Privacy @lemmy.ml schizoidman @lemmy.ml 1w ago

Session vs simplex or other alternatives?

Session messenger android client currently feels unpolished while simplex seems to require it to run in the background for instant notifications. Is there an alternative that is better than those 2?

17 comments

https://www.messenger-matrix.de/messenger-matrix-en.html?filter=Session,SimpleX
It simple depends on your needs.

I personally use Signal, I donated to Signal, and even if it's not perfect, I think it's a great project.

I also have SimpleX installed for "anonymous" conversations with strangers.

And that's it.
It depends on many things, such as a threat modeling, opsec, etc. In terms of privacy and security [email protected] seems to be superior.

Several reasons to that:

SimpleX doesn't have IDs, unlike Session. Which makes it more anonymous and private;

Ofc things like E2E encryption, forward secrecy and others;

Message mixing is and underrated feature, as well as content padding;

It has amazing security features such as self-destruct passwords, and a couple of others;

Can be self-hosted;

No need for phone number;

Leverage several 'accounts';

I have read their white paper, and is worth the time. Also, one of the episodes of the Opt Out podcast is with the SimpleX creator. I suggest listening. I personally liked the way he conceptualizes decentralization, and problematozes protocols.

I found SimpleX to be the best of all private messengers. Better than Session, Signal, XMPP, DeltaChat, and others. It is also more convenient than Briar and Threema.
Session don't have forward secrecy. For more comparison check out this Spreadsheet.
Define your criteria for an ideal messenger. What do you need actually? What's your security requirement?
- Probably something that does not require a phone number while still using google firebase notification system? Basically a less buggy version of session messenger.
  
  google firebase notification system
  
  Why though? If a app has its own implementation this is a non issue really.
I run simplex on Android and it barely uses any battery. Just checked <1%
- That's good to know.
Their is briar. It is fully decentralized and works p2p over for.
- From my understanding briar requires both clients to be online at the same time to use?
  
  Normally yes. But they also have mailbox application that kind of acts as a message queue both ways
- No voice chat.
Other alternatives: Status(https://status.app), speek!(https://speek.network), Briar(https://briarproject.org), Cwtch(https://cwtch.im) and Tox(https://tox.chat/index.html).

17 comments