2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike


2007 Hollywood Strike  

282 members have voted

  1. 1. Who do you support in the strike?

    • The AMPTP
      35
    • The WGA
      140
    • Undecided/Don't Care
      107


Recommended Posts

Do you mean rehiring? Schweet!

Yeah :blush:

WRITERS, PRODUCERS REACH TENTATIVE DEAL

The Writers Guild of America has reached a tentative deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

WGA West president Patric Verrone and WGA East president Michael Winship sent out an email to members at 3 a.m. Saturday alerting writers that a deal has been made that “protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery.”

All the deal points can be found at click here.

What I want to know is, if the strike ends this Saturday, will we see more than eight episodes of Lost now it is back? I mean, the original plan was for it to air 8 and then stop, but is there the possibility that they might continue and air all 18 episodes?

Maybe I am being a bit optimistic.

What I want to know is, if the strike ends this Saturday, will we see more than eight episodes of Lost now it is back? I mean, the original plan was for it to air 8 and then stop, but is there the possibility that they might continue and air all 18 episodes?

Maybe I am being a bit optimistic.

I think it is completely possible for them to get 8 more episodes filmed and aired, albeit there will have to be a break probably in the airing (two or three weeks possibly?).

It takes 8 days to film an episode of Lost, and then 3-4 days to edit. So you're looking around 12-15 days per episode, so if they started filming again on Monday (which they probably won't be able to), then they could get 1 more episode filmed this month (grant it, that's not working weekends).

Lost could also have two film crews to cut down on the amount of filming days required. I've read that they've done this before when the season end nears and they are rushed for time, so they could easily do that this time as well.

Of course adding another film crew increase costs and at this point, because of how much the strike has already cost the networks, who knows if ABC will be willing to spend more. But Lost is their biggest show, so they may do it.

I think it is completely possible for them to get 8 more episodes filmed and aired, albeit there will have to be a break probably in the airing (two or three weeks possibly?).

It takes 8 days to film an episode of Lost, and then 3-4 days to edit. So you're looking around 12-15 days per episode, so if they started filming again on Monday (which they probably won't be able to), then they could get 1 more episode filmed this month (grant it, that's not working weekends).

Lost could also have two film crews to cut down on the amount of filming days required. I've read that they've done this before when the season end nears and they are rushed for time, so they could easily do that this time as well.

Of course adding another film crew increase costs and at this point, because of how much the strike has already cost the networks, who knows if ABC will be willing to spend more. But Lost is their biggest show, so they may do it.

You forgot the 'writing' period, which is another 8-10 days.

What I want to know is, if the strike ends this Saturday, will we see more than eight episodes of Lost now it is back? I mean, the original plan was for it to air 8 and then stop, but is there the possibility that they might continue and air all 18 episodes?

Maybe I am being a bit optimistic.

16 would be max, not 18.

Best case scenario, I would think, would be that we would end up with 12 episodes this season.

You forgot the 'writing' period, which is another 8-10 days.
They could easily get scripts out in 4 days for Lost; plus from what I've read, they already have some scripts partially written, they just couldn't finish them in time of the strike.

They don't have the same writers for every episode anyway, so they could be working on multiple scripts at the same time as well.

From TV Guide

At long last, a strike chart you can get excited about!

With an end to the three-month-old WGA strike imminent (yay!), the networks have quietly begun outlining plans to salvage what's left of the current TV season. At the same time, I've been quietly picking at my moles to get a preview of those plans ? the results of which appear in chart form below.

Keep in mind that the following information remains extremely tentative and is subject to change (and probably will). In other words, I strongly suggest you refresh your browser at least once an hour to ensure that you're getting the most up-to-date scoop possible.

24

Expected to return this fall or January '09.

30 Rock

Expected to shoot 5 to 10 new episodes to air in April/May.

Back to You

Two pre-strike episodes remain. Future TBD*.

Bionic Woman

No new episodes expected. Ever.

Big Love

Expected to go into production on Season 3 in March. Airdate info is TBD.

