Searx App for KaiOS: First version released!

We're proud to announce that we've finished our first mobile app and it's a search app made for feature phones running #KaiOS and released under AGPL 3.0.
It makes use of the Searx API which is also free and open source software and can be used on many public servers.
#Searx can ask many big search engines which can be selected by the user in the background anonymously and combines them into one big results page.
Some people may not know what KaiOS is so here is a short summary:

KaiOS is a operating system for smart feature phones like the Nokia 8110 or the JioPhone.
Phones with KaiOS have WiFi and the ability to install and run apps but they have keys instead of a touchscreen. KaiOS is based on the abandoned #FirefoxOS open source project and all of its native apps are written in HTML, CSS and Javascript. That makes it easy to write apps for it - You only need #Palemoon or an older #Firefox version and a USB cable to make your apps run on the phone.

The reason why we chose Searx as backend is quite simple: It offers a public API without the need to register for a token and without being dependent on a single provider.
As long as we don't experience a outage of the whole internet, that should make our app fail-safe.
To give users as much freedom as possible, you have full control over the Searx instances you want to use - You can select one out of currently five from our list or add other instances and delete predefined ones.
We try to offer as much customization opportunities as possible:

• You can select the language you want to get results in
• You can select the source of the autocomplete (or turn it off)
• You can select the mode for safe search (off/moderate/strict)
• You can select the search engines you want to use in the different categories

The app is able to search in all categories offered by the Searx API.
Image search allows you to easily download images from the results by pressing the left button.
Like always we try to offer our software in as many languages as possible - Currently only English and German but help in translating is always welcome.
You can translate the project on our Pootle instance or by forking the project and submitting a properties file using a pull request.
The source code of the app is available on NotABug.
There is no information website about the app currently and there is no Mastodon project account.
If you have feature requests or bug reports, please use the NotABug issues or comment on this blog post.
Currently the app is not available in the official KaiOS Appstore because their seems to be a bug at their publishing platform but you can install is manually by downloading the ZIP from NotABug and installing it using WebIDE (Palemoon/Firefox).

Taking over GGC-Project and RiotChat.de

Nikisoft keeps growing and extending the range of free services!
Free software,free as in freedom,not only free beer,is more than just a way of development - it's a lifestyle.
We feel the spirit of freedom when working on our services,making sure everyone can utilize digital freedom without bigger knowledge about computers.
That's the main reason why we keep open source service providers alive and put even more work on ourselves.
GGC-Project has been a good partner of Nikisoft for years - They've always been the first to deploy our software updates and they've always been providing great free services that we used to make our software or even for personal purposes.
As the leader of GGC-Project wanted to step back in December,it was clear that GGC-Project with all of it's great services and happy users has to be kept alive.
Now he can focus on new projects,creating own open source software himself and maybe some day,things will be reversed and we deploy his software - We will see 😃
During the first weeks in GGC-Project leadership,we improved privacy even further by disabling more logs with a strict no-log policy as ultimate goal.
Additionally we installed some software updates,that finally enables livestreams for #PeerTube ,a thing many people have been waiting for for a long time.
Another thing we already did is bringing some services like #Nitter and #Searx back online which have been offline for months after putting one of the old servers down.
#Invidious and #Bibliogram are still offline unfortunately but we have plans for them,too.
Our vision for GGC-Project is to keep the project with all of its services alive,extend it with other useful open-source projects and keep the community growing.
GGC-Project has always been a community project,it wouldn't have been possible without all the users who have given feedback and the team members who have helped the main administrators,therefore I'm happy to announce that the team stays the same,except the former lead administrator.
We made the transition possible with zero downtime as the infrastructure stays the same,too.
Now that everything has gone well,however,we will evaluate where it makes sense to combine the Nikisoft and GGC-Project infrastructure.
For example,we're planning to move the nikisoft.one mail addresses from a proprietary service provider to the GGC-Project #Mailcow installation and we're looking forward to launch a combined status page which provides an overview about the whole Nikisoft service network.
Shortly after taking over GGC-Project,we received a notice from the leader of RiotChat.de that he wants to hand over the legal responsibility for personal reasons.
RiotChat.de is a chat server in the #Matrix network open for public registrations.
It was build together with Nikisoft from the very beginning to provide a GDPR-compliant messaging solution to the world for free.
The technical operation of RiotChat.de has always been handled by Nikisoft,so nothing changes here.
Also the former leader is still part of the project so basically the only visible difference is the address in the imprint.
With this change in responsibility we feel like it's time to officially list RiotChat.de as one of Nikisofts free privacy-respecting services.
We want to make clear at this point that RiotChat.de is here to stay,we'll keep the current infrastructure which is fully independent from the other services and keep operating RiotChat.de as a separate project to ensure that the service quality stays as high as it's always been.
Especially in recent days when alternative messaging platforms are experiencing a massive growth,we see a big chance in giving Matrix to the masses,making the future of communications independent and decentralized.
That's all for now,thank you very much for going the long way together with us and reading our service update.
If you have any feedback or questions,do not hesitate to contact us - It works as a comment directly below this post using any ActivityPub compatible software.