Helios.TALK: A decentralised messaging framework that preserves the privacy of users

Abstract

Communication via digital means, such as mobile messaging applications (apps), plays an increasingly important role in everyday life. However, most messaging apps employ centralized computing principles that relinquish control of their users' personal data to social network platform providers. Decentralization has been proposed as an alternative that provides trustworthiness and data confidentiality, but this comes at expense of fewer provided features and non-intuitive user experience. To address this issue, we hereby present two interconnected decentralized messaging tools, developed in the scope of the HELIOS platform, which can support new decentralized social networks. The first tool is a framework that supports the development of context-aware decentralized messaging apps in mobile Android devices by organically tying together many of the platform's standalone decentralized operations. The second is a decentralized messaging app, called helios.TALK, that builds on the framework but accommodates additional design considerations from the perspective of end-users.