Bones

Four pre-strike episodes left. Unclear whether additional episodes will be produced for this season.

Brothers & Sisters

Expected to shoot 4 or 5 new episodes to air in April/May.

Chuck

No new episodes until fall.

Criminal Minds

Expected to shoot 4 to 7 new episodes to air in April/May.

CSI

Expected to shoot 4 to 7 new episodes to air in April/May.

CSI: Miami

Expected to shoot 4 to 7 new episodes to air in April/May.

CSI: NY

Expected to shoot 4 to 7 new episodes to air in April/May.

Desperate Housewives

Expected to shoot 4 or 5 new episodes to air in April/May.

Dirty Sexy Money

No new episodes planned until fall; three remaining pre-strike episodes will undergo some tweaking and kick off fall run.

ER

TBD.

Everybody Hates Chris

Twelve pre-strike episodes remain. No additional episodes expected for this season.

Friday Night Lights

No new episodes expected for this season. Future TBD.

Gossip Girl

Expected to shoot up to 9 new episodes to air in April/May/June.

Grey's Anatomy

Expected to shoot 4 or 5 new episodes to air in April/May

Heroes

TBD.

House

Expected to shoot 4 to 6 new episodes to air in April/May.

How I Met Your Mother

Expected to shoot 5 to 7 new episodes to air in April/May.

Jericho

Seven episodes remain. No additional episodes expected for this season.

Las Vegas

Three pre-strike episodes remain. No additional episodes expected for this season.

Law & Order: SVU

TBD.

Life

No new episodes expected until fall.

Life Is Wild

No new episodes expected. Ever.

Lost

Six pre-strike episodes remain. Six additional episodes could air this season.

Medium

Six pre-strike episodes remain. No additional episodes expected this season.

Men in Trees

Eleven pre-strike episodes remain. No additional episodes expected this season.

Moonlight

No new episodes expected until fall.

My Name Is Earl

Expected to shoot 8 to 10 new episodes to air in April/May.

NCIS

Expected to shoot 5 to 7 new episodes, only three of which may air this season.

The New Adventures of Old Christine

Seven pre-strike episodes remain. No additional episodes expected this season.

Numbers

Expected to shoot 5 to 7 new episodes, only three of which may air this season.

October Road

Five pre-strike episodes remain. Future beyond that TBD.

The Office

Expected to shoot 5 to 10 new episodes to air in April/May.

One Tree Hill

Six pre-strike episodes remain. Future beyond that TBD.

Prison Break

Two pre-strike episodes remain. Future beyond that TBD.

Private Practice

Expected to shoot 4 or 5 new episodes to air in April/May.

Pushing Daisies

No new episodes until fall.

Reaper

Three pre-strike episodes remain. Future beyond that TBD.

Samantha Who?

Three remaining pre-strike episodes could possibly surface this season, or be held until fall (see Dirty Sexy Money).

Scrubs

Four pre-strike episodes remain. Four additional episodes will likely be shot; unclear whether they'll air on NBC or go straight to DVD.

Smallville

Four pre-strike episodes remain. Expected to shoot 3 to 5 additional episodes to air in April/May.

Supernatural

Two pre-strike episodes remain. Expected to shoot 3 to 5 additional episodes to air in April/May.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Five pre-strike episodes remain. Future beyond that TBD.

Two and a Half Men

Expected to shoot 5 to 7 new episodes to air in April/May.

Ugly Betty

Expected to shoot 4 or 5 new episodes to air in April/May.

Women's Murder Club

No additional episodes expected for this season. Future TBD, although one Club member admits, "We're terrified that it's over for us."

Letter From The Presidents With Deal Summary

This was sent early this morning to membership. The delay in publishing the deal points, we've learned, was because the companies dragged their feet enshrining some of the final details in an attempt to renege on some of what they had promised. The last-minute fight to keep that from happening took until late last night.

To Our Fellow Members,

We have a tentative deal.

