On Windows and Linux

The desktop app is the same app in a window, with a sidebar of chats beside the open chat. It works as it does on the Mac, with Ctrl where the Mac uses ⌘.

Installing#

Download it from the download page. Both builds are for 64-bit Intel and AMD processors.

On Windows, run the -setup.exe installer, or the .msi package if you deploy software that way. Windows warns about it the first time; the FAQ says why and what to click.

On Linux, install the .deb on Debian and Ubuntu or the .rpm on Fedora and openSUSE, or run the AppImage on anything else after making it executable:

chmod +x Statim_*.AppImage
./Statim_*.AppImage

Both Windows installers and the Linux packages also put the statim command on your PATH. With the AppImage, add it from the app.

What changes#

• Ctrl+K opens the switcher: type a few letters of a chat and press Enter.
• Ctrl+F searches messages: inside a chat it searches only that chat.
• Ctrl+N starts a new message, Ctrl+, opens settings, Ctrl+1/2/3 switch tabs.
• Ctrl+[ and Ctrl+] go back and forward through the chats you opened, which the History menu lists.
• The menu bar under the title bar lists these shortcuts too. Go also opens a filter or folder of the chat list, and Help → Check for Updates… looks for a new version. To hide the menu bar, turn on Settings → Appearance → Hide menu bar; Alt then shows it until your next click.
• Enter sends; Shift+Enter makes a new line. Ctrl+B, Ctrl+I and Ctrl+Shift+X make the selected text bold, italic or struck through, and Ctrl+E makes it code.
• Right-click a message for what long-press does on the phone.
• Esc closes whatever is on top: a sheet, a picker, the emoji panel.
• Settings pages open beside the list rather than over it; new chat, QR and profile are centred dialogs.
• The emoji and GIF panel is a popover above the button that opened it, with the search already focused, so you can type and press Enter for the first match.
• Photos, files and voice notes all work. A photo is compressed before it goes; a received file opens in whatever handles its type.
• Sharing means copying to the clipboard.
• Closing the window leaves Statim running, so messages and notifications keep arriving. Its icon in the system tray shows that you have unread messages. On Windows, click the icon to bring the window back; on Linux, choose Open Statim from its menu. Ctrl+Q, or Quit Statim in the same menu, quits. Turn on Settings → Notifications → Open at login to have it start that way, without a window, each time you log in.
• GNOME as Fedora ships it has no system tray. Install the AppIndicator extension to see the icon, or open Statim from your applications again: a second launch brings back the window of the copy already running.
• Settings → Security locks the app with a PIN, which the lock screen also takes from the keyboard. There is no Windows Hello or fingerprint unlock.

Where your data lives#

Everything sits in one folder: %APPDATA%\im.statim.app\ on Windows, and ~/.local/share/im.statim.app/ on Linux. It holds the encrypted vault with recovery phrases and keys, one encrypted database per account, and the Telegram and Matrix data for each account. The one exception is XMTP's copy of your chats, which its library keeps in the app's web storage; it comes back from the XMTP network if lost.

The vault's key is kept in the system's credential store: Credential Manager on Windows, and on Linux the Secret Service, which GNOME Keyring and KWallet both provide. Most desktops run one already. On a bare window manager, start gnome-keyring-daemon or KWallet before Statim, or it cannot open the vault.

Erasing an account from Settings removes all of it.

Hardware wallets#

A Ledger connects over USB; open its Ethereum app first. Windows needs nothing more. On Linux, install Ledger's udev rules once so the app can reach the device without root, then plug it in again. Keystone and Trezor accounts work on the phone, not on a computer.