Add MMS support

[pat247]

MMS on VoIP.ms to roll out for beta testing soon.
https://www.dslreports.com/forum/r32442917-
July 9

A major enhancement for the todo list.

[michaelkourlas]

When they add API access for MMS, feel free to let me know and I'll implement support for it!

[varGeneric]

Suggest reopening because it is now available.
https://wiki.voip.ms/article/MMS

[michaelkourlas]

Feel free to reopen once it appears on this page: https://www.voip.ms/m/apidocs.php

[smnc]

MMS is now available in the API doccumentation. Request to reopen.
https://www.voip.ms/m/apidocs.php

[murraydb]

Feel free to reopen once it appears on this page: https://www.voip.ms/m/apidocs.php

I see 27 instances of MMS on the page including getMMS and getMediaMMS

[smnc]

Feel free to reopen once it appears on this page: https://www.voip.ms/m/apidocs.php

I see 27 instances of MMS on the page including getMMS and getMediaMMS

MMS has just been added to the API documentation in the last hour or so, and was not there when the previous comments were made 2 hours ago.

[varGeneric]

VoIP.ms had sent an email indicating API availability just prior to my earliest comment and I had incorrectly assumed that the doc's were up at that time.

[oathzed]

Feel free to reopen once it appears on this page: https://www.voip.ms/m/apidocs.php

I see 27 instances of MMS on the page including getMMS and getMediaMMS

MMS has just been added to the API documentation in the last hour or so, and was not there when the previous comments were made 2 hours ago.

This is correct. It was added to the documentation about 5 minutes ago. I told support it wasn't available and they said they'd add it to be viewable by all beta testers shortly :).

[oathzed]

@michaelkourlas Maybe after this is implimented, VoIP.ms SMS app can be renamed to something like VoIP.ms Chat or VoIP.ms Messages ☺️

[michaelkourlas]

The MMS documentation has been removed from https://www.voip.ms/m/apidocs.php.

[smnc]

I'm still seeing it...

[michaelkourlas]

Perhaps they're showing different versions of the documentation to different people. I'm sure it's not my cache -- I tested it with a different browser I never use.

Can you provide me with a copy of the docs?

[smnc]

Sure can.

[michaelkourlas]

I've also opened a ticket with them to ask about this.

[smnc]

deleteMMS.txt
getMediaMMS.txt
getMMS.txt
sendMMS.txt

[smnc]

Might be part of the beta rollout?

[michaelkourlas]

The API itself doesn't make much sense to me. We have to supply a URI to the image when sending an MMS? Why can't we just provide the base64-encoded image directly, the same way that it is returned to us using getMediaMMS?

[innovate-invent]

does a data uri work? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_URI_scheme

[michaelkourlas]

That would be acceptable, but I can't determine that at the moment -- the API simply returns mms_failed regardless of whether I use a data URI or a normal URI.

Either the API isn't ready for public use or the functionality isn't enabled for my account.

[smnc]

I'm betting that if you're not seeing the API documentation that you're not included in the beta for some reason.

[JoshMedeiros]

I believe that you need to join their Beta Access Program in order to use the API and see the documentation, which can be done here: https://voip.ms/m/beta.php

[mathieucarbou]

Here are my findings. Hope it will help.

API Access and Doc

• https://www.voip.ms/m/apidocs.php
• https://www.voip.ms/m/api.php

I had to:

• Join beta program
• set username / password
• activate api access
• configure my DID:

Note

Email option is nice because any MMS received will be redirected also to your email with the media inside. So even of the app is still not supported MMS, this option allows VOIP.MS users to still be able to receive MMS.

Get sent and received MMS

HTTP GET

https://voip.ms/api/v1/rest.php?api_username=<API_USERNAME>&api_password=<API_PASSWORD>&content_type=json&method=getMMS&from=2020-07-04