It is an agreement that protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery. It creates formulas for revenue-based residuals in new media, provides access to deals and financial data to help us evaluate and enforce those formulas, and establishes the principle that, "When they get paid, we get paid."

Specific terms of the agreement are described in the summary at the following link - http://mail.citrustudio.com/ct/1843160:203...6D8531C64503D7B and will be further discussed at our Saturday membership meetings on both coasts. At those meetings we will also discuss how we will proceed regarding ratification of this agreement and lifting the restraining order that ends the strike. Details of the Los Angeles meeting can be found at http://mail.citrustudio.com/ct/1843161:203...6D8531C64503D7B.

Less than six months ago, the AMPTP wanted to enact profit-based residuals, defer all Internet compensation in favor of a study, forever eliminate "distributor's gross" valuations, and enforce 39 pages of rollbacks to compensation, pension and health benefits, reacquisition, and separated rights. Today, thanks to three months of physical resolve, determination, and perseverance, we have a contract that includes WGA jurisdiction and separated rights in new media, residuals for Internet reuse, enforcement and auditing tools, expansion of fair market value and distributor's gross language, improvements to other traditional elements of the MBA, and no rollbacks.

Over these three difficult months, we shut down production of nearly all scripted content in TV and film and had a serious impact on the business of our employers in ways they did not expect and were hard pressed to deflect. Nevertheless, an ongoing struggle against seven, multinational media conglomerates, no matter how successful, is exhausting, taking an enormous personal toll on our members and countless others. As such, we believe that continuing to strike now will not bring sufficient gains to outweigh the potential risks and that the time has come to accept this contract and settle the strike.

Much has been achieved, and while this agreement is neither perfect nor perhaps all that we deserve for the countless hours of hard work and sacrifice, our strike has been a success. We activated, engaged, and involved the membership of our Guilds with a solidarity that has never before occurred. We developed a captains system and a communications structure that used the Internet to build bonds within our membership and beyond. We earned the backing of other unions and their members worldwide, the respect of elected leaders and politicians throughout the nation, and the overwhelming support of fans and the general public. Our thanks to all of them, and to the staffs at both Guilds who have worked so long and patiently to help us all.

There is much yet to be done and we intend to use all the techniques and relationships we've developed in this strike to make it happen. We must support our brothers and sisters in SAG who, as their contract expires in less than five months, will be facing many of the same challenges we have just endured. We must further pursue new relationships we have established in Washington and in state and local governments so that we can maintain leverage against the consolidated multinational conglomerates with whom we bargain. We must be vigilant in monitoring the deals that are made in new media so that in the years ahead we can enforce and expand our contract. We must fight to get decent working conditions and benefits for writers of reality TV, animation, and any other genre in which writers do not have a WGA contract.

Most important, however, is to continue to use the new collective power we have generated for our collective benefit. More than ever, now and beyond, we are all in this together.

Best,

Patric M. Verrone

President, WGAW

Michael Winship

President, WGAE

Strike Not Over Just Yet

The espresso is brewing and the laptops are heating up, but not everyone is click-clacking away just yet.

After announcing they had struck a tentative deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, Writers Guild of America leaders informed members during a briefing Saturday night that they will have 48 hours to vote on the new terms once the board has ratified the contract.

WGA officials will meet Sunday to officially endorse the agreement, and then, pending approval from the majority of the guild, the strike that began Nov. 5 and took down the Golden Globes?and perhaps a little bit of Hollywood's soul?will be formally, and finally, over.

The ins and outs of the proposed three-year deal were presented to hundreds of the WGA's East Coast members early Saturday evening at New York's Crowne Plaza hotel, and about 3,000 others were briefed at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles a few hours later, with Hollywood's response considered to be the real litmus test in gauging how close the light at the end of the tunnel really is.

There was no vote during the two-and-a-half-hour NYC session, which was described as largely informational, but it wasn't until the West Coast meeting that WGA leaders revealed their decision to hold off on officially lifting the strike until the membership vote.

