Preventing phone notifications by sending read receipts

[maximbaz]

Hello,

I'm trying to simulate Signal Desktop's behavior, where a message that is received in the currently focused Signal Desktop is getting marked as "read", and therefore not triggering notification on the phone.

I scripted away sending the read receipts immediately, the sender (who uses Signal Desktop) confirms that when they write messages to me, these messages instantly get marked as "read" (with full white circles), but I'm still getting notifications on the phone for every message from them.

Do you know what could be the reason for this? Is my assumption wrong, that it is the read receipt, that is blocking phone notifications? If so, is there another API that I could use to achieve this?

Thanks!

[maximbaz]

Hello again,

Further investigation revealed, that just sending read receipts alone does not prevent phone notifications.

I can reliably reproduce the following:

• as long as Signal Desktop is open (focused or not focused), there's exactly 5 seconds delay between getting message on Desktop, and getting the notification on the phone. If I open the chat within 5 seconds (thus, marking the messages as "read"), the phone / smartwatch will never vibrate.
• using --send-read-receipts does NOT add this 5 seconds delay, yes messages are instantly marked as "read", but every message still gets instantly vibrating on the phone / smartwatch.

Furthermore, here is a snippet of Signal Desktop's debug logs when I received a message while Signal was open and focused on this contact (so the phone never vibrated):

