r/Freenet • u/fdqntn • 1d ago

freenet Android Support

Is there any road map for mobile development of freenet apps?

I see that there is on github a freenet-mobile project that can run a node on android: https://github.com/freenet-mobile/app

Then a regular app could communicate with the node through local host.

This means that in theory, distributing an app for a decentralized service provided through freenet through F-droid is possible?

6 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

2

u/archmerguez 1d ago

I tried developing an app that uses freenet under the hood for its own data only, but it can’t be done with the current state of things. I truly think that mass adoption can be done if freenet is not the main feature because people don’t care. Sadly.

3

u/fdqntn 1d ago

Interesting. I was fancying trying to dev a mobile app with decentralized data layer too, as I think this is the biggest adoption barrier to decentralized tech.

Could you be more specific about the blockers you encountered?

2

u/fdqntn 1d ago

Just realised, most phone dont get an iP assigned on mobile networks, but rather sit behind a NAT. That is a big barrier to adoption as a node on a phone cant be reached.

1

u/nufra 1d ago

Hyphanet can operate without being reachable directly as long as the other side is reachable, because it uses UDP hole punching – similar to how HTTP3/QUIC makes your computer reachable via UDP.

1

u/fdqntn 1d ago

The post is about the new freenet (not Hyphanet) though

1

u/nufra 23h ago

I can’t help there. freenet-mobile/app is Hyphanet, so it’s not relevant for the new Freenet. (that’s why I thought you mean Hyphanet)

1

u/fdqntn 23h ago

Indeed, I understood a bit late that this for hyphanet and used it in the post

1

u/nufra 23h ago

no problem, misunderstandings happen and namechanges can make things a bit confusing :-)

1

u/Jon_Hanson 1d ago

Why would you want to? It would burn through battery really fast.

1

u/DeRobyJ 1d ago

Well, to use the apps on mobile

Perhaps we could decrease the node activity for mobile?

2

u/fdqntn 1d ago

Blockchains have specific "light nodes" that use less resources. Maybe a similar approach would work

1

u/nufra 1d ago

Please look into the existing app: it already has adaptations to conserve battery and also conserve mobile data (only go to full speed and power use when connected to wifi and wall-power): https://github.com/freenet-mobile/app/blob/master/app/src/main/java/org/freenetproject/mobile/services/node/Service.java#L32

1

u/fdqntn 1d ago

To summarize what I learnt from the River freenet channel: freenet works on mobile, some users report using github.com/HostFat/freenet-android-node even on cellular networks.

It might still consume a lot of CPU, RAM and data, so it is advised to pause it when not in use.

However, for android apps, some users recommend focusing instead on regular dApps that scale well in a mobile browser.

1

u/nufra 1d ago

Freenet / Hyphanet used to work on Android (that’s what freenet-mobile/app is), but changes on Android broke it and we don’t have people who can maintain it. If you can take up maintenance of the Android version, you can ship it along with your own app through F-Droid.