"I am personally recommending that we ratify this deal," WGA West president Patric Verrone told the crowd at the Shrine. "It is the best deal the guild has bargained for in 30 years. Admittedly, the contract has some holes...The decision to lift the strike will be yours."

The board doesn't necessarily have to wait for the members to weigh in, but after all this time many were uneasy about pulling the plug on the strike without hearing from the 10,000 people who have been walking the picket lines, working on their novels, taking on odd jobs and otherwise not attending to business as usual.

Although this means scribes won't technically be back to work on Monday, plenty of people at the Shrine said they will be "unofficially" getting scripts and proposals ready for Take Ourselves to Work Day, which will likely be midweek.

"This is a historic moment for writers in this country," filmmaker Michael Moore told Daily Variety after the New York meeting. "There is a certain irony about the achievement. I would have thought it'd be autoworkers or ironworkers getting this victory, but instead it's the people who got beat up in school for writing in their journals."

"I think the meeting went very well," WGA East president Michael Winship told reporters at an impromptu press conference outside the hotel. "There was a frank discussion of ideas, and everyone who wanted to ask a question got to ask a question."

After meeting with 300 strike captains Friday afternoon to appraise them of the deal, and then continuing to negotiate until 2 a.m., Winship and Verrone sent an email to members early this morning informing them a deal had been made with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers that "protects a future in which the Internet becomes the primary means of both content creation and delivery.

"It creates formulas for revenue-based residuals in new media, provides access to deals and financial data to help us evaluate and enforce those formulas, and establishes the principle that ?When they get paid, we get paid.' "

"We believe that continuing to strike now will not bring sufficient gains to outweigh the potential risks and that the time has come to accept this contract and settle the strike," they wrote, noting that it's high time to put an end to the Industry-debilitating work stoppage, whether or not they think the new three-year deal is one for the ages.

"Much has been achieved, and while this agreement is neither perfect nor perhaps all that we deserve for the countless hours of hard work and sacrifice, our strike has been a success."

The immediate winner, presuming the majority of the writers say yea, will be the 80th Annual Academy Awards, which will likely be free to roll out the red carpet for writer-supporting SAG members on Feb. 24 without the threat of star-deterring picket lines.

Other beneficiaries include fans of union-approved gags on Jay Leno's Tonight Show, Conan O'Brien's Late Night, Jon Stewart's Daily Show, Stephen Colbert's Colbert Report and Jimmy Kimmel Live. All of those had gone on without their regular staffs since shortly after the new year.

As Stewart reminded his audience Thursday night as he searched for the proper retort to a Mitt Romney snafu, "It's just me up here."

It was unclear how much of this TV season will or can be salvaged, but there's hope that the networks can get a hefty portion of their prime-time lineups back on track for spring. Most scripted series normally don't wrap production until around March, so some time presumably would remain to get cranking and resume shooting.

As for the terms that finally set pens a-scribblin' and hands a-shakin' this week, much of the proposed contract mirrors what the Directors Guild of America and the alliance were able to come up with several weeks ago?an agreement that highlighted new-media jurisdiction and increased compensation for downloads and content streamed online.

The WGA's deal would also give the writers jurisdiction over material produced expressly for new-media channnels whose budgets either topped $15,000 per minute, $300,000 per program or $500,000 per series.

Like directors, writers will receive a $1,200 flat fee for the first year that content (one-hour shows) is streamed online, as well as a percentage of distributors' revenue. Residuals for downloads will effectively double.

As an added feather in the writers' caps, in the third year of their contract they will be entitled to residuals equal to 2 percent of distributors' revenue. The WGA had been pushing for a variable residual that would compensate for growth in Internet usage over the next few years.

They will also receive what's being referred to as a separated-rights provision, meaning additional compensation for Web shows that backpedal onto TV, like Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz's serial MySpace drama Quarterlife, which has been picked up by NBC.

A sticking point among WGA members, however, could be the "promotional window" that cuts into their residuals from ad-supported content streamed online. For the first 17 days that episodes are available, and 24 days for freshman series, no residuals will be paid.

