I tried SimpleX but the VPN kill switch on my phone prevents syncing with my computer.
I use telegram primarily as a note taking app with sync features.
Occasionally I send files to friends, so having easy set up for tech illiterate would be great.
Signal
Signal can’t do shit Canit sync messages b/w devices seamlessly? Doe it have unlimited storage? Channels? Isn’t upload size limit 100mb? Telegram has 4gb. Advance Bots? Good Ui/Ux? High quality stickers? Big public groups? Mini apps? Lol, signal is NOT an alternative to telegram as a whole, it can only partly replace its messaging functionality
Signal is private. This is c/privacy.
Telegram is not private at all, but has channels and big groups and even, yes, mini-apps.
So Telegram is not an alternative to Signal either, it doesn’t even start solving problems that are solved genially in Signal.
And the post is about telegram alternative?
Try Nostr, I dunno. Or VKontakte if you want the Telegram functionality of sending transcripts of your communications to FSB.
Ok conspiracy theorist signal fan
You should learn something about things you use before talking about conspiracy theories.
So easy to setup my tech illiterate parents could do it.
Now try without a phone number. Go ahead. Try
You can’t
That’s not the point though
Signal?
edit / wait - an alternative for telegram as a note taking app??
There’s a note to self feature in Signal
there are decent note apps, like notally, that are smaller than 2mb 🤷
https://f-droid.org/packages/com.kin.easynotes/ 3mb
https://f-droid.org/packages/io.github.quillpad/ 4.6 and it can sync
https://f-droid.org/packages/org.fossify.notes/ 8.9
and than there’s joplin
I don’t disagree, but taking notes in Signal gets you syncing automatically which is convenient and something OP asked for 🤷
Has a strong smell of: https://xkcd.com/1172/
signal is the simplest alternative, it’s actually better than telegram since it doesn’t save data
I was a Signal defender (although I still use it because it’s better than Telegram or WhatsApp) but now I’m more pushing for DeltaChat, Matrix and XMPP.
Most matrix clients just collect loads of data, so meh
well if you accept it at the setup, then yeah, it does
All of those are worse
Worse than what? Fully featured chat, E2EE, can be self-hosted and federated. They have it all.
I think Matrix is the way to go because you can host your own server and be completely self hosting without a 3rd party involved.
I’ve gone this route. Not for the faint of heart. If you’re not self-hosting savvy, but you know someone that hosts a server, absolutely sign up with them. Or use a local public server like pikaviestin.fi, which provides accounts for finnish citizens.
This. I‘m hosting a couple matrix servers and have many friends who have a ton of issues. It really depends on the admin and how tech savvy everyone involved is. If you cant be arsed to understand how key sharing works and check out which is the best client for you, matrix might bot be the best choice. I love it, personally but I suggest it rarely since tech illiterate users tend to get really upset about a free product not matching their insane standards.
To add to this, XMPP is much cheaper to host and offers basically the same features when it comes to what OP needs. I host Prosody and it uses so little resources you could probably get it running on the cheapest server you could find.
It’s probably 15 years ago I used XMPP the last time. Back then there were many compatibility problems between the apps and especially on the mobile phone with push notifications, etc. There were problems sending media and VOIP calls were non existent outside of the Google clients.
My guess is that some of those things improved but I have not heard anyone in my circles using it, especially since Matrix became a bit more popular, most of the Open Source projects on IRC also moved to Matrix.
Yeah, XMPP has changed a loooott since then.
XMPP’s main problems at the moment are clients, in my opinion. There’s 3 main clients for PC; one is 100% python (including frontend) and breaks semi-regularly, one does not officially support Windows and thus cuts out a large portion of the community + doesn’t have as many features as others, and one lacks features and looks extremely outdated. The state on iOS is even worse as well, and Android is fine but could be better.
If you’re considering XMPP again, I’d recommend waiting a few months for Prose https://prose.org/ to fully release, it looks like it’ll improve the experience a lot.
Can you provide names of these clients you’re mentioning?
Python: Gajim Doesn’t support Windows: Dino Outdated: PSI+
most of the Open Source projects on IRC also moved to Matrix.
No, they moved to libera.chat
yeah, it’s “a considerable amount”, not “the most”
From a security standpoint it leaves something to be desired but for just notes it is fine. It also is good for public rooms
Signal.
Signal is not available for Android tablets, which was a deal breaker when I tried to move my family off Telegram.
It is in fact available for tablets
Only iPads.
And and device running Android
Tablets can’t run mobile apps?
Signal needs a phone number
which does not need to be in the tablet
It does. The Signal app for Android does not support being a secondary device. It must be the primary device with a phone number.
In addition, whatever Play Store settings they use excluded all of our tablets, even the one that had a SIM. Manually installing the APK worked for this case, but that didn’t really solve our problem.
It does. The Signal app for Android does not support being a secondary device. It must be the primary device with a phone number.
do you mean that it does not have a prompt for the SMS code anymore, and it reads the code only from the received SMS?
In addition, whatever Play Store settings they use excluded all of our tablets, even the one that had a SIM
that’s a weird choice, I thought a main goal of them was user freedom
Unfortunately the Signal recommended by many people may not work for you, it cannot work on multiple mobile devices at the same time, for example on a smartphone and tablet.
I don’t understand why no one recommends Jami? It’s the only messenger that works without a server at all. And yes, it has the ability to forward messages to itself (to use as a note) and works on any devices at the same time.
I would describe Jami as “not good”
For starters they lack a security audit and review. It is a huge code base and no one seems to have looked to close.
Next it doesn’t work reliably. Messages frequently get lost in the network and will never arrive.
The nail in the coffin is the broken UI and app instability.
I am using Signal on two android phones, one android tablet and a linux PC. What do you mean it cannot work on multiple devices?
You have to manually switch.
Not the same.
It works on up to 5 devices at the same time. I’ve used signal on my phone, with it also open on my computer with zero problems. Syncing is instantaneous.
Open Signal rewiews on GooglePlay, there’s every third review about this situation. I forgot to mention, i’m talking about the Android version. The ios version works on ipad at the same time
Just a heads up about people’s suggestions on signal. If you don’t open your desktop client often and it needs to be logged back in it will not sync your latest notes to self messages (perhaps other messages too).
To be clear, this is a feature, not a bug
This is true.
