Native Message Renderer, Rich Text Editor and Faster Chat Open
DChat 0.3.6 is about what you feel every time you open a chat. The message list and the chat list are now native canvas-rendered controls, and the difference is immediate: no redraws, no jank, half the load time.
- Native canvas message renderer, cutting open time from 1230ms to 665ms
- Native chat list with instant scroll and no redraw flicker
- Rich text editor with bold, italic, strikethrough, inline code and spoiler
- Round video messages play inline in the conversation thread
- Chat open pipeline rebuilt for consistently faster cold starts
A message list built to perform
The previous message list was a MAUI layout panel. Every scroll, every rotation, every new message triggered a full layout pass. The new one is a native Android canvas control that draws each message bubble directly. Open time dropped from over a second to under 700ms in a release build. Scrolling is smooth at every chat length, including threads with thousands of messages. The visual output is identical; the machinery underneath is completely different.
The same treatment went to the chat list. The list of your conversations now renders natively, which means instant scroll response and no redraw flash when you switch away and come back.
Format your messages
The composer now supports rich text. You can make text bold, italic or strikethrough, mark something as inline code, or wrap a word in spoiler tags so the reader has to tap to reveal it. Formatting survives copy and paste and displays correctly on both sides of the conversation.
The editor handles markdown-style shortcuts as well as selection toolbar controls, so you can work whichever way is faster for you.
Round video, inline
Round video messages received in a chat now play directly in the message thread without opening a separate viewer. Tap to play, tap again to pause. The circle stays in line with the rest of the conversation, the same way a voice message does.
Also in this update
The chat open pipeline was reworked to front-load the expensive parts and defer the rest. The result is a consistently faster first frame regardless of chat size. Several message timestamp bugs causing wrong day groupings have been resolved. Minor fixes to sticker rendering, channel post layout and search result ordering.
Open a chat. Feel the difference.
The DChat Team