Just in case, there's still a picketing event scheduled for Wednesday in front of Viacom Inc.'s New York headquarters. Should the strike end, the WGA East will promptly cancel.

not completely over, but its very close.

It's over. They vote on Tuesday to lift the strike and then 10 days after that they vote to except the new deal and every indication is that they'll approve both.

A writer who just left the confab told me: "There was cheering for everything and standing ovation after standing ovation for all the leadership. There is no question in my mind that because of the atmosphere in that room this strike will be called off. There is no gearing for a fight. It's over." --Deadline Hollywood Daily

Welcome back WGA. Here's your pink slips.

The Writers Guild of America may find out very soon that even if its members "won," they also lost. And even viewers who have managed to get through the writers strike with a minimum of entertainment interruptus will likely feel the fallout as well.

Why? Because change is coming. And for the next year, it probably won't be good for writers or viewers.

Even with Writers Guild of America members starting to return to work today the landscape for both this season and next is irrevocably altered. Sources within the industry say there's no rule book on how networks will get back to business - nothing that can be predicted accurately because studios and networks will make decisions independent of each other and strategies for series will vary.

But here's what's likely:

-- Several writers will probably get pink slips. That's because certain series - and not only those that premiered this season - are going to be canceled. The cost of firing back up the machine to crank out shows that are in the middle of the ratings pack - or worse - could be prohibitive to networks. Momentum has been lost. Viewers have forgotten plenty of middling (particularly freshmen) series. The idea of relaunching them seems daunting, not to mention expensive.

-- Some of those slots will be lost to reality programming that's already in the pipeline.

-- There seems to be resistance among most networks to extend the season beyond its traditional end in May. If that doesn't change, look for virtually all shows to have a truncated season - shorter episodes, unfinished story lines.

-- Although the math at each network differs, the numbers most mentioned are "four to six weeks" to get anything on the air, which means late March - but some are saying April. That would significantly cut down the season totals of most series.

-- And already writers are looking at a bleaker picture for next season, with the networks deciding that the development season (which typically begins with scripts being submitted in the fall and then shot as pilots in the winter and spring after a winnowing process) has been damaged during the strike and the only way to survive is to cut back on orders. So instead of having, say, each network develop 20 series - choosing the best of the bunch for next season's schedule - the number could be half that (or even less). Any equation you look at ends with reduced work, lost opportunities.

-- For viewers - who, by the way, barely have any working knowledge of the way the industry runs and so may be alarmed by the fallout - the immediate impact is a drastically reduced season. That may not hurt closed-ended series quite so much - procedurals such as "CSI" and "Law & Order" that tell a story in one hour and then end. But serialized dramas are going to cause a lot of confusion. How about no season of "24"? That scenario is on the table. The action-packed Fox thriller could be shelved until fall at the earliest, or even held until its normal slot - January (of 2009).

-- What's to become of "Lost," which has eight episodes in the can? That arc, according to the show's producers, has a beginning and end. Will ABC try to get four or six more episodes out of the writers - and will those episodes also follow a clean arc or leave viewers hanging until January 2009 as well? That's the kind of gamble networks haven't properly sussed out.

-- In all likelihood, series that were doing well before the strike started in November - such as "Pushing Daisies" on ABC - will be spared the ax. What's not clear is the network thinking for each of these series. Even if, for example, ABC decides to hang onto "Pushing Daisies," that doesn't automatically mean it will ramp up for more episodes this season. Some series will undoubtedly be put on hiatus until next fall - even if they are safe. Others may be allowed to crank out as many episodes as they can before the end of May. But even then, some of those series will have to be auditioning for their lives. If the audience doesn't come back, adios. It may not be fair, but it's life in the strike-shortened 2007-08 season.

Read More...

Local L.A. economy lost $2 Billion during WGA strike

The writers strike appears that it will end tomorrow when the members of the WGA vote on whether or not to accept the offer from the studios. So now it is time to reflect.

