen
• Added ability to connect to RNode devices over WiFi and Ethernet
• Added WiFi connection option to RNode hardware configuration
• Added window size and position persistence on desktop
• Added interference stats to status output for RNode interfaces
• Unified notification toast display to always use in-application rendering regardless of platform
• Fixed BLE pairing not working on some Android versions due to missing location permission check
• Fixed recently received keys not being persisted on Android if the app had been running for less than 5 minutes
• Fixed a regression in Android service RPC signature, that would cause live-tracking to not initiate
• Fixed BLE connection timeouts occurring with some combinations of Android devices and nRF52-based RNodes
• Fixed high BLE power consumption with some combinations of Android devices and RNodes
• Fixed intermittent packet corruption on some RNode types when using BLE and device was configured at high on-air bitrates
• Fixed contact appearance updates from bulk telemetry transfers for new contacts
• Fixed text field rendering bug on Android
• Implemented Kivy/SDL2 workaround for slow window resize updates on Linux
• Implemented a workaround for Android intents dropped by Kivy at launch which was leading to external actions (share, etc.) being ignored if the foreground app had been closed.

This release has initially been uploaded with an Android APK and the platform-independent whl package. Binary builds for Windows and macOS coming later.

Sideband 1.8.0

This release of Sideband upgrades LXMF to the latest version with support for propagation node stamps. It also improves voice message quality, fixes RNode bluetooth connection issues, makes installation easier across Linux and Raspberry Pi platforms, includes various UI improvements and fixes a number of bugs.

Enjoy!

Changes

• Updated LXMF to 0.9.1 for new propagation node functionality
• Fixed RNode Bluetooth Low Energy connection issues on Android
• Improved voice processing for much better audio quality in voice messages, both for Codec2 and Opus
• Added Weave interface type compatibility on Android
• Added ability to backup and export entire Sideband profile
• Added ability to get and display backend service log on Android
• Added confirmation dialog when starting voice calls from conversation list
• Added proportional window scaling according to overall UI scaling factor on Linux
• Added detection and display of duplicate messages downloaded from propagation nodes
• Refactored conversation list view for improved UI performance
• Harmonized dependencies across Android and desktop platforms
• Fixed potential dependency conflicts on Raspberry Pi and other SBC platforms
• Updated Android build recipes to use newer library and Python versions
• Cleaned up some UI navigation inconsistencies
• Fixed potential race configuration in first config init

Sideband 1.7.0

This version adds the ability to restart the RNS service and reload interface configuration on Android, fixes a bug, and updates RNS and LXMF to the latest versions.

Changes

• Added ability to restart RNS service and reload interface configuration on Android
• Added in-app Bluetooth scanning and pairing on Android 12+
• Fixed connectivity page hanging on desktop
• Updated included RNS to version 1.0.0 and LXMF to version 0.8.0

Sideband 1.6.1

This version activates the use of AES-256 for all communication by default, and also includes a few bugfixes.

Changes

• Updated included RNS to version 0.9.6 to use AES-256 by default
• Added option to configure shared instance access
• Fixed a bug that caused shared instance access to be unavailable to other apps, such as Termux
• Fixed some link statistics in object details not showing up on Android

Sideband 1.6.0

This release adds support for the new AES-256 based link and packet modes introduced in RNS 0.9.5. It also adds a few new features and bugfixes.

Changes

• Added compatibility with new AES-256 modes in RNS
• Added transfer speed display to outgoing messages
• Added ability to exclude objects from telemetry collector responses
• Added interactive console option to daemon mode
• Added option to specify RNS config path
• Added Windows location plugin example
• Sideband now uses abstract domain sockets for IPC on supported platforms
• Improved memory consumption
• Improved I/O performance
• Fixed missing property init

Sideband 1.5.0

Please note! A new version of the Android APK for this release was uploaded on 2025-03-27 that fixes a missing property init, which caused some functionality to not work correctly. If you installed Sideband 1.5.0 before this date, please update it to the latest APK, with build code 20250327.

This release adds the ability to make and receive LXST voice calls on Linux, Windows and macOS. A range of other improvements and bugfixes are included as well.

Changes

• Added the ability to make and receive LXST voice calls
• Added basic voice call UI
• Added option to configure audio devices for LXST voice calls
• Added option to block non-trusted callers
• Added support for sharing any file type as attachment on Android
• Added link stats to object details
• Added a BME280 telemetry plugin example
• Added button on Android to quickly go to full RNS interface status
• Improved map initialisation time
• Fixed audio messages sometimes inadverdently playing on swipe back on Android
• Fixed an intermittent error on telemetry plugin initialisation
• Updated RNS to 0.9.3
• Updated LXMF to 0.6.2

Sideband 1.4.0

This release adds new features, improvements and bugfixes. Sideband can now export received and generated telemetry directly to MQTT brokers for integration into all kinds of other systems. Additionally, telemetry plugin examples have been updated to make it more clear how to get custom telemetry data into Sideband in the first place.

Changes

• Added ability to export telemetry to MQTT brokers
• Added MQTT renderers for all telemetry types
• Added LXMF Propagation Node statistics sensor type to Telemeter
• Added RNS Transport statistics sensor type to Telemeter
• Added Connection Map sensor type to Telemeter
• Added periodic cleaning of old telemetry data from the database
• Improved the overall performance and reliability of the telemetry engine
• Improved markdown rendering
• Updated plugin examples
• Fixed a bug that would cause the announce stream to stop working due to missing signal icon specification

Sideband 1.3.0

This release adds a range of new features, improvements and bugfixes.

Changes

• Increased performance by updating included RNS and LXMF to latest versions
• Added ability to cancel outgoing messages
• Added ability to render messages formatted with markdown
• Added ability to compose messages with markdown
• Added ability to query peer telemetry from the map by right-clicking on the peer
• Added auto-switching of message mode on attachment
• Added indication if receiver rejects message
• Added support for SX1280 bandwidth options to RNode configuration
• Added ability to launch RNode flasher directly from utilities
• Added error message display if the configured RNode parameters were not validated by the radio
• Improved BBCode markup rendering
• Improved UI feedback when adding attachments
• Improved notification formatting
• Updated RNode flasher to latest version
• Fixed formatting of repository server URLs when device has multiple IP addresses
• Fixed a stray newline character in repo URLs
• Fixed a bug that caused invalid SSL certificate generation on Android
• Fixed a bug that caused invalid GPS data struct packing in some situations
• Fixed a bug in propagation node detection in daemon mode
• Fixed a bug that caused attachment names not to display while sending