ORTelegram

An ultra-light Telegram client for iOS 12.5.7 / iPhone 6 (jailbreak). It inherits the architecture and engineering decisions of the ORClient project.

Stack

Layer	Choice
Language	Objective-C
UI	Programmatic UIKit, manual frame-based layout, no Storyboard / Auto Layout
Protocol	TDLib via the JSON interface (td_send / td_receive)
Storage	Built-in TDLib database (no custom SQLite layer needed)
Audio	opusfile → PCM → WAV → AVAudioPlayer
Video / GIF / video notes	AVPlayer (all of it is mp4/h264, using the hardware decoder)
Build	Theos, iphone:clang:latest:12.0, arm64, .deb

Bundle ID: vip.encrize.ortelegram

v0.1 features

Included: private chats and groups, text, emoji, photos, videos, GIFs, voice messages, video notes, read markers, dark theme, reply, forwarding and paged history.

Intentionally excluded: calls, animated stickers (rendered as emoji), reactions, themes, folders, secret chats, polls, web previews, and premium animations.

Build

# 0. one time: keys from my.telegram.org
cp Sources/TGSecrets.h.example Sources/TGSecrets.h
$EDITOR Sources/TGSecrets.h

# 1. dependencies (one time)
./build.sh deps

# 2. device smoke test BEFORE UI work
./scripts/smoke_test.sh 192.168.0.101

# 3. application
python3 make_assets.py
./build.sh package
./build.sh install 192.168.0.101

Critical pitfalls

1. Signing and network access (carried over from ORClient)

ORTelegram_CODESIGN_FLAGS = -Sentitlements.plist -Ivip.encrize.ortelegram

Without -I<bundle id>, ldid adds the .unsigned suffix and CommCenter blocks network access by PID (NEPathEvent Wi-Fi Blocked). That is fatal here because TDLib keeps a persistent socket. After installation, always use uicache -a, not -p.

2. TDLib cross-build is two-phase

First run the host build with --target prepare_cross_compiling (TL code generation), then the target build. Without the first phase, the second one fails because td_api.cpp is missing.

3. Memory

• Use the first size ≥ 320 px from photo.sizes, not the original photo
• Decode through ImageIO with kCGImageSourceThumbnailMaxPixelSize, not UIImage
• Message window in RAM: kPageSize=30, kMaxRowsInMemory=100
• Cell height is cached in TGMessage.cachedHeight, estimatedRowHeight = 0
• Chat list updates are batched with a 0.15 s timer (same idea as SSE in ORClient)

4. Zero-width characters

./build.sh package strips U+200B / BOM before every build automatically.

Structure

Makefile                     Theos application.mk
control / entitlements.plist
build.sh                     deps | clean | package | install <ip>
make_assets.py               icons via Pillow
cmake/ios-arm64-theos.cmake  cross-build toolchain
scripts/
  env.sh                     shared variables + clang wrappers
  build_openssl.sh
  build_opus.sh              libogg + libopus + opusfile
  build_tdlib.sh             two phases + .a merge
  smoke_test.sh              TDLib device check
Sources/
  main.m
  TGSecrets.h.example        api_id / api_hash
  TGClient.h/.m              TDLib bridge, @extra routing, file downloads
  TGAppDelegate.h/.m
  TGAuthViewController.h/.m  phone → code → 2FA
  TGChatStore.h/.m           chat list assembly from updates
  TGChatListViewController.h/.m
  TGChatViewController.h/.m  history, sending, media playback
  TGMessageCell.h/.m         model + manually laid out cell
  TGMediaCache.h/.m          ImageIO thumbnails + LRU
  TGVoicePlayer.h/.m         Opus → WAV