The strike began November 5, 2007 and has appeared to have cost the local economy $2 billion, nearly four times more than the 1988 strike that lasted six weeks longer, according to hollywoodreporter.com.

But while most would think the most effected would be the studios or production workers without jobs, this is not the case. The parties most effected by the strike, experts say, are the independent contractors, small-business owners and others that had acquired TV production crews as their most dependable customers.

The Los Angeles Economic Development Corp. estimates that $733 million in production has been lost during the strike, another $1.3 billion worth of losses from caterers, florists, valets, hotel operators, restaurant workers, costume-house employees and other workers at the grassroots level.

It is apparent that diversification is the best preparation for small-business owners in Los Angeles if, heaven forbid, there was another production stoppage.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Go for a Echo Dot or Pop instead. These Echo shows just advertise to you.
    • NetSpeedTray 1.3.3 by Razvan Serea NetSpeedTray is a lightweight, open-source Windows network monitor that shows live upload and download speeds directly on the Taskbar. Designed for efficiency, it quietly sits in the system tray, conserving CPU and battery with dynamic updates. It blends seamlessly with Windows 10/11, adapts to light/dark themes, and auto-positions to avoid overlaps. Features include accurate interface detection, customizable display, optional mini-graph, color coding, granular font and unit control, detailed per-interface history graphs, safe data management, and easy CSV export—bringing the network monitoring Windows forgot. NetSpeedTray key features: Lightweight & Efficient Runs quietly in your system tray without consuming resources. Features a "Dynamic Update Rate" that lowers refresh frequency when the network is idle to save CPU and battery life. Native Look & Feel Blends seamlessly with Windows 10/11 UI. Smart detection for light and dark taskbar themes ensures text is always visible. Intelligent & Adaptive Positioning Automatically finds empty space next to your system tray and shifts to make room for new icons, preventing overlaps. Seamless OS Integration Behaves like a native Windows component. Hides instantly with auto-hiding taskbar Hides when a fullscreen app is active Smart Network Monitoring Accurate by Default: Auto mode identifies your main internet connection and ignores noise from VPNs or virtual adapters. Easy Interface Selection: Switch effortlessly between Auto, All, or Selected network interfaces via intuitive radio buttons. Total Visual Customization Free Move Mode: Unlock and place the widget anywhere on your screen. Optional Mini-Graph: Real-time graph of recent network activity with adjustable opacity. Color Coding: Customize colors and speed thresholds to quickly see network status. Granular Display Control Text & Font: Adjust font family, size, weight, and alignment. Units: Automatic (B/s, KB/s, MB/s) or fixed Mbps display. Precision: Set decimal places and always show them for uniform appearance. Detailed & Intelligent History Graph Smart Scale: Logarithmic scale shows low-level traffic and large spikes clearly. Per-Interface Filtering: View speed history for specific adapters (Wi-Fi, Ethernet, VPN). Safe & Efficient Data Management: Adjustable retention, automatic cleanup, optimized database. Easy Data Export: Export raw data to .csv or save high-quality graphs for reports. NetSpeedTray v1.3.3: The Updater Fix A stabilization release that repairs a critical regression in v1.3.2: the app shipped without OpenSSL, which silently broke every HTTPS request — including the built-in update checker (the "Could not check for updates" error many of you hit). This release restores it, hardens the build so it can't happen again, and fixes a startup crash plus four other reported bugs. Changes: Fixed update checking — Resolved a critical issue that prevented the app from checking for updates ("Could not check for updates"). Fixed startup crash with Auto-Cycling — The app no longer crashes on launch after enabling Cycle display mode. Fixed incorrect network speeds on 10GbE adapters — Multi-gigabit network cards now display speeds correctly instead of being stuck at 0. Improved color coding — Default color is shown when idle, and color/threshold changes now apply immediately without restarting. Fullscreen visibility fix — The widget now correctly stays visible over fullscreen apps when Keep Visible is enabled. Improved AMD Ryzen temperature detection — More reliable CPU temperature monitoring for Ryzen processors. Cleaner upgrades — Installer now removes outdated application files during upgrades, preventing DLL/version conflicts while preserving user settings. Improved stability — Fixed potential DLL loading issues by excluding critical OpenSSL and NumPy components from UPX compression. Better settings window — Scrollbars removed and layout improved for a cleaner experience. Localization improvements — Updated