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Chats, Channels & Threads Troubleshooting

Chats, Channels & Threads Troubleshooting

“Can't Decrypt” Errors on Messages

Most often, such errors occur due to temporary network issues, when the synchronization of user encryption keys between servers or between the client app and the server was temporarily disrupted.

How to Resolve This?

If the app and the server are up to date, the issue may resolve itself after some time thanks to the built-in key repair mechanism.
⚠️ We strongly recommend that you update the app to the latest versions. This will prevent most new issues with encryption keys caused by bugs in old versions.
If the error persists, restart the app on the device where the error appears: on your phone, swipe it from the list of open apps; in the web and desktop apps, press Ctrl (Cmd) + R. You don’t need to end the session.

Nothing Helped?

If the error persists after a restart or repeats on all devices, contact your organization's support or eXpress Support: Support will check and restore your encryption keys. After the keys are restored, restart the app on your phone. In the web and desktop apps, end the session and log back into the app instead of restarting: this removes the old keys from your computer. If you recently reset your password, old messages are encrypted with previous keys and cannot be recovered — more details.
For Administrators: Checking Encryption Keys
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eCTS

Diagnostics

If a user has the “Can't Decrypt” error on all devices or restarting the application did not help, collect diagnostics:
User's HUID Open the user's active profile in the admin panel, copy the HUID, and send it to eXpress support.
User's keys of type rts from
RTS
 This information can only be provided by eXpress support.
User's keys of type cts from
RTS
 This information can only be provided by eXpress support.
User's keys of type cts from
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eCTS
 Open the user's profile in the
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eCTS
admin panel, click the Keys button at the top of the screen. Use the search (Ctrl/Cmd + F) for the word “cts” to find keys of type cts. Copy the key ID, issue date, and version number, and send them to support.
Chat JSON of the problematic chat
Check the cts_key_id key 		Open the user's profile in the
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/
eCTS
admin panel, go to the Chats section, find the problematic chat, and click Chat JSON. Copy all the content of the opened page and send it to eXpress support.
Two message_new events (sender and recipient) of the problematic message
Check the sender_key_id key 		Open the user's profile in the
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/
eCTS
admin panel, go to the Chats section, find the problematic chat, and open Events Table. Find an event of type message_new (not routing_changed!) and copy its content.
⚠️ If the chat is inter-server, request Chat JSON and message_new from each server where this chat exists.

Solution

The key cts with the highest version number and the latest issue date is considered current. If the key is not current, fixing the chat cache (repair) may help. For this, there is a Recovering Keys in Chats button in the user's profile (available in version 3.23 and above) or Troubleshooting under the user list (available in version 3.24 and above). They allow fixing keys on the current
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, even for users from another
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.

If you have been provided with a script that fixes keys, the command Messaging.Troubleshooting.Chats.repair_user("user_huid") can be used for multiple users.

Sync is Stuck, Messages are not Sent or not Visible in One Chat

Error messages may appear: “Updating” or “You can't send messages because you are not a member of this channel anymore.”

How to Resolve This?

Try the following steps:
  • If the chat is a group chat, try adding a new user to the chat or assign one of the participants as an administrator. This action may refresh the chat state and resolve the issue.
  • If the chat is personal, create a group chat with the same participants and check if the messages are visible. If the messages are displayed, delete the old personal chat for both participants and recreate it via contacts.
  • CTS
    eCTS
    If the issue is related to trusted servers (e.g., messages are not visible between users of certain servers in one organization), contact the corporate server administrator through your organization's support or eXpress support.

Nothing Helped?

