Hi @Phenek yes to end of the year 2023 but must most likely before. Q2 would be realistic goal at the moment (we’re hiring in that direction).
We don’t have a repository at the moment, we have not selected the technology yet, but so far the consensus seems to push forward an electron app as we would be able to reuse most of the work we did for the browser extension. There are obviously some security considerations we need to look at more closely. There are some disadvantages also, for example not being able to / harder to be in the appstore.
HOo you mean Electron.js, so you will stay on javascript, right?
Yeah I eard a lot about Electron vulnerabilities.
About the AppStore it’s because javascript can be updated from API, and it can lead to have malicious code that update it self from javascript without the user notifying it, either the software company.
I will follow this thread until you select the technology.
Thanks for your speed answer.
Just a quick update that we started working on this in Q1 2023. So we’ll share the results of our initial technical / security investigations and the code of a partial POC as soon as it’s ready. You will then be able to provide feedback as we move next to the design phase.
I’m not sure if you’re going to stick with JavaScript, for good?
If you take this step, please be aware that Microsoft Teams 2 has decided to stop using Electron.js and switch to WebView2 based on Chromium.
You could maybe take the same path?
We’ll move to other OS (Mac/Linux) once we’ve made more progress on this one. Currently, according the stats we have on webstores, 70% of passbolt users are on windows, so this is why the priority was given to the windows platform.
I am reaching out because I noticed the title of this thread has been changed. Initially, it was titled “Desktop Application (Mac/Windows)” and now it seems to be marked as “Done!”
However, the Mac application is not yet available, and the Windows application is not yet on the stores.
I was the one who created this topic because I am directly impacted by the lack of support for Mac and the need for a more secure desktop application that works in tandem with the browser extensions.
(I am speaking about the big shift of architectures.)
This topic has drawn a lot of attention on the forum, gathering over 24k views.
I also think that a majority of people who found this thread are likely Mac users who were already searching for the Safari extension, and found this topic as well.
That’s why I respectfully ask you to restore the original title “Desktop Application (Mac/Windows)” , and at least change the status to something more representative of the current state of the development. For instance, marking it as “In Progress” would be more accurate given that the development is still ongoing.
I appreciate your understanding in advance and look forward to seeing the Mac and Windows applications available on the stores.
The initial goal is to support this flow in the desktop application using the OS functionalities if they are present (microsoft hello, ios keyring, linux I don’t know). Then we can consider integration between the app and the browser extension. My experience with Mailvelope, these kind of integrations are brittle and thus create a lot of support requests.
Do you have any information about Mac development?
We are really excited about this full integration.
It is certain that features such as biometrics or encryption in a heavy desktop application must be taken into consideration. It is certain that it will add more security credit to Passbolt.
The PRF extension in the context of WebAuthn does not specifically mention biometric authentication. The extension primarily focuses on utilizing security keys (physical devices) and generating pseudo-random functions (PRFs) for encryption purposes.
You indeed seems to have dificult to port actual javascript code to Safari or a desktop Mac application. Therefore, why not consider implementing Passbolt in a native or cross-platform framework that allows the use of native features?
Yes this would initially require a significant overhaul, in the long run, but you would have access to all the features platform specific.
This could truly be a game changer for the future.
Maybe Passbolt should be aiming multiple languages at the same time?
Mac users are willing to pay. That is the DEFINITION of a Mac user. If Passpolt has problems hiring devs, might I suggest that embracing the Mac crowd might be a cash cow?
One might even consider a stop-gap AppleScript solution that makes API calls just to get things moving.