RESPONSE BODY

{
 "status": "success",
 "sms": [
   {
    "id": "15601",
    "date": "2020-07-04 16:31:30",
    "type": "0",
    "did": "5141234567",
    "contact": "4381234567",
    "message": "",
    "col_media1": "https://voip.ms/media.php?map=MTU5Mzg5NDY4OTVmMDBlNzIxY2UzMGQ1ZjAwZTcyMWNlMzVmfDF8aW1hZ2UvcG5nfE1NUw==",
    "col_media2": "",
    "col_media3": ""
  },
  {
   "id": "15589",
   "date": "2020-07-04 16:11:36",
   "type": "0",
   "did": "5141234567",
   "contact": "4381234567",
   "message": "",
   "col_media1": "https://voip.ms/media.php?map=MTU5Mzg5MzQ5NTVmMDBlMjc3NGM3Nzk1ZjAwZTI3NzRjN2IwfDF8aW1hZ2UvanBlZ3xNTVM=",
   "col_media2": "",
   "col_media3": ""
  },
  {
   "id": "15586",
   "date": "2020-07-04 16:04:06",
   "type": "0",
   "did": "5141234567",
   "contact": "4381234567",
   "message": "",
   "col_media1": "",
   "col_media2": "",
   "col_media3": ""
  },
  {
   "id": "15555",
   "date": "2020-07-04 15:26:23",
   "type": "1",
   "did": "5141234567",
   "contact": "7787641209",
   "message": "dGVzdCBtZXNzYWdl",
   "col_media1": "https://voip.ms/media.php?map=MTU5Mzg5MDc4MzVmMDBkN2RmYzYxMWM1ZjAwZDdkZmM2MTU1fDF8aW1hZ2UvanBlZ3xNTVM=",
   "col_media2": "",
   "col_media3": ""
  },
  {
   "id": "15368",
   "date": "2020-07-04 10:47:14",
   "type": "1",
   "did": "5141234567",
   "contact": "4381234567",
   "message": "Test",
   "col_media1": "https://voip.ms/media.php?map=MTU5Mzg5MDc4MzVmMDBkN2RmYzYxMWM1ZjAwZDdkZmM2MTU1fDF8aW1hZ2UvanBlZ3xNTVM=",
   "col_media2": "",
   "col_media3": ""
  }
 ]
}

Notes and issues:

• Message 15368 has been sent through Bell.
• Message 15555 has been sent through ClickSend. ClickSend sends message as base64 (which is ok) but Voip.MS does not seem to support this encoding type. So it is currently possible to receive messages either plain text or base64 encoded messages and I saw nothing yet in the API to distinguish betweeen both. dGVzdCBtZXNzYWdl is the B64 encoded version of test message.
• Message 15586 is a MMS message sent through Voip.MS. There is a bug: Voip.MS is not keeping the message text.
• Message 15589 is a MMS message sent through Voip.MS with a link to an image
• Message 15601 is a MMS message sent through Voip.MS with a data url. Voip.MS is accepting the request (success) but the link it is generating for the image is wrong and the receiver receives an invalid / inexisting image

Sending MMS

HTTP GET

Just a message:

https://voip.ms/api/v1/rest.php?api_username=<API_USERNAME>&api_password=<API_PASSWORD>&content_type=json&method=sendMMS&did=5146604287&dst=4389901711&message=Hello%20World

Message and a media link

https://voip.ms/api/v1/rest.php?api_username=<API_USERNAME>&api_password=<API_PASSWORD>&content_type=json&method=sendMMS&did=5146604287&dst=4389901711&message=Hello%20World&media1=https://voip.ms/media.php?map=MTU5Mzg5MDc4MzVmMDBkN2RmYzYxMWM1ZjAwZDdkZmM2MTU1fDF8aW1hZ2UvanBlZ3xNTVM=

Message and a media data url

https://voip.ms/api/v1/rest.php?api_username=<API_USERNAME>&api_password=<API_PASSWORD>&content_type=json&method=sendMMS&did=5146604287&dst=4389901711&message=Hello%20World&media1=data:image/png;base64,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

RESPONSE BODY

{
  "status": "success",
  "mms": 15601
}

Notes and issues:

• I tried HTTP POST (curl -X POST https://voip.ms/api/v1/rest.php -d field1=value1 -d field2=value2 ...) but I get a SOAP error as answer. I don't know how to send these request through a normal HTTP POST (either with a form encoded payload or json payload) and I don't even know if this is supported through the REST API.
• HTTP GET URL is length limited: this is impossible to send a 500x500px image base64-encoded
• Not supporting the data url is really limiting because it requires to first upload somewhere the media

[michaelkourlas]

Yes, I still plan to do this, but I also have a day job :P

[poleguy]

My daughter is at the age she is just getting in to text messaging with friends. I got her a voip.ms number, and she can do sms via email/web, but she asked for an app. If MMS worked reliably in an app on her tablet it would possibly keep her from needing an actual cellphone, which would be a great solution for this aged kid.

