Features

Core Features

The fundamentals of the IRC experience in HexDroid.

Multi-Network

Multiple simultaneous connections
Auto-connect on app startup (per network)
Reconnect after a device restart, optionally waiting for Wi-Fi rather than using mobile data
Auto-reconnect with exponential backoff
Auto-join channels with optional keys
Post-connect commands with configurable delay
Pin/favourite networks to top of list
Drag-and-drop network reordering in sidebar and Networks screen

Secure by Default

TLS 1.2 / TLS 1.3 (default on)
SASL PLAIN, SCRAM-SHA-256, EXTERNAL
TLS client certificates (.pem, .crt+.key, or .p12/.pfx)
TOFU certificate pinning learns the server SHA-256 fingerprint on first connect, verifies it on every subsequent connect, refuses mismatches with a clear warning
TLS session resumption via shared SSLContext cache
SASL credentials in EncryptedSharedPreferences
Credentials excluded from Android backup
End-to-end message encryption AES-256-GCM (+AGM) and Blowfish/FiSH (+OK). Read the encryption guide

Backup & Restore

Export every network and setting, including each channel's own settings, to a single JSON file, portable between devices
Server, SASL and proxy passwords can be included, encrypted with a passphrase you choose (Argon2id and AES-256-GCM). Without the passphrase they stay unreadable, and restoring can skip them
TLS client certificates are never exported: their keys stay in the device's Keystore
See Getting Started → Moving to a new device

Character Encoding

Auto-detect per message (UTF-8 fallback)
Manual encoding per network
windows-1251 Russian/CIS
KOI8-R older Cyrillic systems
ISO-8859-1/15 Western European
Any encoding supported by Java's Charset

Bouncer Support

Works with soju, ZNC, kiwibnc, pounce and anything following the user/network convention
Per-client buffers on ZNC and per-client history on soju, so each device keeps its own read position
Native chathistory playback on both
/znc and /bouncerserv (alias /bnc) talk to the bouncer directly
soju networks can be imported as profiles, one by one or all at once, and added, edited and deleted from the app
Search logs also searches the history soju keeps
Mutes are shared with your other soju clients
See Getting Started → Bouncers to set one up

Server-Aware Limits

Topic, away, quit and kick text is trimmed to the server's TOPICLEN / AWAYLEN / QUITLEN / KICKLEN before sending
History requests respect the server's CHATHISTORY size limit and MSGREFTYPES selectors
/knock <#channel> [reason] asks for an invite where the server advertises KNOCK
The “too many channels” error reads the server's CHANLIMIT figure
Bot users are badged [bot] from the BOT mode letter or the bot message tag

IRCv3 Capabilities

HexDroid negotiates capabilities during the connection handshake, and each one can be switched off per network under IRCv3 Capabilities in network settings. Below cover what you actually see in the app.

What you get on a modern server

Server-Side History

Recent messages arrive when you join a channel, as before
Scrolling to the top fetches the previous page and keeps going as you scroll, so the scrollback is as deep as the server keeps rather than stopping at what arrived on join
Conversations that happened while you were offline are picked up on connect, so a private message sent overnight is waiting in the morning instead of appearing only when the sender speaks again
Channels you are no longer in are left closed
Replayed messages are matched against what you already have by message ID, so nothing is shown twice
Needs chathistory; the control simply does not appear on servers without it

Push Notifications

Servers supporting the webpush extension can notify you of a highlight or private message while no connection is open
Built on UnifiedPush, so you choose the distributor.
Push payloads are decrypted on the device; the distributor relays ciphertext it cannot read
Off by default, and needs a distributor app installed. Enable under Settings › IRC

Message Reactions

React to a recent message with an emoji via /react <emoji> [n]
[n] targets the message n lines back (default 1)
Remove your reaction with /unreact <emoji> [n]
Reaction counts render inline under the message; tap one to add or remove yours
See who reacted: long-press a reaction, or pick it from the message menu, for a list of everyone who reacted, with a filter for each reaction. Tap a name for their actions
Screen readers read out who reacted with each reaction
Requires draft/message-reactions; otherwise sent as a plain notice

