Nova Chat — a Delta Chat fork with toggleable encryption and WebDAV

⚡ The gist in 5 seconds - Nova Chat ( ) is a fork of Delta Chat version 1.4 that preserves the decentralized email-based model. - It's available only for Android (APKs for 32/64-bit, Android 5.0+); no desktop build is published. - End-to-end encryption can be disabled for compatibility with regular email; the account syncs via WebDAV. ### 🔍 What was found Developer bilibiliHaoziyao has released Nova Chat as a spin-off of Delta Chat. The app keeps the core — transmission via email protocols without a central server — but reworks the user experience. Initial setup now goes through a full-screen wizard in the HyperOS style: language, country, account creation/login, WebDAV backup. Login offers presets for popular email services (QQ, 163, Gmail, Outlook) and a connection check. In the "Privacy and Security" settings, there's a force_encryption toggle — it's enabled by default but can be turned off to communicate with regular email clients. Version 1.4 is distributed as a universal APK (armeabi-v7a and arm64-v8a) with a fixed signature, allowing updates to be installed over the existing app without uninstalling. WebDAV sync works by exporting an encrypted backup (PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256 with 120,000 iterations, AES-256-GCM) to Nextcloud, Jianguoyun, or your own server. The built-in AI assistant, MuHan Intelligence, has a daily limit of 5 messages on the built-in API, but supports a custom OpenAI-compatible API with streaming output. Among the limitations: the WebDAV configuration isn't saved on Android, and no desktop build is published — the sources remain in the repository. ### 💡 Why it matters Nova Chat makes Delta Chat noticeably friendlier for beginners. The first-login wizard eliminates the need to manually configure IMAP/SMTP, and WebDAV backup solves the problem of moving an account between devices — the server only sees encrypted data. The ability to disable end-to-end encryption is a rare option that lets you use Nova Chat as a regular email client when communicating with people outside the Delta Chat ecosystem. The built-in AI with support for connecting your own API is a nice bonus for those who want an assistant right in the messenger. ### 🧩 Context Nova Chat is a derivative project of Delta Chat, which has been positioned from the start as a decentralized email-based messenger. This fork preserves the architecture but completely reworks the interface. The project actively develops only the mobile direction: despite desktop app sources existing (Windows/macOS/Linux), their builds have been discontinued since version v0.2.0. This is a deliberate choice by the developers — to focus on Android. Windows users can build the client themselves from the sources.

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