Tox (protocol): Difference between revisions

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	There are also Tox protocol plugins for ]<ref>{{cite web\|title=tox-prpl – Tox Protocol Plugin For Pidgin\|url=http://tox.dhs.org/\|accessdate=17 September 2015~~}}</ref> ]<ref>{{Cite web\|title = abderrahim/telepathy-poison\|url = https://github.com/abderrahim/telepathy-poison\|website = GitHub\|access-date = 2016-02-03~~}}</ref> and ].<ref>{{cite web\|title=Tox protocol\|url=http://forum.miranda-ng.org/index.php?topic=2487.255\|website=Miranda NG Official Community Forum\|publisher=watcher\|accessdate=17 September 2015}}</ref>		There are also Tox protocol plugins for ]<ref>{{cite web\|title=tox-prpl – Tox Protocol Plugin For Pidgin\|url=http://tox.dhs.org/\|accessdate=17 September 2015}}</ref> and ].<ref>{{cite web\|title=Tox protocol\|url=http://forum.miranda-ng.org/index.php?topic=2487.255\|website=Miranda NG Official Community Forum\|publisher=watcher\|accessdate=17 September 2015}}</ref>

	== Reception ==		== Reception ==

Revision as of 08:13, 5 February 2016

Tox

Screenshot of the Tox client uTox running on GNU/Linux.
Repository	github.com/TokTok/c-toxcore
Written in	C
Operating system	Windows, GNU/Linux, OS X, Android, iOS, FreeBSD, OpenIndiana, Sailfish OS
Type	VoIP, Instant messaging, Videoconferencing
License	GNU GPLv3 or later
Website	tox.chat

Tox is a peer-to-peer instant messaging and video calling protocol that offers end-to-end encryption. The stated goal of the project is to provide secure yet easily accessible communication for everyone. A reference implementation of the protocol is published as free and open-source software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 3 or later.

History

The initial commit to GitHub was pushed on June 23, 2013, by a user named irungentoo. Pre-alpha testing binaries were made available for users from February 3, 2014, onwards, and nightly builds of Tox are published by the Jenkins Automatron. On July 12, 2014, Tox entered an alpha stage in development and a redesigned download page was created for the occasion.

Features

Users are assigned a public and private key, and they connect to each other directly in a fully distributed, peer-to-peer network. Users have the ability to message friends, join chat rooms with friends or strangers, voice/video chat, and send each other files. All traffic over Tox is end-to-end encrypted using the NaCl library, which provides authenticated encryption and perfect forward secrecy.

Mainstream Tox clients aim to provide support for messaging, group messaging, voice and video calling, voice and video conferencing, typing indicators, message read-receipts, file sharing, profile encryption, and desktop streaming. Additional features can be implemented by any client as long as they are supported by the core protocol. Features that are not related to the core networking system are left up to the client. Client developers are strongly encouraged to adhere to the Tox Client Standard in order to maintain cross-client compatibility and uphold best security practices.

Architecture

Core

The Tox core is a library establishing the protocol and API. User front-ends, or clients, are built on the top of the core. Anyone can create a client utilizing the core. Technical documents describing the design of the Core, written by the core developer irungentoo, are available publicly.

Protocol

The core of Tox is an implementation of the Tox protocol, an example of the application layer of the OSI model and arguably the presentation layer. Implementations of the Tox protocol not done by the project exist, an example of one being Xot.

Tox uses the Opus lossy audio coding format for audio streaming and VP8 video compression format for video streaming.

Clients

A client is a program that uses the Tox core library to communicate with other users of the Tox protocol. Various clients are available for a wide range of systems; the following list is incomplete.

Name	Operating system	Written in
Antidote	iOS	Objective-C
Antox	Android	Scala, Java
Cyanide	Sailfish OS	C++
gTox	GNU/Linux	C++ (GTK+ 3)
qTox	GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, OS X, Windows	C++ (Qt)
Toxic	GNU/Linux, BSD, OS X	C (Ncurses)
Toxy	Windows	C# (WPF)
µTox	GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, Windows	C (Win32 API, Xlib)
xWinTox	GNU/Linux, Solaris, BSD	C/C++ (FLTK)

There are also Tox protocol plugins for Pidgin and Miranda NG.

Reception

Tox received some significant publicity in its early conceptual stage, catching the attention of global online tech news sites. On August 15, 2013, Tox was number five on GitHub's top trending list. Concerns about metadata leaks were raised, and developers responded by implementing Onion routing for the friend-finding process. Tox was accepted into the Google Summer of Code as a Mentoring Organization in 2014 and 2015.

References

"Secure Messaging for Everyone". Tox. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
"Initial commit". GitHub. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
"Jenkins Tox Packages". Retrieved 7 November 2015.
"Tox Client Standard". Retrieved 7 November 2015.
"Toxcore Documentation". GitHub. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
"Xot". GitHub. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
"Client". Tox. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
"Antidote". Retrieved 6 August 2015.
"Antox". Tox-Wiki. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
"Cyanide". Github. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
"Tox". Github. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
"qTox". Tox-Wiki. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
"Toxic". Tox-Wiki. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
"Tox". Tox-Wiki. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
"Tox". Tox-Wiki. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
"Tox". Tox-Wiki. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
"tox-prpl – Tox Protocol Plugin For Pidgin". Retrieved 17 September 2015.
"Tox protocol". Miranda NG Official Community Forum. watcher. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
Kar, Saroj (5 August 2013). "Tox: A Replacement For Skype And Your Privacy?". Silicon Angle. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
Grüner, Sebastian (30 July 2013). "Skype-Alternative Freier und sicherer Videochat mit Tox". Golem.de (in German). Retrieved 19 February 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
"Проект Tox развивает свободную альтернативу Skype". opennet.ru (in Russian). 30 July 2013. Retrieved 19 February 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
Nitschke, Manuel (2 August 2013). "Skype-Alternative Tox zum Ausprobieren". heise.de (in German). Retrieved 19 February 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
Asay, Matt (15 August 2013). "GitHub's new 'Trending' Feature Lets You See The Future". ReadWrite.com. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
"Prevent_Tracking.txt". GitHub. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
"Project Tox". GSoC 2014. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
"Project Tox". GSoC 2015. Retrieved 7 March 2015.

External links

Instant messaging

Protocols
(comparison)

Open	DDP IMPP IRC Matrix MTProto Retroshare Signal Protocol SIP MSRP SIMPLE Tox XMPP Jingle WFP Zephyr
Closed	MSNP OSCAR TOC Skype

Services

Clients
(comparison)

Single protocol	Baidu Hi BBM Enterprise Briar Element FaceTime Gadu-Gadu GroupMe HCL Sametime IMVU Jami Jongla Linphone Messenger QQ Retroshare Ricochet Session Signal Skype Telegram Tox WeChat WhatsApp Wickr Wire WOLF
Multi-protocol	Adium Ayttm Beeper BitlBee Centericq eBuddy Jitsi Kopete Messages Miranda NG Nimbuzz Pidgin Finch QIP 2010 Skype for Business Telepathy Thunderbird Trillian
XMPP (Jabber)	ChatSecure Conversations Gajim Monal Psi Spark Tkabber Xabber
MSNP	Microsoft Teams Skype

Defunct

List of defunct instant messaging platforms

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