I'm new to Lemmy but I think I like where it is heading in general. I would like to ask, do you have any specific apps used for ?
As a community that seems more focused on decentralized platforms, I thought this could spike up an interesting discussion
I have been using mainly Viber and FB messenger. I did try to convince friends and family to move over to simpleXchat, as it seems the most privacy focused alternative I have found, but basically failed.
Around the time when Meta announced some big privacy changes to WhatsApp, it became a hot topic in the news since everyone here uses WhatsApp.
I took advantage of that situation to talk to my friends and family about how much better Signal is. I set up our existing groups like Family Chats, Friends, and Sport Groups on Signal, and helped some people install the app. I kept reminding and urging them to switch and assured them we would continue using Signal, everything will stay the same just super secure.
To make it clear to everyone still on WhatsApp, I changed my profile picture to say "please contact me via Signal." Surprisingly, within 1-2 weeks, everyone I care about made the switch and, to my surprise, they still use Signal today.
Honestly, if it wasn't for all the privacy concerns about WhatsApp in the news, I think convincing them to switch would have been much harder.
The way I did it was getting rid of the apps I no longer wanted on my phone. This forced people to send text messages. If they try sending a good pic/video it would obviously fail. Their only option was usually something more difficult than just installing Signal. I don't provide Whatsapp as an alternative. I did lose some contacts, but close friends/family will obviously opt for the better messaging experience compared to default SMS.
Around the time when Meta announced some big privacy changes to WhatsApp, it became a hot topic in the news since everyone here uses WhatsApp.
I took advantage of that situation to talk to my friends and family about how much better Signal is. I set up our existing groups like Family Chats, Friends, and Sport Groups on Signal, and helped some people install the app. I kept reminding and urging them to switch and assured them we would continue using Signal, everything will stay the same just super secure.
To make it clear to everyone still on WhatsApp, I changed my profile picture to say "please contact me via Signal." Surprisingly, within 1-2 weeks, everyone I care about made the switch and, to my surprise, they still use Signal today.
Honestly, if it wasn't for all the privacy concerns about WhatsApp in the news, I think convincing them to switch would have been much harder.
You can apparently bridge Whatsapp and Matrix. I have looked into it for a few evenings but got nothing running despite having some experience with self hosting stuff. It was a while ago though.
There is an Ansible repo. It does all you need. It's just some configuration in one file. Maybe takes a few hours to read through, but it can set up early everything Matrix has to offer and is well documented... It just really is a lot.
I mainly use Signal, but sometimes have to fall back to SMS for people that aren't on Signal.
I also have matrix accounts, but I never really use them since I don't have anyone among my friends and family that uses matrix.
No, I don't think so. I still think that it requires a different phone number on each phone. But I agree with you that it is annoying that they do not allow it, especially since they could simply imitate the functionality that exists on the desktop apps.
I tried to migrate friends and family to Signal a couple of years back. Only managed with 3 people :/.
Unfortunately here (Italy), WhatsApp is too much widespread as reach out method now. Especially for businesses, from restaurants to, say, the family doctor.
Signal is my go to. Some of my friends refuse to download it, so I just text them. I'll use iMessage on iOS and Google Messages on Android. But if I can use Signal, I will
The messages of these WhatsApp groups are forwarded to Matrix chats and their responses are forwarded to WhatsApp which means they can use their Matrix chat client (Element or FluffyChat or whatever) for messaging their friends on WhatsApp.
XMPP (with omemeo) is the classic (and also what FB messenger uses behind the scenes, without omemo), Matrix is the new kid on the block taking over. Both are decentralized sorta like the fediverse (but separate from said fediverse.)
Used to use Signal, but they're removing SMS support so everyone might as well switch to matrix. Wickr was bought by amazon (and they say they won't ruin it, riiiight), so that's out. Idk enough about briar or session, and telegram isn't as secure as people seem to think.
Has anyone tried using Revolt or Spacebar? Kind of curious how well those work. I have been thinking of setting up something other than Discord for friends and family.
The most secure app I know is SimpleX. It is like Matrix but without an identifier, so you really interacting only with people you want. No one can reach you unless you gave him a link to connect to you.
Two different people cannot be ensured they are talking to the same person since there is no identifier they can compare to.
I only message my spouse on a regular basis. Been using Signal for the last few years. Otherwise I just stick to iMessage for everything else. I don’t text anyone else that much to try and convince them to switch to Signal or another alternative.
I'm only Discord at this point. Over time I've just wanted to stay within a select few platforms for mental health and security. I would move to Matrix but most people I know are on Discord. But I still have an account there incase anyone wants to contact me.
The only people I care about use sms, and I've convinced them to use telegram for thighs sms can't do, like file sharing.
I have and use matrix for specific tasks, and I got suckered into discord for gaming and reddit. But neither get used much nowadays. There's one discord server I stay vaguely active on because internet friends use it. Post reddit implosion, the matrix isn't very useful since they were for mod chats and I'm only modding one sub until the end of the month, and that's mostly solo (no need for chats lol)
yeah, most people here use WhatsApp so I, reluctantly, have it too.
some friends wouldn't even consider Telegram though it's better feature-wise; i can't think of swapping to Signal, Matrix, or others mentioned here though they may have more perks.
even if friends don't use it, to me Telegram is king with the group and channel features. you can easily connect with other telegram users almost anonymously (although scammers are to be expected).
what other apps have these sort of community chats? I found an asexual community on Matrix, but that's kind of it.
For your friends and family, Signal is probably the best. It's simple to use and set up, unlike SimpleX which some might have trouble with. For people who refuse to switch, iMessage.
I use SMS and Matrix. I'd love to see something like Briar become more popular, or maybe XMPP make a resurgence as it's been a great federated chat protocol for a long while.
Telegram is my go to. I enjoy the features, stickers, and the ability to have a separate, encrypted chat with someone.
Speaking of encryption, Signal is great for encryption. Not as many features as in Telegram from what I can tell.
Element is a good messaging app if you're looking for something utilizing Matrix.
I tried others like FluffyChat, but overall I'm not a fan of the chatrooms that they have.
For some of my gamer friends, they prefer Discord, so now and then I'll message them there, though I prefer Discord for the voice channels personally.
I have some friends that use Snapchat. I don't see the appeal.
WhatsApp has a bit of a stranglehold in certain areas geographically and on older folks. I was able to get some of my family on Telegram, but not some of my distant family, so now I have both.
Signal for family&friends, metatrap's wa for contacting business & simpleXchat is my alt plan in case of problems with Signal, outages etc (none so far)