🌺 Frolic!

A modern client for F-list's F-Chat

💾 Downloads

The latest release is 0.8 prerelease 3.

Downloads are found on the Releases page. See each releases’ new features on its release page, or view the full Changelog to see all improvements. Our sub-1.0 release number indicates that some features may be in a state of flux as they are continuously iterated upon. Prereleases exist to test changes and gather feedback from a wider audience. If you use a prerelease, please report your experience on the issue tracker.

While Frolic doesn’t mess with your logs, it’s always wise to backup important files before installing or upgrading software. Your logs from the vanilla F-Chat desktop client and from F-Chat Rising are located at %appdata%\fchat\data on Windows and in ~/.config/fchat/data on Linux. Frolic continues to use this location so you can continue your conversations right where you left off.

🌺 Come Frolic!

Frolic is an F-Chat client developed for simplicity and stability. It’s based on the feature set of the legacy client Rising with a focus on smoothing down the rough edges and providing obvious, non-intrusive improvements to having a positive experience when chatting with others.

I am a technically minded person, so the improvements will be focused on usability and performance, but guided by comfort. What I want most from my F-Chat experience is a homely and familiar place to settle into, chat with my friends, and make new ones. And that’s what I’m making Folic to be - no shocks or surprises, no complicated UI - just a predicatable place that lets me have fun with my friends.

Frolic re-uses the default fchat settings and directory so it’s easy to pick up where you left off - whether you’re coming from the official app or updating from Rising. That level of reliability is important, and is a staple of Frolic’s design ethos. Similiarly, there will be no grant UI overhaul - just simple tweaks here and there to make the application easier to manage.

Frolic is not shiny - deliberately so. We do not ship weekly updates with questionable features. Most of Frolic’s updates are behind the scenes - fixing unusual bugs or performance issues that have plagued its codebase for years. However, new features are always a possibility if they mesh with Frolic’s design goals of enhancing interactivity with other chat members. If you feel something is missing that would fit Frolic, please request it on our issue tracker.


Frolic is an extended version of the now-defunct F-Chat Rising which itself was an extended version of the original F-Chat 3.0 client. You’ll connect with the same F-List, same players, and same channels you’re already used to, but with advanced features and quality of life improvements.

There may be some residual features from Rising that do not fit well with Frolic’s design goals. These features will be adjusted over time, so please provide feedback on any changes to features you love.

For help installing, refer to the original installation instructions.

Key differences from the original F-Chat client

  1. Profile matching automatically compares your profile with others to determine with whom you are compatible.
  2. Automatic ad posting repeatedly posts and rotates ads on selected channels.
  3. Link previews popup shows a preview of an image / video when you hover your mouse over a link.
  4. Caching speeds up profile loads and other actions.
  5. Smart filters let you choose what kind of ads and posts you see in the chat.

To learn more about Frolic, here are some pages you might want to visit:

In depth documentation about Frolic can be found on the Frolic wiki. If there are any questions or you feel documentation is poor on a topic; please file a bug report - I’m constantly trying to figure out where the most help is needed!

License

Frolic is free software! That means you may copy, modify, and distribute it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License. Please see the license for details.

If you’re interested in working with Frolic’s code

Development details and the Project Goals/Code of Conduct are what you should read.