Logs

    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.234Z MessageReceiver: got request PUT /api/v1/message
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.309Z MessageReceiver.decryptAndCacheBatch 1
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.310Z SignalProtocolStore.enterZone(decryptAndCacheBatch:MessageReceiver)
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.310Z queueing envelope > [REDACTED]da8 1677269039084 (cc0fb13c79ac4a3192bb63a62f2323c1)
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.310Z MessageReceiver.unsealEnvelope(> [REDACTED]da8 1677269039084 (cc0fb13c79ac4a3192bb63a62f2323c1)): unidentified message
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.310Z @signalapp/libsignal-client deserialized UnidentifiedSenderMessageContent from [REDACTED]70e.1 with type Whisper libsignal_protocol::sealed_sender rust/protocol/src/sealed_sender.rs:431
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.311Z MessageReceiver.decryptEnvelope([REDACTED]70e.1 > [REDACTED]da8 1677269039084 (cc0fb13c79ac4a3192bb63a62f2323c1))
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.311Z decrypt/[REDACTED]70e.1 > [REDACTED]da8 1677269039084 (cc0fb13c79ac4a3192bb63a62f2323c1): unidentified message
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.311Z MessageReceiver.decryptSealedSender([REDACTED]70e.1 > [REDACTED]da8 1677269039084 (cc0fb13c79ac4a3192bb63a62f2323c1)): unidentified message/passing to sealedSenderDecryptMessage
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.311Z @signalapp/libsignal-client deserialized UnidentifiedSenderMessageContent from [REDACTED]70e.1 with type Whisper libsignal_protocol::sealed_sender rust/protocol/src/sealed_sender.rs:431
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.311Z @signalapp/libsignal-client decrypted Whisper message from [REDACTED]70e.1 with current session state (base key 08dcc644e3252e4f1831da2f293414fb4350799add61b3496ef767bf404a815c) libsignal_protocol::session_cipher rust/protocol/src/session_cipher.rs:438
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.311Z MessageReceiver.decryptAndCacheBatch storing 1 decrypted envelopes, keeping 0 failed envelopes.
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.311Z commitZoneChanges(MessageReceiver): pending sender keys 0, pending sessions 1, pending unprocessed 1
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.313Z SignalProtocolStore.leaveZone(decryptAndCacheBatch)
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.313Z MessageReceiver.decryptAndCacheBatch acknowledging receipt
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.313Z queueing decrypted envelope [REDACTED]70e.1 > [REDACTED]da8 1677269039084 (cc0fb13c79ac4a3192bb63a62f2323c1)
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.313Z MessageReceiver.handleDataMessage [REDACTED]70e.1 > [REDACTED]da8 1677269039084 (cc0fb13c79ac4a3192bb63a62f2323c1)
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.313Z handleDataMessage/[REDACTED]70e ([REDACTED]a23) [REDACTED]70e.1 1677269039084: starting processing in queue
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.313Z handleDataMessage/[REDACTED]70e ([REDACTED]a23) [REDACTED]70e.1 1677269039084: duplicate check db lookup needed [REDACTED]a23.1-1677269039084
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.313Z MessageReceiver.decryptAndCacheBatch fully processed
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.315Z handleDataMessage/[REDACTED]70e ([REDACTED]a23) [REDACTED]70e.1 1677269039084: Batching save
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.316Z changedConvoBatcher: deduped 2 into 1
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.385Z src/core/call_manager.rs:413 CallManager: Dropping last reference.
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.390Z saveNewMessageBatcher 1
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.399Z Message saved 1677269039084
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.399Z NotificationService: adding a notification and requesting an update
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.408Z changedConvoBatcher: deduped 2 into 1
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.440Z markConversationRead {"conversationId":"[REDACTED]70e ([REDACTED]a23)","newestSentAt":1677269039084,"newestUnreadAt":1677221028566,"unreadMessages":1,"unreadReactions":0}
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.440Z NotificationService#removeBy: conversation ID matches
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.440Z NotificationService: clearing notification and requesting an update
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.445Z Sending 1 read syncs
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.445Z JobQueueDatabaseStore adding job [REDACTED]feb to queue "read sync"
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.445Z JobQueueDatabaseStore adding job [REDACTED]1e2 to queue "read receipts"
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.447Z read sync job queue: added new job [REDACTED]feb
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.447Z read sync job queue: enqueuing job [REDACTED]feb
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.447Z read sync job queue: running job [REDACTED]feb, attempt 1 of 110
->  INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.447Z read sync job queue, job ID [REDACTED]feb, attempt 1: sending readSync(s) for timestamp(s) 1677269039084
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.447Z read sync job queue, job ID [REDACTED]feb, attempt 1: sleeping for 0
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.447Z read receipts job queue: added new job [REDACTED]1e2
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.447Z read receipts job queue: enqueuing job [REDACTED]1e2
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.447Z read receipts job queue: running job [REDACTED]1e2, attempt 1 of 110
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.447Z read receipts job queue, job ID [REDACTED]1e2, attempt 1: sleeping for 0
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.448Z Sender certificate service found a valid yes-E164 certificate in storage; skipping fetch
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.449Z commitZoneChanges(storeSession): pending sender keys 0, pending sessions 1, pending unprocessed 0
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.449Z commitZoneChanges(storeSession): pending sender keys 0, pending sessions 1, pending unprocessed 0
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.449Z commitZoneChanges(storeSession): pending sender keys 0, pending sessions 1, pending unprocessed 0
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.449Z commitZoneChanges(storeSession): pending sender keys 0, pending sessions 1, pending unprocessed 0
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.449Z changedConvoBatcher: deduped 1 into 1
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.457Z PUT (WS) https://chat.signal.org/v1/messages/[REDACTED]da8?story=false
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.458Z PUT (WS) https://chat.signal.org/v1/messages/[REDACTED]70e?story=false (unauth)
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.585Z PUT (WS) https://chat.signal.org/v1/messages/[REDACTED]70e?story=false (unauth) 200 Success
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.587Z read receipts job queue: job [REDACTED]1e2 succeeded on attempt 1
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.603Z PUT (WS) https://chat.signal.org/v1/messages/[REDACTED]da8?story=false 200 Success
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.605Z read sync job queue: job [REDACTED]feb succeeded on attempt 1
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.611Z changedConvoBatcher: deduped 1 into 1
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.814Z JobQueueDatabaseStore adding job [REDACTED]06e to queue "delivery receipts"
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.815Z delivery receipts job queue: added new job [REDACTED]06e
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.815Z delivery receipts job queue: enqueuing job [REDACTED]06e
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.816Z delivery receipts job queue: running job [REDACTED]06e, attempt 1 of 110
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.816Z delivery receipts job queue, job ID [REDACTED]06e, attempt 1: sleeping for 0
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.816Z Sender certificate service found a valid yes-E164 certificate in storage; skipping fetch
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.818Z commitZoneChanges(storeSession): pending sender keys 0, pending sessions 1, pending unprocessed 0
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.818Z commitZoneChanges(storeSession): pending sender keys 0, pending sessions 1, pending unprocessed 0
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.820Z PUT (WS) https://chat.signal.org/v1/messages/[REDACTED]70e?story=false (unauth)
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.964Z PUT (WS) https://chat.signal.org/v1/messages/[REDACTED]70e?story=false (unauth) 200 Success
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:03:59.966Z delivery receipts job queue: job [REDACTED]06e succeeded on attempt 1
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:04:00.441Z NotificationService not updating notifications. Notifications are enabled; app is focused; there is no notification data
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:04:00.447Z checkExpiringMessages: checking for expiring messages
    INFO  2023-02-24T20:04:00.448Z checkExpiringMessages: found no messages to expire

A working theory that @exquo and I have after discussing this in isamert/scli#209 is that readSync might be responsible for this behavior of delaying notifications (see relevant snippets below).

https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Desktop/blob/5bcf71ef2c5f829b6c96c20cd288533b0582327b/ts/util/markConversationRead.ts#L133-L136

https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Desktop/blob/5bcf71ef2c5f829b6c96c20cd288533b0582327b/ts/jobs/helpers/syncHelpers.ts#L90-L104

@AsamK what do you think, does it sound plausible, and would it be possible to implement readSync in signal-cli to achieve the same behavior as Signal Desktop? Maybe you can think of a quick & dirty way we could have this, so that we test it, before spending more time on a proper implementation?