Groups: events and communities

Groups in Tacq work differently from the groups you know from other messengers. The main difference: in every group you appear with a separate card — your own nickname and photo just for that group. Members do not see your profile, your Master ID, or how you are called in other groups and sessions. In the school group you can be “Alice’s dad”, and in the hiking group “Hiker”, and no one can link one to the other.

Other differences:

• Two kinds of groups — an event (a hike, a party, a trip) and a community (a class, a family, a club).
• Topics with permissions in communities: the owner and admins can close a topic so that only they and the people they choose write in it.
• Shared tools: group information, polls, checklists, a timeline, documents, a map, a gallery.
• Encryption: messages in every group are encrypted. Only the members’ devices can read them; the messages, photos and files pass through the server only in encrypted form and are deleted from it after 30 days; the conversation history is kept on the members’ devices.

Event and community

An event is for something with a date and an end: a hike, a party, a trip. An event has one shared message feed. 24 hours after the end date the group is frozen: everyone keeps the conversation to read, like a photo album, but no one can write in it any more.

A community is for long-lasting groups: a class, a family, a club, a building. Its conversation is split into topics, so important things do not get lost in chatter. A community is not frozen.

How to create a group

1. Open the main menu → «New…» → «New Group».
2. Enter a name, choose the kind — event or community, add a description and a photo. For an event, set the dates.
3. Fill in «My Card in Group»: a nickname and, if you like, a photo. This is how the members of this group will see you.
4. Tap «Create Group». You are its owner.

A new community has one topic — «General». You create other topics yourself (see below).

How to invite people

• With a link or QR code. On the group screen tap the QR icon: show the code («Scan to Join»), copy the link, or share it.
• From a personal session. In the menu of a personal session choose «Invite to Group» — the other person gets the invitation right in the conversation and can accept or decline it.

How to join a group

After following a link or scanning a code you first see the group preview: name, photo, description and the number of members. The chat does not open yet. When you tap «Join Group», you fill in your card for this group — nickname and photo — and only then enter the group.

Roles: owner, admins, members

What you can do	Owner	Admin	Member
Write, reply, react, forward	yes	yes	yes
Create and delete topics	yes	yes	—
Decide who writes in a topic	yes	yes	—
Edit the timeline	yes	yes	—
Remove members	yes	yes (except admins)	—
Make and unmake admins	yes	—	—
Delete other people’s messages	yes	—	—
Turn on history for new members	yes	—	—
Hand over ownership, delete the group	yes	—	—

Only the author edits and deletes their own messages. The owner can delete someone else’s message but cannot change it: no one can put words into another person’s mouth.

Actions with a member are in the group information (the ⓘ icon in the header): tap the member in the list.

Topics and who writes in them

In a community each topic is a separate feed. By default all members write in a topic.

A “read only” topic. The owner or an admin can close a topic: the owner and chosen members write in it, and everyone else reads and reacts. This works well for announcements from a teacher, building news, a training schedule — important things are not lost among replies.

• When creating a topic: «New Topic» → turn on «Read only: I and the people I choose write».
• Later: in the list of topics tap «Who can write» next to the topic, choose «All members» or «Read only», and tick who else can write.

The owner can always write in any topic. An admin who closes a topic is added to the writers automatically. A closed topic is marked in the list with an icon and the label «Read only». A member who does not write there sees an explanation instead of the message field.

The server checks this too, not only the app: no one can write in a closed topic by going around it.

New members and earlier messages

Messages are encrypted, and you have no keys to messages written before you joined. So by default for a new member the group starts when they join.

The owner can turn on «Newcomers see the last 50 messages» in the group information. Then, when someone joins, the first member who has those messages sends them to the newcomer in encrypted form when they open the group — the app does it on its own. All members see this setting: whoever writes in the group should know that people who join later will read it too.

Group tools

Open the group information — the ⓘ «Group information» icon in the header:

• Group Information — pinned text, a picture and a link to the meeting place. Admins edit it.
• Polls — decide something quickly by voting.
• Checklists — what to buy, what to take on the hike; anyone can tick an item and take it on.
• Schedules — a group can have several: a trip, weekly lessons, exams, a daily routine. A schedule is either one-off (items with dates) or by day of the week. Date and time are optional: you can simply write “lesson 1, lesson 2”. The Changes section shows what has changed, who recorded it and when. The owner and admins create and edit schedules.
• Documents — shared files of the group (up to 300 files and 500 MB per group).
• Group Map — the button sends your current location once; there is no continuous tracking.
• Media Gallery — all photos and videos from the conversation in one place.

Polls, lists, the schedule, documents and the map can also be opened right from the group window: the ⋮ button in the header.

The “unread” badge

A red dot next to a group means a new message. If you have just read the group and another message arrives right away, the dot may appear a few minutes later. While the group is open on one of your devices, it may stay marked on your other device until you close it.

Leaving and deleting a group

• A member leaves in the group information: «Leave Group».
• The owner, by leaving, deletes the group for everyone. If the group should go on without you, first hand over ownership to another member (in the group information, actions with a member).