Call a Friend(GSoC-22) Final.

About the app:

Meshenger was initially a Java based android app, which allowed users to make p2p audio as well as video calls over local networks i.e no server or Internet access needed.

Goals for GSoC 2022:

As the app was built initially using Java, our priority was on converting it to Kotlin for better performance and stability. The app didn’t had a very good UI, so designing the new UI and its implementation was another thing we wanted to focus on. There were several crashes that needed to be fixed along with fixing the deprecated dependencies, fixing the Call feature and cleaning up the Address Management screen were all a part of our 12+ weeks of efforts put into making the Meshenger app functional, removing the extra features that aren’t functional as of now and polishing the app to an extent that we are able to make a new release for it.

Goals Achieved:

After the midterm evaluations, I had a version of Meshenger with updated UI and Codebase converted to Kotlin but the Calls were still not working, we were unable to identify the reason why the calls aren’t working and as Google has officially stopped maintaining the WebRTC library which acts as a backbone to the Meshenger app we decided to start over with the Master branch as in that branch calls were working.

Now I had to convert the Master branch Codebase to Kotlin, implement the UI I designed earlier, add all the features that were in the Development branch and not in the Master branch, polish the app so its good enough to make a new release and restructure the Address Management screen.

It was a huge task with a very little time left to finish, but with great assistance from my mentor Moritz we have accomplished all the above mentioned goals for the project, without the guidance and availability of my mentor it would have been impossible to complete on time.

My overall experience in Google Summer of Code 2022, as a contributor was full of challenges, I learned a ton of new things and enjoyed it a lot.

Midterm Evaluations: Call A Friend.

Initial Goals:

Starting off with the Meshenger app, we have a Master branch with all the features working and a Development branch with added stability and necessary changes but a broken call feature.

The goal of GSoC’22 was to fix the call related issues, convert the codebase to Kotlin, design and implement a new UI and make a new release for the App.

Progress so far:

Working on the first phase of GSoC’22, I started off with reading the required documentations and existing code, understanding the architecture and workflow of the app.

Then I started with UI design in Figma, in like 2 weeks I was ready with a new UI design for the app https://drive.google.com/file/d/1G3oJXJlj8jKSiGBmmtsG1CSDQ6ipTAtr/view?usp=sharing

After completing the UI design in Figma, I worked on converting the Master branch and Development branch codes to Kotlin, so we can easily understand how the calling feature work and fix it for the Development branch. I currently try to investigate how the WebRTC library works in the Master branch so I can follow up the same for Development branch to fix the call feature.

Later on I implemented the New UI in the source code of the Development branch and added a feature so if the user skips the add-a-name option, he’s given a random username.

Then I fixed the app crashes along with the Dark theme.

Currently I am debugging the app to figure out why the calling feature isn’t working.

In the next phase I would be working on fixing the call feature, go for testing and then make a new release on F-Droid and even on the Play Store.

Call A Friend – GSOC’22

Introduction

The existing version of Messenger app has some bugs related to connectivity and exit, the UI is a bit old and the codes are written in Java. This GSOC project aims at converting the whole source code to kotlin, improving the UI, fixing bugs and making a stable release for the app.

About Me

Hello everyone

I am Aditya Khandelwal, First year college student pursuing B. com hons in Accountancy, programming is my hobby, I am good at developing android apps with kotlin. I love to code, being a part of GSOC’22 would help me get experience with open source Development.

Project Goals

My goal is to fix bugs in the existing version of Meshenger app, convert the codes to kotlin and make a stable release for the app.

Decision after Community bonding period

I would start with making a cleaner UI for the app then I will convert the whole codes to Kotlin, implement the new UI and work on fixing the bugs along with frequent testing.

My experience

In the Community bonding period I familiarised myself with my mentors, got insight about how the app was initially developed, what we are looking forward with the app and so on.

I also got valuable feedback and suggestions on planning the working model.

I am really excited to move forward with the coding phase.