Briar Desktop 0.5.0-beta released - macOS support, private groups and Briar Mailbox

The desktop team is excited to announce the next update to the Briar desktop client. The new version 0.5.0-beta brings support for private groups that complement private messaging and forums. Private groups were previously only available on Android devices.

Another update is the ability to link a Briar Mailbox to your desktop client. The Mailbox is an Android app that accompanies Briar and was released just two weeks ago. With a Mailbox linked to your Briar messenger you can improve your own reachability and better reach your contacts. While messages usually only get exchanged while you’re online at the same time as your contacts, a Mailbox can receive messages from your contacts while you’re offline and Briar will safely fetch them next time you come online. Similarly, you can send messages to your contacts while they are offline - your Mailbox will store them and allow your contacts to fetch them even if you’re offline later on.

Last but not least, the new version also brings support for the next major operating system: macOS. We’re very happy to bring Briar to even more users and are looking forward to any feedback you have.

Follow this link to download the latest version:

https://desktop.briarproject.org/

For more details on what changed in the current version, have a look at the changelog.

Thanks to the NLnet foundation that funded the work on the features above!

Briar has received funding from the Small Media Foundation, the Open Internet Tools Project, Access Now, the Open Technology Fund, the Prototype Fund, Internews, the NLnet Foundation, the Next Generation Internet programme, the ISC Project and eQualit.ie.

Contact

Torsten Grote <torsten@briarproject.org> [PGP key]

Michael Rogers <contact@briarproject.org> [PGP key]

Twitter: @BriarApp

Mastodon: @Briar