Typing Indicators

Shows when others are composing a message in a channel or query
Sends your own typing state as you type, stopping when you send or clear the input
Sent as the +typing client tag over message-tags; respects a server's CLIENTTAGDENY policy
Purely transient - never logged or stored

File Uploads (Filehost)

Attach button in the chat input when the server offers a soju.im/FILEHOST upload endpoint (soju; others via additional-isupport)
Uploads use your existing connection credentials - nothing extra to configure
The returned URL lands in the input so you can add text before sending
Refuses plaintext http:// filehosts on TLS connections
For non proxied (Tor/SOCKS) networks so the upload can never leak outside the proxy
Toggleable per network under IRCv3 Capabilities

Message Deletion

Long-press one of your own messages › Delete message to remove it for everyone
Uses IRCv3 draft/message-redaction (REDACT); the server relays the deletion to all clients
Deleted messages become (“message deleted by …”) rather than silently vanishing
Applied only when the server confirms, so a rejected delete never leaves your view out of sync
Available on servers that advertise the cap

Account Registration

A guided Register account dialog (overflow menu) walks through register → email verify → done via IRCv3 draft/account-registration no NickServ syntax to learn
Fields adapt to the server: email required, custom account names
Optionally save the password so SASL logs you in automatically next time
/register and /verify <code> drive the same flow from the command line; the account is remembered from the server's prompt
Registration failures come back as plain-language hints, not bare error codes
Falls back to a NickServ pointer on servers without the capability

Display Names & Metadata

Users who set a display-name have it shown beside their nick, Discord-style; a color tints their nick
Tap a nick to see their avatar and status. Avatars also show in the member list and in notifications, and follow the same rules as other remote images: previews on, HTTPS only, never on proxied profiles
Values are sanitised on arrival: control characters and colour codes stripped, length capped
A metadata editor (overflow menu, or /metadata) sets your own display name, status, colour, avatar and more; /metadata <nick> list reads someone else's
Display names, avatars and away status follow a nick change and are cleared when the person quits, so they never carry over to whoever takes the nick next
Uses IRCv3 draft/metadata-2; subscriptions are set up automatically on connect

HexDroid negotiates around fifty capabilities in total, and each can be switched off per network. See the full capability list for what it does with every one.

User Experience

Material 3 Interface

Jetpack Compose + Material Design 3
Dark, Light, Matrix (green-on-black), Terminal (amber), and system themes
Adjustable font size, chat line spacing and line height within a message
Open Sans, Inter, Monospace, or a custom font file, set separately for the interface and the chat area
Timestamps and sender nicks take square, round, angle or curly brackets, or none, with a live sample; timestamps can have their own colour
mIRC/ANSI colour code rendering
99-colour code picker
Colourised nicknames
Landscape split-pane with draggable dividers

Notifications

Highlights on your nick, private messages, and custom keywords you define
Separate silent and sound notification channels; vibration Low / Medium / High
Conversation notifications: one notification per channel or private chat, holding its recent messages with each sender's name and avatar: their IRCv3 avatar when they have set one, otherwise a coloured initial. A channel's notification shows who last highlighted you. Android lists them as conversations, so you can make one a priority conversation
Bubbles on Android 11 and later: open a conversation in a floating bubble to read and reply without leaving what you are doing
Mute a single channel or private chat from Channel settings in the chat menu; push notifications for it are muted too
Push notifications without a background connection, on servers that support it. See the Push Notifications card above
See Getting Started → Staying connected to set them up

Usability

Link previews for images and video
Nick completion (@..) or nicklist mention
Clickable URLs and email addresses
Per-conversation drafts unsent text stays with the channel you typed it in, and comes back with the cursor where you left it
Long-press to copy message text
Swipe left on buffer to close / part
Channel topic bar (optional)
Lag indicator in toolbar
Guided intro tour for new users
/msg and /notice print where you typed them, as >nick< message, rather than opening a window for a one-off line
CTCP requests and the replies sent back to them are shown together, in the conversation you are reading
Settings are searchable by name, description, category or a common alternate term, in any language the app ships
Configurable scrollback limit (default 800)
Choose which channel events show: joins, parts, quits, nick changes, topic changes, kicks and mode changes, one by one or all at once, for every channel or just one
Smart filter: joins, parts, quits and nick changes show only for people who spoke in the last 5, 10, 30 or 60 minutes. If someone speaks soon after joining, their join appears at the time it happened
Channel settings (chat menu): mute notifications, add highlight words for that channel, and give it its own event settings

