--- title: Pidgin 3.0 Alpha 3 2.97.0 has been released | daily.dev description: Pidgin 3.0 Alpha 3, versioned 2.97.0, has shipped as a developer-focused snapshot not intended for end users. Highlights include new presence/status icons,... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/pidgin-3-0-alpha-3-2-97-0-has-been-released-yiafqvzcn twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Pidgin 3.0 Alpha 3 2.97.0 has been released | daily.dev og:description: Pidgin 3.0 Alpha 3, versioned 2.97.0, has shipped as a developer-focused snapshot not intended for end users. Highlights include new presence/status icons,... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/pidgin-3-0-alpha-3-2-97-0-has-been-released-yiafqvzcn og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/yiaFQvzCN.png og:image:alt: Pidgin 3.0 Alpha 3 2.97.0 has been released og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Pidgin 3.0 Alpha 3 2.97.0 has been released **[Lobsters](https://daily.dev/sources/lobsters)** · 9 min read · 1 upvotes · 1 comments ## Summary Pidgin 3.0 Alpha 3, versioned 2.97.0, has shipped as a developer-focused snapshot not intended for end users. Highlights include new presence/status icons, automatic account reconnection, a new PurpleHistory API for message storage, a separate plugins dialog, and removal of the in-development tag from the Zulip protocol plugin. The release is distributed via SourceForge, a new Fastly CDN, and soon Flathub Beta. Alpha 4 is scheduled for 2026-10-29 as version 2.98.0, with the project shifting from quarterly to monthly release cadence. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What's new in Pidgin 3.0 Alpha 3, version 2.97.0? Pidgin 3.0 Alpha 3, officially versioned 2.97.0, adds new presence/status icons by Hylke Bons, automatic account reconnection with a one-minute retry timer that continues indefinitely, a new PurpleHistory class for representing conversation messages, a standalone plugins dialog, and removal of the in-development tag from the Zulip protocol so it now appears by default when creating accounts. _Developers tracking Pidgin's rebuild toward 3.0 can follow release details like this on daily.dev._ ### When is Pidgin 3.0 Alpha 4 scheduled for release? Alpha 4 is scheduled for October 29, 2026, with a version number of 2.98.0. The project is shifting from quarterly to monthly release cadence as it nears a final 3.0.0 release, choosing the last Thursday of each month for releases since that was historically their release night. _Anyone watching Pidgin's alpha cadence can keep up with upcoming milestones via daily.dev._ ### Is the Zulip protocol stable in Pidgin yet? The in-development tag has been removed from Pidgin's Zulip protocol plugin, meaning it now shows up by default in the protocol list when creating a new account. Direct messages are considered stable enough for this change, though channel support and other features are still a long way from complete. _Developers evaluating chat protocol support can track updates like this via daily.dev._ ## Community take How the wider developer community reacted, aggregated from 2 discussions and 8 comments across hackernews, lobsters (as of 2026-10-02). **TL;DR:** Discussion centers on Pidgin's long-standing multi-protocol ambitions, with excitement about reviving broad protocol support tempered by frustration that it no longer covers widely-used closed platforms like Discord, Slack, or Signal out of the box. **Sentiment:** 30% positive · 45% mixed · 25% skeptical **The case for** - Some are enthusiastic about the idea of reverse-engineering or building open APIs for proprietary chat platforms to integrate with Pidgin. - One commenter is curious to test Signal support via Pidgin. - There's interest in helping build protocol plugins once the new API stabilizes. **The pushback** - Proprietary protocol plugins are no longer bundled in the main repo, which some find limiting. - The number of protocols Pidgin actually supports feels like it's shrinking compared to its heyday. - Reverse-engineering closed chat apps is seen as an ongoing cat-and-mouse game likely to produce poor UX. - The publicly listed plugin list is outdated, built for Pidgin 2 and incompatible with Pidgin 3. **By community** - hackernews (mixed): No substantive discussion was present to characterize a take. - lobsters (mixed): People welcome the open-protocol revival but are split between optimism for future