talk-android doesn't work without access to google.com

[SlavikCA]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
We're using Nextcloud in the network environment, where we don't have access to google.com.
TALK works, when I use it from the browser.
But when I use Android app:

• I'm getting red banner at the top, saying "No connection to server".
• When I try to send message, I'm getting red warning "Connection lost - Sent messages are queued"

Describe the solution you'd like
Enable Android app to work even with restricted network connectivity.

Additional context
I found that banner is shown based on the code in the ScheduledMessagesActivity class:

        val isOnline by networkMonitor.isOnline.collectAsStateWithLifecycle()

which relies on the class NetworkMonitorImpl, which uses android.net.ConnectivityManager and android.net.NetworkCapabilities

I tested with version 24.0.0 RC1, nextcloud-talk-24.0.0RC1.apk

[SlavikCA]

Based on ChatGPT response:

NetworkMonitorImpl does not poll itself; it relies on Android’s ConnectivityManager callbacks and maps those events to true/false online state. The only extra logic is that in onCapabilitiesChanged it uses NET_CAPABILITY_VALIDATED to confirm real internet validation.

NET_CAPABILITY_VALIDATED is an Android network capability flag that means:

• the network is not just connected at link level (Wi‑Fi/cellular), Android has actually verified it has working internet access.

So if a Wi‑Fi is connected but behind a captive portal (hotel/login page) or has no real internet, it may be onAvailable but not VALIDATED yet. That’s why it’s a stronger signal for “truly online.”

So, can you please, add ability to skip that check?

[mahibi]

Thank you to bring this up @SlavikCA 👍
We plan to replace this check.
It should track the connection to the nextcloud instance itself so the checks will succeed in a local network without internet access.

The Nextcloud files app has this implementated in https://github.com/nextcloud/android/blob/33939482177190dffd7095fa84fce03f8cfa21ee/app/src/main/java/com/nextcloud/client/network/ConnectivityServiceImpl.java but according to the devs this is also outdated/buggy.

(PS: Replacing the google url's with an own url seems to be impossible without root access so that's not an option)

[mahibi]

new/fixed implementation for android files: nextcloud/android#16232