Is there any actual easy to use foss chat app my friends and SO could use ? Everyone uses fb messenger because its so easy. I cant find anything easy enough to make people switch to, that won’t have issues and send them running back to zucc
Revolt looks promising, but is more along the lines of Discord. It is less mature than other previously mentioned alternatives. https://revolt.chat/
While revolt is currently unable to provide all features Discord has, for chatting it is definitely a viable option and I am happy to see how quickly it develops. I am considering moving once it reaches a higher state of maturity (I use discord mainly for voice and screenshare). However, I feel like Matrix + Element is the perfect answer to the question.
If you can’t get people to switch to Signal, you won’t get them to switch to anything else.
Yeah I’m using Whatsapp Business for groups I can’t convince to move (it allows me to have an automated message to say I won’t answer on Whatsapp), Signal for people who could move but won’t pay anything and Threema for almost everyone else including my family.
I wish Signal or Threema would allow a selected opt in interoperability with Whatsapp so that I could really ditch it.
I wish Signal or Threema would allow a selected opt in interoperability with Whatsapp so that I could really ditch it.
Could maybe do something with the signal-matrix and whatsapp-matrix bridges? You could probably skip the matrix entirely but may have to implement it yourself
whatsapp is a modified XMPP, itnmight be possible to make an XMPP client that can also use the whatsapp servers.
Thanks, I know about it but it’s above my technical level and self hosting means having a computer running 24/7 which I don’t want.
I think Signal they (Signal and Threema) missed an opportunity to gain users by allowing an opt-in compatibility with Whatsapp.
self hosting means having a computer running 24/7 which I don’t want.
For environmental reasons? I bet there are “green” cloud providers out there. Unless you meant having your computer run 24/7, and then no.
My cloud provider (kDrive by Infomaniak) is « green » but I have to admit I wouldn’t know how to self host on it even if I could.
Is it Signal and Threema leadership that doesn’t want to implement interoperability with WhatsApp or it’s WhatsApp preventing it? Is there any existing 3rd party app that’s compatible with WhatsApp?
It’s Signal and Threema leadership as they were saying it would compromise their security level and would allow Meta to gather information about their users.
That’s a risk I’d be willing to take as long as it’s opt in. For now I still kind of have Whatsapp Business as kind of read only application for some groups I can’t convince to move to another app…
Signal is super user friendly. All my normie friends use it. Not super in the spirit of foss as it’s not meant to be self hosted—which imo makes the server practically proprietary/source available. (ik people self host it anyway, but it’s not supported and Signal don’t like people self hosting or even making custom clients.) SimpleX is good too but not as polished as Signal.
by “FOSS” you mean compatible with the core values of free/libre software?
This rules out Signal because: 1/ some of its server software is proprietary 2/ they dont allow you to communicate with “their” users if you want to run the server software yourself 3/ the prevented authors of free/libre software in the past to distribute their software (find a fdroid/signal thread) 4/ in practice they channel their users through their centralized servers hosted on AWS
(and that’s without evoking their questionable funding, and long lasting commitment to make all their users identifiable through phone number, 10+y after US generals declared “we kill people based on metadata”…)
Simplex seems to me like the one really ticking all the boxes.
I have an unfederated XMPP server (running Prosody), family’s using Conversations (Android) & Dino (Linux) with it. We can chat, send images, do voice & video calls. Has been working fine & reliably for the past ~6 years or so. Took about 1.5 minutes for them to get used to the clients.
I’m slowly opening it up for friends too, so friends, neighbours, classmates, etc can chat with us too. It’s going great so far, no complaints.
i just wish there was a prosody docker that allows for all the tweaks and addons. snikket was relatively simple to get going, but they don’t provide a lot of info for adjustments
Yeah, setting the server up was a bit of an adventure. But I did that once, and it’s been serving us well since. My users saw none of that.
I’ve managed to screw up every self-hosted service whenever I’ve made an update, edit a config file or just by looking at it. But my Prosody XMPP server? It’s rock solid. That thing never fails, for years and years.
Signal is probably your best bet but it’s only mostly open source. Element/Matrix is another good option if open source is your concern.
Element can be a bit unreliable when it comes to matrix features, I recommend cinny instead
how so? Im looking for a matrix client thst has easy onboarding for family & friends with encrypted calls and encrypted messaging by default
I’m using element and element x for over a year and it’s annoying that threads just won’t work on element x.
I don’t actually remember too well, there were some ui bugs that I remember but I haven’t used element in a year at least so I’ve kind of forgotten
I would reccomend XMPP(with OMEMO), for android I reccomend the conversations client, but there are a lot of clients: https://xmpp.org/software/?platform=all-platforms I suggest you choose a client that fully supports OMEMO encryption.
I have a self hosted nextcloud that has a web chat feature (Nextcloud Talk). It is pretty easy to use, though it is kind of ugly and slow. I’d prefer to send people to GNU Jami but I’ve had kind of poor luck with that.
“Chat app” like texting/whatsapp?
Or “chat app” like Discord/Slack?
For the former, Signal is going to be the one your friends and family will actually use. For the latter there isn’t anything really approaching the same level yet. Matrix/Element is making a good effort but absolutely not there yet, especially on mobile.
Fluffychat (matrix), Deltachat seem really good but good luck getting anyone to change. Let us know if you figure out a way to persuade people they should make any effort or try something new.
That is exactly why signal needed phone numbers. It’s an easy way too onboard and grow your user base.
I’m surprised that no one else has said this one yet: Delta Chat
I’m a paid contributor to Delta Chat, but I don’t feel like I can recommended it until it includes sealed sender and PFS. Signal really changed the game with chat apps. 2.0 looks great, tho! https://delta.chat/en/help#sealedsender
Is this like briar . ?
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check out https://soatok.blog/2025/01/14/dont-use-session-signal-fork/ and https://soatok.blog/2025/01/20/session-round-2/ . session doesn’t even have PFS(perfect forward secrecy), which can be very useful, so if a key is cracked, then only a few messages can be decrypted. EDIT: that was a lot of typos!
Thanks. Yk a secure replacement?
I like XMPP, but there’s also LXMF(a bit more experimental, only for ‘advanced’ users) or simply signal or simplex.
Alright, thanks
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Why would simplex be better in that case?
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I thought signal doesn’t require a phone number anymore ?
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You’re asking for a literal unicorn. I haven’t found one after years of searching.
What’s hard about signal? It’s easy to use, my friends and family aren’t tech savvy and they were using it in minutes and it has stuck ever since.
I don’t consider it a “chat app” since it requires your phone number as an identifier. It has always been the equivalent of a texting app.
I don’t consider anything that’s phone-first as a chat app. A chat app should be platform agnostic/available for all platforms. You can only get a desktop app for Signal by connecting it to your phone app.
I can see your point. It is so ingrained in me to use a phone I forget that we didnt always do it that way. I shouldnt make the assumption everyone has a phone.
Signal is easy and straightforward to use
