Rocket.Chat iOS 3.0 Released

Rocket.Chat is proud to announce a new release of its iOS native application, version 3.0.0 now. This update has been in the pipeline for a few months already so we are looking forward to hearing what you think!Highlights include:

New UI;
New Onboarding Experience;
Themes;
Sorting & Grouping;
New connection status, not intrusive;
Manage members from a channel;
Bug fixes

A major redesign of user experience

We completely redesigned the experience users have when they open the iOS application. Now, the first thing users see is the list of chats sorted by activity (more on that later), meaning that access to all the information is easier than ever! To open a new chat, simply tap on it on the list.If you're a Server Administrator, please make sure you've the setting "Store Last Message" in your server enabled. You can find it under Administration -> General -> Store Last Message.

New iPad experience

Now on the iPad you can see the whole list of conversations while you talk to your colleagues!

You can also use the iPad in a multitasking environment by using the app and Safari simultaneously, with a great UX to make your experience super enjoyable!

A new onboarding experience

Offline usage

Having a reliable internet connection will always give users the best experience using the app, but we know that this is not always possible and sometimes the app is needed on the airplane or in-between very unstable connections.We believe user experience should not be affected by this, so we changed the way the app handles internet connectivity. Now, when the app is waiting for a connection, users will see a small text on the title of the view indicating the current connection status; and users will still be able to navigate in the app and send messages while offline.If a user was connected and received a message just before losing their connection, they will now be able to read the entire message when they enter the room. We believe this change will provide a smoother experience for users on a daily basis.

Quick Actions

If you have a device with 3D touch support, you can now jump straight from the icon of the app to the server or conversation you want to go to much more quickly and easily!

Theming

Now users can choose between light, dark and black themes. This project was developed by Samar Sunkaria as part of a GSoC 2018 project. The next blog post in our GSoC 2018 series will highlight Samar's project and will be published soon, so stay tuned!This set of themes was chosen to optimize the look and feel of Rocket.Chat on iPhone and iPad, especially the black theme for the iPhone X. Samar will continue to work on more themes, more improvements on the app and a few integrations between the mobile apps and the server.

User Details screen

Users can now view all user details: timezone, roles, name, status and more! Users can even start a new conversation with others by pressing the "Message" button below the avatar.

Sorting & Grouping

With all these layout changes, we thought we just had to include the option for users to sort the list by activity or alphabetically, and to group it by type. Users can also group favorites, and unread chats will always come first at the top of the list.We believe that the best default experience on mobile is to remove any grouping and to instead sort by activity, but the choice is yours now!