Great work on this app! I also have a day job... but right now I'm motivated by my kid, and I'm thinking about spending some time setting up and building this app to see if I can't contribute some coding time. I'll let you know if I actually get it built and then I might ask for some tips/pointers.

[Admin-A-LLC]

What am I missing about the availability of the source code? Because according to the instructions, it's right there next to the compiled releases. He has an open source and a cosed source copy, but the open source is complete enough to build the app I think? Not sure how much more work adding push notifications would be.

"The standard version of the app uses closed-source Firebase libraries to support push notifications and facilitate crash reporting and analytics, among other purposes. A version of the application that is completely open source is available from F-Droid.

Both versions are available from the Releases section of the GitHub repository."

[poleguy]

When did I say there was any trouble with source code availability? I just have to clone and build in theory. It's a matter of making time to go through the steps.

[michaelkourlas]

When I have time to look at this again, I will probably do this in two phases: support for receiving MMS first, then support for sending MMS in a subsequent release.

[poleguy]

I have successfully built the app.
I am starting to familiarize myself with the code. I've looked at all the places referencing www.voip.ms/api/ to see how sms messages are handled. I added in a very basic mms support, and it can at least retrieve the text portion of the mms messages. That's a start.

I'll try to tackle decoding/displaying the images next.
I'll post my work in a fork on github soon, I suppose.
I'm open to suggestions on how to proceed if anyone has any additional advice.

[poleguy]

I have pust my very basic mms support modification up to a fork: https://github.com/poleguy/voipms-sms-client

Again, I'm open to comments/suggestions/redirections/etc. as I'm really just hacking at it.

[poleguy]

I have pust my very basic mms support modification up to a fork: https://github.com/poleguy/voipms-sms-client

Again, I'm open to comments/suggestions/redirections/etc. as I'm really just hacking at it.

[Admin-A-LLC]

Hell yea, right on man! I'll take any progress at this point. I really was willing to take just getting notifications that an mms had been sent cuz right now they just arrive at voip.ms and maybe I'll get a email, but I'm not that big on that. Having it show up in my sms inbox is wayyyyy better. Thanks you! I'll be checking it out now. Did compile a release build or do I need compile it?

[poleguy]

I didn't post an apk, as I just started at this. I'll try to get one up for testing as time allows this week.

[michaelkourlas]

I have added some initial work in the mms branch.

[slevind]

Hey everyone, like @poleguy my daughter is just getting into texting. I have been following this thread with interest. I use voip.ms for her cell phone and sms, with a data only sim. However, it would be great to have MMS capability from the API in the voip.ms sms app. It would totally meet all her current messaging needs. I have no experience in software/app development, but I am offering my time for testing or if someone is willing to teach me enough that I can be useful or dangerous, let me know. Cheers

[LinearDynamics]

@michaelkourlas hope you are well. Are you working on this still?

[michaelkourlas]

Whenever I have the time and feel in the mood to work on it, yes.

[michaelkourlas]

As I mentioned previously, the initial release of MMS support will cover receiving MMS messages only.

Although some progress has been made in the "mms" branch, there are a number of items that have to be addressed before I would be comfortable releasing:

• Displaying images in notifications
• Maintaining a local cache of images, rather than just passing the URL directly to Glide
• Support for selecting an individual image and displaying it in a larger view
• Support for copying/sharing the image
• Selecting a message with an image should change the image colour to make it clear that it is selected
• Support for video/audio MMS

[BrunswickBTC]

The lack of mms is disruptive now that I completely converted to voip.ms. any way I can incentivize this feature getting done?

[oathzed]

The lack of mms is disruptive now that I completely converted to voip.ms. any way I can incentivize this feature getting done?

Use JMP.chat instead it has actual support

[cybik]

@oathzed that's irrelevant

[BrunswickBTC]

The lack of mms is disruptive now that I completely converted to voip.ms. any way I can incentivize this feature getting done?

Use JMP.chat instead it has actual support

Im not going back to xmpp, 18 years is enough. Its a stagnant protocol.

[kirkawolff]

Please add mms functionality to this app. The ability to send and recieve photos are essential

[kirkawolff]

@michaelkourlas what amount of bounty would incentivise you to prioritize this feature?

[michaelkourlas]

I understand that you're eager for this feature to be implemented, but ultimately I do this for fun, not to make money -- and that's how I want to keep it. (That's also why the app is free and has no ads!)

[innovate-invent]

@michaelkourlas If someone were to hire a programmer to implement this feature, would you accept a reasonable PR? Would you be willing to write up a criteria for this specific PR/feature?