Contact List & Renaming Contacts

To add a layer to Synapse to allow matrix accounts to store a encrypted contacts list of their matrix friends will be handy and here is what can be done with such as feature.

• Clients can access this contacts list
• Contact lists will be saved on the matrix homeserver, only accessible to the user and can be synced to other clients like messages
• Contact list is encrypted, it cannot be stored unencrypted
• Ability to create contact groups and put contacts into groups for organization
• Contact list will save the following fields (Name, Matrix address, groups)
• Ability to save public and private rooms in contacts
• Room in contacts will have the following fields (Name, matrix room id/hashtag, groups)

By having contacts, you can set a name you will know to a friend who has an obscure name and matrix address such as cyberguy2001 to something like John Smith that you will know or renaming a room name to something more familiar. Additional contact fields could be added such as email, notes, birthday, anniversary, phone number, etc but I think the bare minimum that is needed is Name, Matrix address/room and groups.

This will mean contacts will be kept more private since using a contacts application on a phone which people use to save their emails and phone numbers can be read by other apps, by having a built in matrix contacts system that does backup to your account and is encrypted will be a more private answer.

The issue names no files, tests, or entry points; begin by locating the Matrix specification sections covering account data, synchronization, encryption, and contacts. Done means the scope and protocol behavior for encrypted contacts, groups, rooms, and renaming are specified well enough to implement.