User / Channel Actions

Nick action sheet: WHOIS, query, mention, DCC, ignore/unignore
Channel mode panel with descriptions
Ban/quiet/except/invex list management
IRCop tools: kick-ban, force join/part, broadcast

Nick & Command Completion

@mention popup inserts nick: at start or @nick inline; an @ inside an email address is left alone
Tab completes the word before the cursor against the member list on a physical keyboard; repeat presses cycle the matches, Shift+Tab goes back
/-completion bar for all slash commands
NickServ/ChanServ shorthand: ns, cs, as, hs, ms, bs

Inline Media Previews

In-line image previews with a "Load preview" button
Embedded YouTube video player
Inline X / Twitter video playback from X post links (HLS via Media3 / ExoPlayer)
Images capped at 5 MB; Wi-Fi-only mode available
Disabled by default opt in under Settings › Media Previews

Readline Marker

Thin line marks where you stopped reading
Only appears when scrolling up past visible messages
Resets automatically when you reach the bottom

Ignore List

Per-network ignore list
Nicks or nick!user@host masks such as *!*@example.com, matched without regard to case
Choose what each entry drops: channel messages, private messages, notices, CTCP, invites, DCC offers, and joins, parts and quits
/ignore <mask> [types] or via Settings UI
Ignored messages silently hidden; an ignored CTCP request gets no automatic reply

Chat Logging

Optional per-session logging (off by default)
Configurable retention (default 14 days)
Custom folder via Android SAF
Server buffer logging (optional)
/find keyword searches the loaded scrollback
Search logs (chat menu) searches the log files themselves: one conversation, one network or all of them. Every word must appear, quotes match a phrase and from:nick keeps one person's messages. Each result shows the lines around it and can open the conversation at that line. On soju, the bouncer's stored history is searched too
Optional raw protocol log per network for debugging, with passwords hidden
Copy debug info (About) gathers the version, each network's state and capabilities, recent errors and, if you choose, recent raw lines with passwords hidden, for a bug report

DCC File Transfers

DCC SEND, CHAT & Passive

DCC send/receive files from other users. /dcc send <nick> opens a file picker, as do the nick menu and the Transfers screen
SDCC TLS-encrypted transfers (SSEND) and chats (SCHAT), working with KVIrc and between HexDroid users; peers with self-signed certificates are accepted
DCC CHAT direct peer-to-peer text sessions. A secure chat shows the certificate fingerprint so you can check with the other person that nobody is in the middle
DCC chat messages notify like private messages, and you can reply straight from the notification
/dcc accept, /dcc reject and /dcc close manage chats from the keyboard. See Commands › DCC
Passive / Reverse DCC HexChat-compatible token handshake; useful behind NAT
Turbo DCC (TSEND) no per-packet ACKs for faster throughput
Full IPv6 DCC addressing for SEND, CHAT and passive transfers
Progress tracking in the Transfers screen
Incoming port range configurable for NAT/firewall forwarding
A connection to an unreachable address gives up after 30 seconds
Received files saved to Downloads (or custom folder via SAF)
DCC disabled by default enable in Settings

Security note

DCC establishes direct connections between clients. Only accept files from users you trust.

Passive DCC means you initiate the connection to the sender works better behind NAT/CGNAT.

Large Files (> 4 GB)

Files larger than 4 GB use 64-bit (8-byte) DCC acknowledgements
Smaller transfers keep the standard 4-byte acks
Both big- and little-endian ack widths are accepted for mIRC compatibility
Streamed transfers of unknown size (size 0) also use 64-bit acks

Resume Interrupted Transfers

A failed download remembers its partial bytes (peer + filename + size + path)
Re-offering the same file shows a Resume button beside Accept / Reject
Honours incoming DCC RESUME on your outgoing sends, replying DCC ACCEPT from the agreed offset
Partial state survives restarts, is pruned after 30 days, and tolerates corruption

Proxy/Tor

Transfers and chats route through the network's configured SOCKS5 / SOCKS4a proxy
Works over Tor (via Orbot) alongside the IRC connection
See Getting Started > Proxy & Tor