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What this fork changes

Start9Labs/element-web tracks upstream Element Web releases and adds a phone layout, an installable app and push notifications, plus what a homeserver that runs without end-to-end encryption needs. Nothing here is specific to Start9; the deployment choices are configuration.

Keyless mode

When the homeserver's .well-known/matrix/client sets io.element.e2ee.force_disable, the client never initialises crypto, and every screen that would push the user towards encryption, verification, key backup or recovery is omitted. Informational hints stay (the composer's open padlock, the "Not encrypted" badge). Keyed homeservers are unaffected. No configuration is needed beyond the well-known.

This is the master branch, released as v<upstream>-start9.<n> and :latest. The e2ee branch, released as v<upstream>-start9-e2ee.<n>, carries everything below over upstream's own handling of encryption, for a homeserver that keeps it on.

Phone layout

Below 768px the client shows one pane at a time: the room list, the room, or a right-panel card such as a thread or room info, with a back button in the room header. Dialogs and the sign-in, register and forgot-password pages fit the screen. The room header keeps the room name, threads and room info and drops the call buttons and member avatars; the search box shows no keyboard shortcut. The composer stays above the on-screen keyboard, and an installed app keeps clear of the notch and home indicator. Phone browsers are no longer redirected to a native-app page, the client offers no app-store links, and a current phone browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, Samsung Internet) is not warned as unsupported.

Stale pages

A page left open across a deploy tells the user it is out of date and how to reload, instead of failing silently the next time it needs part of the app it can no longer fetch.

Installable app

The client installs as a standalone app: on Android and desktop Chrome or Edge from the address bar or browser menu, on iOS from Share, then Add to Home Screen. web_app_manifest gives the installed app the deployment's name and icon; without it the app installs as Element. Once installed, unread counts show on the app icon where the platform supports badges.

Push notifications

With web_push configured, a signed-in client that has notifications enabled subscribes to the browser's push service and registers a pusher with the homeserver, so messages arrive while the app is closed, through Sygnal's WebPush pushkin. The service worker shows the notification, badges the app icon with the unread count, and opens the room when it is tapped. Turning notifications off in Element's settings removes the pusher again, as does a deployment that drops web_push; a changed gateway_url is re-registered on the next launch. iOS delivers push only to an app on the Home Screen, so it pairs with the manifest above.

Configuration added

All keys are optional; the default is upstream's behaviour.

  • disable_phone_login (boolean): hide the phone-number option on sign in and the phone field on registration, while keeping email. Upstream's disable_3pid_login removes both email and phone, which breaks registration on a homeserver that requires an email address.

  • branding.auth_footer_powered_by_matrix (boolean): set to false to drop the "Powered by Matrix" link from the footer of the sign-in and registration pages. branding.auth_footer_links still applies.

  • web_app_manifest (object): members merged over the built-in web app manifest — name, short_name (defaults to name), description, icons, theme_color, background_color. Icon src values are URLs relative to the app root, served by the deployment the same way as branding.auth_header_logo_url; when given they also replace the favicon and the iOS touch icons. A square PNG of 512px with the mark inside the central 80% works everywhere:

    "web_app_manifest": {
    "name": "Support",
    "icons": [{ "src": "icon-512.png", "sizes": "512x512", "type": "image/png", "purpose": "any maskable" }],
    "background_color": "#f0f0f0"
}

  • web_push (object): gateway_url is Sygnal's notify endpoint, app_id the app configured there with the WebPush pushkin, and application_server_key its VAPID public key in base64url. Sygnal must run alongside the homeserver: the pusher sends it the room name, sender and message text, which it encrypts for the browser. homeservers, when given, lists the hostnames of the homeservers that can reach the gateway; a session on any other homeserver registers no pusher, for a gateway on a private address.

    "web_push": {
    "gateway_url": "https://sygnal.example.org/_matrix/push/v1/notify",
    "app_id": "org.example.chat",
    "application_server_key": "BEl62iUYgUivxIkv69yViEuiBIa-Ib9-SkvMeAtA3LFgDzkrxZJjSgSnfckjBJuBkr3qBUYIHBQFLXYp5Nksh8U"
}

  • mobile_builds: upstream defaults this to Element's app-store listings; the fork defaults it to none. Set it to offer native apps on the unsupported-browser page.

Two upstream keys worth knowing here: embedded_pages.login_for_welcome: true lands logged-out visitors on Sign in instead of the welcome page, and setting_defaults."UIFeature.identityServer": false hides identity-server features, which also stops the registration form promising discovery by email.