translations and completed missing UI text across all supported languages. More reliable releases — Added regression tests covering recent critical fixes, bringing the test suite to 196 passing tests. [full release notes] Download: NetSpeedTray 1.3.3 | 87.9 MB (Open Source) Download: NetSpeedTray Portable | 101.0 MB View: NetSpeedTray Home Page | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • Why Delta Chat is the best decentralized messenger you have probably never tried by Paul Hill There is no shortage of messaging apps out there; we have WhatsApp, Messenger, and Telegram, just to name a few. While Meta has taken steps to incorporate encryption into Messenger and WhatsApp, they still leave a lot to be desired. If you are in the market for a messaging app that promotes security, privacy, and optional anonymity, you'll want to read what I have to say about Delta Chat. For those not familiar with Delta Chat, rather than relying on centralized servers as you do with Facebook Messenger, it relies on email. Essentially, it is a chat interface that feels like a messaging app, but secretly in the background, it is firing off emails. In the past, you used to have to sign in with your email account. When you sent messages to people, it would just be sending encrypted messages to their inbox, which their Delta Chat client would decrypt. When I first learned about Delta Chat, it required users to sign in with an email account, but I was pleasantly surprised upon trying it in 2026 that this is no longer a requirement, or the preferred method was to use the app. Recently, I’ve tried UAD-ng on my old Nokia 3.4 to disable most of the Google apps because the bootloader is locked, and this is the next best option. While finding replacement apps in F-Droid, I came across Delta Chat again, and it has undergone quite a big change since I last used it, with its new chatmail relays, which no longer require you to sign in to your own email account, providing anonymity, and they offer greater security. Android and Desktop Delta Chat apps. Not only does it run on my de-googled phone, but it also works on desktop computers and iOS, making it truly ubiquitous. For me, Delta Chat is a wonderful alternative messenger because it gives you more control. It supports switching between different profiles, which you can set up super quickly; you don’t register a username, you don’t register a password. The only thing you do have is a random string email address on a chatmail relay (which you don’t have to memorize). To maintain access to your profile, you just need to add a second device to your account via QR code or make a backup of your account, which you can restore later. Fail to do these, your account is gone - as it should be if you don’t want to leave accounts that could get hacked later on. My decision to block Google stuff on my Nokia was done for practical reasons; the device sucked when it launched, and it sucks even more now. The nice thing about F-Droid and the apps within is that they’re usually lightweight, free of bloat, and work well on that device. What was inconvenient for me was that it was hard to send messages from that device, say if I wanted to copy a code over to my main phone or send family members a link from that device. That’s when I decided to look at the available chat apps and saw Delta Chat. Another nice thing about Delta Chat is its notifications. Some messaging apps rely on Google’s ecosystem for notification transport on Android; however, with Delta Chat, it can use Google’s solutions if you have Play Services or MicroG installed. Otherwise, it is able to keep a background connection to the chatmail relay server so that you can get notified when you receive a message. As free software, the code of Delta Chat is open for all who want to take it and build upon it. In the future, if the developers of Delta Chat make a catastrophically bad decision and take the app in an undesirable direction, users can take the code and fork the project. This contrasts with closed-source apps from corporations that can take their products in any direction they like. By relying on free software instead of closed-source programs, you actually control your computing. I’ve spoken at length about how running this type of software is like owning your own home rather than renting it. The same applies here; if you use Delta Chat, you don’t need to worry about it going away in the future. Whether it is Telegram, WhatsApp, or Messenger, you are required to register a username and password to use these services. A major flaw in this design is that anyone can try various passwords and potentially break into your account with your complete chat history intact. Sure, there is encryption in Messenger, where you need a second PIN and two-factor authentication in Telegram, but breaches happen all the time. Unlike before, when you used to sign in to your email account to send and receive messages, the primary way to do it now is to create an account on a chatmail relay. The resulting email address is a random string followed by the name of the relay you pick. This