The chat screen: what is where

Top to bottom — what you see, what you can press, and what happens then.

The header

On the left, an arrow back to the list of conversations. Next to it, the avatar and the nickname of your contact: Tacq never asks for or stores real names.

Under the nickname there may be a second line. It is either the conversation topic (your own private note — your contact does not see it) or a status: “typing…”, “online”, “last seen N minutes ago”.

On the right of the header:

• Handset — a voice call, camera — a video call. If the icons are missing, calls are closed in this conversation: your contact turned them off in their contact card, or this is a request to an organization.
• Question mark — this help article.
• Three dots — the conversation menu: “Invite to group”, “Ringtone”, “Report”, “Block”. The set depends on the kind of conversation: a request to an organization has no personal items.

Conversation topics

Under the header there may be a “New topic” row. A topic is a separate thread inside one conversation — handy when you discuss several matters with the same person. “+ New topic” creates a thread; tapping its name opens it.

If there are no topics, the row holds only the create button and does not get in the way.

The message list

Your messages are on the right in a coloured bubble. Your contact’s are on the left in a light one. Under every message you see the day and time it was sent; your own also carry delivery and read ticks.

What you can do with a message: press and hold it (on a computer — right-click). A menu opens: reply with a quote, copy, save an attachment, edit or delete your own, report someone else’s. See “Message actions” for details.

Centred service lines (“Call ended”, “Contacted via QR sticker”) are events, not messages: you cannot reply to them.

The input row

Left to right:

• Paperclip — an attachment: photo, video, file, and also a poll or a checklist where those are available.
• Lock — the secrecy level of the messages you send next. An open lock means “Normal”, a closed lock “Secret”, a shield “Top secret”. See “Secret messages” for details.
• The field — your text. Enter adds a line break; sending is the button on the right.
• Microphone — a voice message: hold it while recording.
• Arrow — send.

When there is no input row

A strip with an explanation appears instead. That happens when the conversation is blocked (by you or by your contact), when your contact turned messages off in this conversation, when a request to an organization is closed, or while you are waiting for an answer via a QR sticker — in that last case a limit applies on how many messages you can send before the owner replies.