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What is changing? Element Classic vs Element Pro Mobile Apps

Element has been developing their new mobile apps under the codename of Element X, and has gotten to a stage where everybody should be migrating to the new app now. The Element Classic app will be sunset on 31.12.2026 - on this date the app will be removed from the stores and will receive no updates. Existing installations will keep working as long as they are not deinstalled from the device.

Which is the right app?

Shortly, if you're an Element customer, you should use the Element Pro app:

To clarify what you currently see in the stores when you search for Element:

  • Element Classic is the old app that will be sunset and removed from the stores.
  • Element X is the new app, free and fully open source to be used by consumers with their friends, family or community.
  • Element Pro is the variant of the new app meant for teams and organizations who are Element's customers using Element Server Suite Pro.

What to expect from the new Element Pro mobile app?

  • Way better overall user experience, performance and platform native UI.
  • Matrix-native & end-to-end encrypted calls (including group calls) with Element Call.
  • Enterprise features such as central administration that work in conjunction with ESS Pro.
  • Parity and consistency between iOS and Android apps.
  • Regular updates of new features and enhancements.

What is different in the new app?

  • Verification of the device (session) is mandatory when you sign in. This is not specific to the new app, but a security enhancement that will be adopted by all Matrix apps. See more in the blog post here. In Element Classic verification was optional and could be postponed.
  • Element Pro uses Element Call for voice and video calls (both 1:1 and group calls), in the Element Classic app a Jitsi integration was used for group calls. Note that the new and old calling solutions are not interoperable.
  • The management of the user account and the user's devices are not built into the app. There is still a menu item for them in the Settings, but it will launch a website (provided by Matrix Authentication Service) for these functionalities.

What is missing in the new app?

We have carried over all important features. There are few that either in progress or will be delivered soon:

  • Support for Threads is in progress and needs to be activated in Labs.
  • Widgets are not yet supported.
  • There are no /slash commands.

How to plan your migration?

  1. The new apps assume the Matrix 2.0 stack, including Matrix Authentication Service (MAS). As a minimum, you need to migrate your ESS deployment to use MAS (if you aren't using it yet). The Classic apps work with MAS, too. Hence you can just migrate to MAS first and then start the migration process to the new mobile app.

For more information on the migration to MAS, see the migration guides for ESS Classic and ESS Pro, respectively: ESS Classic: Migration to Matrix Authentication Service (MAS) and ESS Pro: Migration to Matrix Authentication Service (MAS).

  1. There will be an option in the Classic app to communicate the need to install and start using the Element Pro app via a custom in-app banner. This is not blocking the migration as the communication can easily be done also via email or messaging to the user.

  2. The users can start using Element Pro without stopping using the current Element Classic at once. They can be used in parallel.

    1. We assume that anyone who is migrating, has an Element Classic app running on their mobile device already, so we have made things easy for you — the Element Pro app will automatically pre-populate your account provider (homeserver) and username, as well it will automatically verify the device/session if your Element Classic device/session is verified.
    2. If you do not have Element Classic running on your mobile device, then you just use the standard sign-in flow in which you have to choose your account provider, enter username, password and verify the device/session (by using another device that is verified or entering your recovery key).
    3. If you want to provision the account server and username for your users, please see this article on how it can be done with a deep link or MDM.

  3. Because the calling solutions in the Classic and Pro apps are not interoperable, we recommend the following approach as a starting point. Please ask for more specific guidance if this approach can not be applied in your scenario.

    1. Ask the users to download Element Pro and sign in to see if everything works, but ask them not to use it for calling yet.
    2. Give the users a few days so everyone can get their Element Pro running.
    3. Tell the users to start using Element Pro for calling.
    4. If everything works well, sign out from Element Classic and deinstall the app.