If the described actions do not help, contact your organization's support team or eXpress support for assistance.
For Administrators: Assisting a User with One Problematic Chat
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eCTS

Diagnostics

Most often, the issue arises due to the chat being in an inactive state (e.g., after an incorrect user logout or server deletion from
RTS
). To resolve this, the chat ID is required. It can be obtained in several ways:
  • If the chat is inter-server (cts1+cts2 or rts+cts), and the chat is available in the admin panel on one of the servers, copy its ID from there.
  • If the chat is on one server and is not displayed in the admin panel (inactive chats are hidden), use the web/desktop application:
    • Open Settings > About and click the logo several times to open the engineering menu.
    • Enable the Debug Info toggle and close the engineering menu.
    • In the problematic chat, right-click any message and select Debug Info.
    • In the panel on the right, find the groupChatId value — this is the chat ID.
    If the chat is empty for all participants, try making a call in this chat, download the state from any participant's side, and find the groupChatId by the participants' HUID.
Although inactive chats are not displayed in the chat list in the admin panel, they can be accessed via direct navigation:
  • Open any other chat in the admin panel.
  • In the browser's address bar, replace the chat ID with the previously obtained groupChatId.
  • The desired chat will open with the parameter Active: False.

Solution

If the chat is displayed as inactive in the admin panel, perform a chat repair using its ID. This will activate the chat and make it visible in the admin panel.
Instructions and consultations for fixing a single chat can be obtained from eXpress support.

The command Messaging.Troubleshooting.Chats.resync_chat_servers("chat_ID") in the script from support can be called multiple times with different chat IDs if needed.


If the chat was found in the admin panel, wait for the sync to complete so that the chat loads in the client. If the backend version is below 3.7, update it. If the sync does not occur, see the next issue.

Sync is Stuck, Messages are not Sent or not Visible in All Chats

Lite
CTS
eCTS
In all chats, error messages may appear: “Updating” or “You can't send messages because you are not member of this channel anymore.” Also, in this case, a corporate user (blue) in the routing of participants in all their chats may be incorrectly displayed as a public user (green). Another sign: the last “online” status of the problematic user may be far in the past, even though they were recently active.

How to Resolve This?

To resolve the issue, it is necessary to fix the chat cache on the corporate server where the error occurred. This can be done through your organization's support (if the server belongs to it) or through eXpress support.
For Administrators: Fixing the Chat Cache
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eCTS

Diagnostics

Check the Conn type value of the user in the admin panel of their home server:
  • Open the user's profile in the
    CTS
    /
    eCTS
    admin panel.
  • Click the Chats button at the top of the screen.
  • Open any chat and click the Users button.
  • Find the user in the list and check the Conn type value.

Solution

If the Conn type does not match the actual state (e.g., rts is displayed instead of cts), perform a repair on the user's server.
Instructions and consultations for fixing the chat cache (repair) can be obtained from eXpress support. For repair, there is a Restore Keys in Chats button in the local user's
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/
eCTS
profile (version 3.23 and above), and for a user from another server, there is a Troubleshooting button under the user list (version 3.24 and above).

The command Messaging.Troubleshooting.Chats.repair_user("HUID_of_the_problematic_user") in the script from support can be called for multiple users if needed.

If the Conn type is correct, and you cannot resolve the issue, collect information on the issues described above and contact eXpress support.

No Messages in Specific Chats on All Devices

Were You Added to a Chat and Can't See the History?

Messages may not be visible if the participant was just added due to the end-to-end encryption. When end-to-end encryption is disabled, previous messages are not re-encrypted and therefore won't become visible, as they remain encrypted with the previous keys.

Can't Even See New Messages, but Notifications Are Coming?

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If messages are missing in one or several group chats, but notifications are received, and the issue occurs on all devices (while other participants see the chats normally), contact your organization's support team to fix your chats.
For Administrators: Fixing the Epoch in a Chat
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eCTS
 In backend version 3.10, the chat storage structure was changed: now their history is divided into epochs. The issue is resolved by clearing the end_at value of the epoch.

Diagnostics

Signs of the issue:
  • Backend version 3.10 and above.
  • Chat history is missing in one or several group chats.
  • Occurs on all devices.
  • In the epoch query output (see below), there are no epochs with an empty end_at, i.e., all epochs are closed.
  • Real-time events are displayed (sent a test message — saw it), but after re-logging into the app or reloading the page, they disappear + the event has a user key.
Additional signs (optional):
  • Other participants see the chats normally.
  • Push notifications are received.

Solution

Instructions and consultations for fixing the epoch can be obtained from eXpress support.
CTS
ETS

Unable to Join a Chat by Link, or the Added Participant Is Not in the Chat

Symptoms: error when following an invite link; after being added, the participant cannot be found in the chat participant list; the chat cannot be removed from the list.

