this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2023
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With the open nature of the fediverse I actually see some potential here. Right now there isn’t a single messenger that I truly like. They’re all just different shades of okay or worse.
What's wrong with Signal?
Mobile-first, requires phone number, proprietary server-side, google play market.
Desktop app works fine tbh.
Phone numbers required for now. Usernames potentially on the horizon per sms removal update.
Server side code is open source and available at Signal Server Github.
Also available on iOS. Android has an apk download so you dont need Google Play.
Seems you edited your comment to add new points. Lemmy doesn't notify users about changes to comments/posts they replied to, unfortunately.
Good to know. I prefer to never use my phone number for sign ups.
They seem to put a lot of effort to centralize their app though - you can't setup your own server and talk to other signal users.
Yes, but you need to figure out how to verify signature keys on android + manual updates, it's just inconvinent if you compare it to F-Droid Signal devs so dislike for no good reason.
You still need to install a mobile app first. On XMPP I can create an account even if I don't own a smartphone.
Does XMPP allow e2ee group video calls?
Yes, but its early days and only few clients support it. You can try it with Dino.
I dunno, never used video calls outside of college (and hell I hate that). I heard Jitsi can do it though, again never tried myself.
I don't see the problem with that, it's a phone messenger first.
Well, I'm desktop-first kind of person, so it's a downside for me.
Sure, definitely use what works for you. I do like it as a phone messenger that happens to have a functional desktop client (Telegram and surprisingly, Whatsapp do have better desktop clients).
Signal is great, but the core developer is inherently against federation with his own product. It's just one giant centralized service.
It feels like I'm doing shady backdoor deals. It's only for the people I conspire with and really close friends...
In which we just end up using regular old sms anyway lol.
Signal is too darn secure. Much better to have one dude who probably knows how to use a crypto library build the whole thing over again with a coat of ActivityPub on top
Matrix (element I guess)?
Doesn‘t quite have the userbase at least for me. I‘m only using it for one work contact and that’s it. I also heard from others who use Element a bit more that it’s quite buggy, although I haven’t experienced that myself yet.
I just don't think that new msging app will have a larger userbase than matrix. I hope I'm wrong tho
Especially considering that they made gitter into a matrix client, and several IRC servers are easily available.