What is Bitmessage
Bitmessage is an email-like system which is completely untraceable, anonymous and encrypted. It is also decentralized and thus does not rely on any servers.
All messages are simply shared with the entire network, but only the intended recipient has the necessary decryption keys to read them.
Installation
- Linux (AppImage) installation (Mark as executable. A shortcut can be created by simply selecting the appimage file in the shortcut creator.)
- Windows installation
- Apple installation
- Android installation
Shared chat and contacts
Our shared channel password is “helicoptarian” and the channel address is: BM-2cUyo6VN172D7EwrV8tSazJNK4nr9zoWk7.
My address is: BM-2cVyxL3UgYZNJ7SHvzWRWWGErAimzsXymd.
Setup
Set the TTL (Time To live) value to a high setting. This will increase the chances of recipients getting your messages.
In order to send you should also see a yellow or green network indicator in the corner. Yellow is fine.
It is a good idea to save a copy of the private key of your address or password somewhere so you don't lose it.
Troubleshooting
In order to connect through the TOR the computer time must be accurate.
To see if a message is sent go to the sent-tab. The status should change from "doing work to send message" to "message sent".
This view will only update if you switch to another tab and then back again.
If things seem to be stuck you can try rebooting the application.
Advanced troubleshooting
If you have a strange problem you can check the log file at "home/.config/PyBitmessage/debug.log and ~debug.log.1" to troubleshoot the problem.
If your client seems broken or does not connect, the solution can be to close the app, clear the files ~/.config/PyBitmessage/knownnodes.dat, ~/.config/PyBitmessage/messages.dat and ~/.config/PyBitmessage/keys.dat and then starting again.
This will delete your message history, so copy and save that file somewhere if you want to try recovering it later.
These files will be in different place on Windows and Apple, but that is what to look for.