What to do?

  • Restart the app on the device where the problem occurs.
  • If that didn't help — contact your organization's support or eXpress support, attaching a screenshot of the error (if possible, from the developer console if the issue is in the web or desktop version).
For Administrators: Unable to Add a Participant to a Chat, or the Chat Won't Open After Adding Possible reasons:
  • The invited participant's account is inactive on the server where they are registered — check it yourself if the server is yours, or check with eXpress support whether the invited user's account is active on their “home” server;
  • The corporate server of one of the participants is severely outdated or temporarily unavailable, which prevents the chat from synchronizing between servers. Keep your corporate server version up to date — an outdated or unavailable server of one participant prevents chat synchronization for all others;
If everything is fine on your users' side and on your server, contact eXpress support to remove the participant from the chat or restore their access.

Messages Sent in a Bot-Created Chat Hang with an Error

The issue may be caused by desynchronization of keys on the server and in client apps (DLPS key).

How to Resolve This?

To resolve this, contact your organization's support team or eXpress support.
For Administrators: Fixing DLPS Key Synchronization
CTS
eCTS
 Restarting the messaging container will reset the cache and update the keys. Follow these steps:
  1. 1. In the admin panel of the corporate server where the bot is located, collect the logs of the messaging container.
  2. 2. Reproduce the issue in the client application. If the keys_error error appears in the container logs, restart the messaging container using the command:
    cd /opt/express && dpl --dc restart messaging

Messages are Displayed as Undelivered, although the Recipient on iOS Receives Them

The sender sees messages as undelivered (with one checkmark), although the recipient on iOS has read them.

How to Resolve This?

To fix this, the recipient on iOS needs to:
  1. Open Settings on iOS.
  2. Go to Notifications.
  3. Find the app and enable at least one of the notification display options: Lock Screen, Notification Center, Banners.
If notifications are disabled, messages will be displayed as undelivered to the sender. This is because on iOS, the delivery receipt is sent through the push notification mechanism — without permission for notifications, the receipt is not sent.

Incorrect Time in Messages

Messages have incorrect timestamps, e.g., replies are displayed before the original messages.

How to Resolve This?

Check time settings on the device.

Empty Chat List on iOS after Updating the App

If after updating the app on iOS the chat list is empty and loads slowly, the issue may be related to the app's data storage.

How to Resolve This?

Contact your organization's Support or eXpress Support: Support will help you recreate the application storage. You don't need to reinstall the app.
For Advanced Users: Collecting Logs for Diagnostics Collect general logs in the mobile app on iOS after clearing them. In the logs, look for the error:
Type: REALM ERROR Message: can't instantiate migrated encrypted Realm, will create in-memory Realm instead Payload: exception: Migration is required due to the following errors:- Property 'Attachment.deepLinkData' has been added.- Property 'Chat.positionEventInsertedAt' has been added.- Property 'Message.buttonsAutoAdjust' has been added.- Property 'Message.sendStateRaw' has been added.- Property 'Message.needResend' has been removed.
The issue is related to the app's database (Realm). To recreate it without reinstalling, contact Support.

Error “Chat is not Available on Desktop. Open Chat on Mobile Device”

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This error occurs if one of the chat participants has enabled privacy mode with the Mobile-only access setting.

How to Resolve This?

To fix it, open the chat card, go to Confidential Mode, and disable Mobile-only access.

“Threads Enabled Error” or “Threads Feature is not Supported”

Contact your organization's support team or the eXpress support.
For Administrators: Resolving Disabled Threads Issue
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eCTS
 If a chat or channel has a participant with a backend version below 2.8, an error will appear when trying to enable threads.
Ensure that all participants have server software version 2.8 or higher. If outdated information about a participant with an old backend is cached in the chat, try adding another user to the chat or making one of the participants an administrator to refresh the chat cache.

Some Characters Disappear in Messages after Sending

Special characters such as `*_ are used for text formatting.

How to Resolve This?

To send text containing such symbols without distortion, format it as code (more details).