means you can start and begin adding contacts Without a username and password, you either need to ensure you have a backup or at least one device running your Delta Chat profile. The primary way to log in on another device is to go to the settings and add a second device. Then, you’ll just scan a QR code with your new device, and it’ll log in to your account and sync all your chat history and contacts. To end users, Delta Chat just looks like any instant messenger; however, it is really sending your messages as encrypted emails to your contact. This is pretty cool from a censorship perspective, as it makes the service more difficult to block. Previously, the main way to use the app was by logging in with email, but nowadays, it’s recommended that you use chatmail relays. Chatmail relays temporarily hold messages in case your device is offline. They are cheap, simple servers that don’t store data as group states. Other information, like your name and avatar, only exists on your device and the devices of those you share your contact information with. The relays are also decentralized and operated by various groups and individuals. It is even possible to set up your own chatmail relay, but most people will want to use one hosted elsewhere. To keep your messages secure, Delta Chat uses a secure subset of the OpenPGP standard that gives you automatic end-to-end encryption. It also uses Secure-Join to exchange encryption setup information through QR-code scanning or invite links. Autocrypt is also used to automatically establish end-to-end encryption between contacts and all members of group chat, but sometime this year Autocrypt v2 will be rolled out, bringing post-quantum resistant encryption and forward secrecy. The Delta Chat FAQ is an interesting read that explains many more details about the app. Credit: Pexels Delta Chat is unique among messaging apps because it is built on email, a technology that’s decades old and isn’t going anywhere soon. What’s more is that email is not centralized either, so it’s far more difficult for any authoritarian regime to disrupt the Delta Chat app. I haven’t spoken too much about features yet, so I will do that now. Delta Chat allows you to do one-on-one chats, group chats, and create channels. It also supports file sharing and making audio and video calls when chatting one-to-one, but it’s not available for group chats right now. At the time of writing, the calling functionality is disabled and can be enabled in Settings > Advanced > Debug Calls. I have used the video calling feature, and the quality is excellent. It works over WebRTC, another open standard. The app also lets you send voice notes, enables disappearing messages, and has its own app ecosystem. I did try playing chess one time there, but it was a bit spotty; though, we did manage to complete the game with a victory for me. To add people to Delta Chat, you can either give them your Delta Chat link or your QR code to scan. These are the only ways to add users, so you won't have any spam bots bothering you. If the people you want to chat with don't have the app yet, just send them your link, and it will take them to a webpage where they can install the app and then add you. It's really quick for them to install it and get started, which is nice. Credit: Microsoft. The Majorana 2 quantum chip unveiled in 2026. I do not think quantum computers are too far out now, and I do hope that Delta Chat is able to push out Autocrypt v2 sooner, rather than later, so bad actors do not attempt to collect encrypted communications and then decrypt them in the future using quantum computers. By getting people’s messages post-quantum-safe now, users won’t have to worry when quantum computers start cracking legacy encryption. Overall, I would recommend this app to people who are already past WhatsApp and Messenger and have perhaps begun using apps like Telegram or Session. It shares a lot of characteristics with these apps and goes a lot further than Telegram in terms of security. By being based on email, it is also resistant to censorship, and the lack of a username and password makes you anonymous (if you want to be) and safe from brute force password cracking attempts. Let me know in the comments if you’ve tried Delta Chat recently. Do you think it's a good bulwark against governments that are tightening their grip on the internet?
  • Recent Achievements

    • One Year In
      bernmeister earned a badge
      One Year In
    • Week One Done
      Scoobystu earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Week One Done
      tuben earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • First Post
      OffsetAbs earned a badge
      First Post
    • Reacting Well
      OffsetAbs earned a badge
      Reacting Well
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      471
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      217
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      156
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      73
    5. 5
      FloatingFatMan
      71
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!