Frequently Asked Questions
1. How do I install the mobile app for iPhone or Android.
You can search your app store for METAL Connect or visit the appropriate link directly.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/metal-men-connect/id6504414768
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=men.metal.connect
2. How do I update my profile picture?
In the Profile Manager. You can access it from Settings / Profile / Edit Profile or directly from the M homescreen (center of the app at the bottom). When you upload a new photo, it can take 5-10 minutes to take effect across our systems. Be patient and refresh after a few minutes to confirm the change.
3. How do I join a group?
You join a group from the search box at the top-left of the Chat module. You'll need to know the name of the group, or at least a few characters, to find the group. Once you've found it, select it and choose [Join group]. 
4. Why am I notified for every message in every group?
We recommend you mute notifications in all groups you've joined, including (and ESPECIALLY) the All Member Discussion which is our noisiest. By muting notifications, you'll only be notified on replies to your messages or if a member tags you in a message to the group.
All Member Discussion should be muted by default but we've seen cases where muting did not take effect when the account was provisioned. And any new group you join will NOT be muted by default. You will need to do it manually, and should. A group is muted when you see the bell icon with a line through it. To mute a group, select the chat details from the group icon or the ¦ menu in the upper right and select [Mute chat]. When a chat is already muted, the menu will say [Unmute chat].
5. Why can't I paste an image into the chat?
For now, images can only be added using the + button when composing a message. So this means you must already have the image in a file on your device. This works great on the mobile app since pasting images is not common on phones and images reside in the photo gallery. This is less common on desktop computers, so you'll need to make sure the image is accessible on your hard drive before sharing it. Pasting images has been requested of the open source community that builds this messaging system. If they don't do the work soon, we may be able to do it ourselves.
6. How do I share a video in the chat from my phone? I can only select images (on iPhone).
Video sharing is easy on Android using the + button as Android allows users to browse all files on the phone, including videos. iPhone does not and only images are exposed when Send Image from the + button.
To share a video from an iPhone, you'll need to push the video to the METAL Connect app from your photo library rather than pull it into the app from the + button. There are three steps:
- Select the video in your library and Share to the Metal Connect app as the target.
- Select a user or group to share to.
- Send the video.
7. How do I create a group?
Any member can create a group. Select the [+ Chat] button to create a new chat. Then select [Create group]. Give your group a name, add an icon (any image you can find will work), and invite other members (see next FAQ for details). Groups are private by default. That means they're not available via search and no one can join them without an invite. This is great for private discussions between a few members. But if you want a public group that's open to all members, you must flip the "Group is public" switch to enabled. This will also enable "Group can be found via search" which you definitely want enabled so other members can find your group. Note: we've disabled encryption so it's always disabled and can't be changed. 
8. How do I invite members to join a group I've created?
Any member can join any public group using search. See "3. How do I join a group" above. If you're creating a group, you can invite members to join – either as you're initially setting up the group or at any time in the future. However, it's MUCH easier to invite them on initial setup. When creating a group, you'll be prompted to invite members. You can add as many as you'd like. You'll see a list in the dialog box. That's populated with members you've already interacted with in chats. You can access the entire member list via the search box labeled "Invite contact to group" in the Invite interface. 
Once you've created the group, inviting members gets more difficult ... but can be done if you follow these instructions. First, select the group in the chat list so you're viewing the messages. Then type /invite. As you can see from this screenshot, this is a command that is asking for a parameter - the Matrix ID of the member you want to add to the group. (Matrix is the name of the messaging system we're using to power the chat.)
You can find the Matrix ID for any member from their contact card. It's generally in the format @firstname.lastname:metal.men. However we have a few guys who share the same first and last name, so those are appended with a digit. Best to look it up first by searching for the member in the main search box. 
Once you've invited a member (/invite @firstname.lastname:metal.men and then [Enter]), you will not see any visual feedback that the invitation was sent. You can confirm by looking at the participant list for your group.