plugin integrations and disappointment that modern closed platforms aren't supported. **Hottest debate:** Whether it's realistically feasible to reverse-engineer or wrap closed-source chat platforms into open APIs versus it being a losing cat-and-mouse battle. **Open questions** - Will proprietary protocol plugins be included in official releases or kept entirely separate? - How will the new plugin API evolve once stabilized for third-party protocol development? **Highlights** > We have always reverse engineered the proprietary protocols, we're just not putting them in our main repo any more. We haven't figured out if they'll be in our releases directly, but we're keeping them separate for a number of reasons. You might also be interested in https://discourse.imfreedom.org/t/purple-3-pidgin-3-gaim-3-plugins/395 Also you might want to look at https://spectrum.im/ and https://slidge.im/. > — [grim on lobsters · 7 points](https://lobste.rs/s/ccxvh6/pidgin_3_0_alpha_3_2_97_0_has_been_released#c_7ahn88) > the number of useful protocols supported by pidgin seem to be dropping IMO I loved this app back in the way when I could do XMPP, IRC and AIM. The fragmentation of chat is tough these days. I now need hangouts, discord, signal and slack, of which pidgin supports none. > — [sigmonsez on lobsters · 1 points, 1 comments](https://lobste.rs/s/ccxvh6/pidgin_3_0_alpha_3_2_97_0_has_been_released#c_wenabr) > i'm not sure it's that easy, every chat app is closed source for a reason. It will devolved into cat and mouse games with bad UX > — [sigmonsez on lobsters · 1 points](https://lobste.rs/s/ccxvh6/pidgin_3_0_alpha_3_2_97_0_has_been_released#c_82gv6n) > This is awesome. I'd like to see some innovative methods at turning proprietary chat apps into isolated backend interfaces, developing them as standalone API's... and integrating them seamlessly into pidgin like the old days back when XMPP was the dominant open standard. . . . this would be a forced hijacking of closed-source platforms, either that, or reverse engineer the closed-source clients, and implement a standard open API, so forcefully rebuilding them with XMPP support, that'd be ideal > — [radmind on lobsters · 4 points, 1 comments](https://lobste.rs/s/ccxvh6/pidgin_3_0_alpha_3_2_97_0_has_been_released#c_brkob3) > That plugin list on pidgin.im is all for Pidgin 2 and aren't compatible with Pidgin 3. > — [grim on lobsters · 2 points, 1 comments](https://lobste.rs/s/ccxvh6/pidgin_3_0_alpha_3_2_97_0_has_been_released#c_7b4cgc) **Source threads** - [hackernews](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49924050) · 1 points · 0 comments - [lobsters](https://lobste.rs/s/ccxvh6/pidgin_3_0_alpha_3_2_97_0_has_been_released) · 22 points · 8 comments ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@akkitto** · 0 upvotes > Pidgin actually still exists? 🤔 ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Pidgin 3.0 Experimental 5 \(2.94.0\) has been released\!](https://daily.dev/posts/pidgin-3-0-experimental-5-2-94-0-has-been-released--jrbvl2uqc) · Lobsters · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Gaim 3 Is In Development For Restoring The Original Gaim Instant Messaging App In GTK4](https://daily.dev/posts/gaim-3-is-in-development-for-restoring-the-original-gaim-instant-messaging-app-in-gtk4-itvhsrghw) · Phoronix · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Gaim](https://daily.dev/posts/gaim-q8uyze59m) · Lobsters · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Offpunk 3.0 "A Community is Born" Release](https://daily.dev/posts/offpunk-3-0-a-community-is-born-release-pqwyjbnp4) · Hacker News · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#open-source](https://daily.dev/tags/open-source), [#linux](https://daily.dev/tags/linux) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/pidgin-3-0-alpha-3-2-97-0-has-been-released-yiafqvzcn) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Pidgin 3.0 Alpha 3 2.97.0 has been released","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/pidgin-3-0-alpha-3-2-97-0-has-been-released-yiafqvzcn","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/pidgin-3-0-alpha-3-2-97-0-has-been-released-yiafqvzcn"},"datePublished":"2026-10-02T07:23:17.514Z","dateModified":"2026-10-02T16:23:51.465Z","description":"Pidgin 3.0 Alpha 3, versioned 2.97.0, has shipped as a developer-focused snapshot not intended for end users. 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