Hi friends,
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.
I would love to hear your input!
I use Signal kinda exclusively. Managed to migrate my friends and family away from WhatsApp a few years back (I am living in Europe).
How did you do it ? I cant get them to migrate.
To be real, getting someone to change their habit is near impossible and when that happens, just send them SMS.
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.
My brother got everyone to switch from FB messenger to WhatsApp and then FB bought whatsapp and prompted a second switch to signal
It’s not perfect, but it is the best alternative for the masses.
I wish more people in my life would use Signal but I’ve given up on converting people from WhatsApp.
I pretty much just use everything. my messaging folder has Signal, Telegram, WhatsApp, Discord, SMS, etc lol.
Elements (Matrix) as much as much as possible. I bridge a lot services through it. Though Signal would be the second most.
Whatsapp is the norm here so I begrudgingly use that. Wish more people were on Signal, Matrix or Telegram.
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.
Something like this where you can bridge into other RCS apps, just with phone number, is what I would need for both private and work stuff.
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.
Does signal allow two phones yet?
I have two phones and signel can’t comprehend me signing in on both of them at once. Such a stupid limitation IMO.
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.
Signal. I refuse to use whatsapp even though that’s what most people I know use.
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
I use Signal!
Element (Matrix)
unfortunately it is whatsapp… Had everyone move to signal, but it didn’t last :(
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.
Signal and WhatsApp. WhatsApp only because a lot of people won’t switch to Signal (or Threema, or Matrix).
Delta Chat is awesome encrypted/secure messaging via imap and thus compatible with anyone who has an email address.
Conversations is an excellent XMPP client.
- Signal,
- Whatsapp only for groups on a free prepaid Number nobody knows, on a 2nd phone bridge to matrix.
- Threema for 1Person ;)
- remaining via SMS.
How’d you get the free prepaid number?
We have some offers here, free Sim with 1€ credit. So only can recieve sms and calls.
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.