Hi everyone, I am looking for an encrypted messaging service to start using and recommending to my friends and family, I really want to get this right the first time. At the moment I’m looking at using matrix I really like it’s bridges and federated nature, Although I’m not 100% sure about it’s ux.

What I want to ask is what messaging service do you use and do you have any regrets with it? What encrypted messaging service would you recommended?

Edit: I just had another question are any of the bridges in matrix end to end encrypted? If person A used matrix and person B used signal could person A use a bridge to talk to person B securely?

  • joshim@lemmy.ml
    1·
    2 hours ago

    for me it’s xmpp. now that monal on ios has almost reached feature parity with conversations on android, there’s no reason xmpp shouldn’t be the go-to alternative to whatsapp.

    I don’t think signal is the answer. a centralised service susceptible to all the things wrong with whatsapp. matrix is bloated. push notifications on simplex android is still sketchy.

    and i dont buy the argument that onboarding is too complicated these days. most people can make an account for anything they feel is worth it.

  • MyPornViewingAccount@lemmy.world
    241·
    2 days ago

    I’ve used Signal since it first came out as TextSecure like 10+ years ago.

    It doesnt have fancy bells or whistles, but its work well for me and good enough that ive gotten elderly family members to use it too

  • LambdaRX@sh.itjust.works
    13·
    2 days ago

    Signal for security standard and ease of use, which is essential, if You want to use it with non techy people.

    Simplex for anonymity, You can download it, share chat and start talking without registration.

    • calm.like.a.bomb@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      1·
      2 days ago

      Simplex for anonymity, You can download it, share chat and start talking without registration.

      It ate my battery when I installed it. Do you use it on a daily basis? What’s your experience with its battery consumption?

      • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip
        1·
        2 days ago

        I’m in one room with 1,500 people and it uses about 7% of my battery. Mind you, that is a lot for a messenger. But I can deal with that.

      • LambdaRX@sh.itjust.works
        1·
        2 days ago

        Sadly, I have no one to use with it, so I don’t know about battery usage. I just like, that it doesn’t require any external identifiers, unlike Signal.

  • 2xsaiko@discuss.tchncs.de
    112·
    2 days ago

    Personally I’d go with Signal. Matrix has a certain jank level IME, for example rooms can get desynced between homeservers and the only way to fix is to create a new room and abandon the old one. Not sure how often that happens for small scale use though, I’ve only seen it in large rooms.

  • Rav Sha'ul@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    81·
    2 days ago

    I will second the others that only suggest Signal or a variant of Signal like Langis or Molly. Everybody has each other’s phone numbers, go with Signal so people don’t need any other contact information.

  • CuffsOffWilly@lemmy.mlEnglish
    3·
    2 days ago

    I just moved to Signal and have convinced most of my family and many friends to join. It is very secure, non-profit and doesn’t share much personal data (the least of the main messaging services) and most of my luddite family has been able to figure it out.

  • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip
    2·
    2 days ago

    signal or SimpleX.

    I’m starting to move away from Matrix, primarily because its metadata is not encrypted. So you might have a message that’s encrypted, but the emoji reaction like a thumbs up is not encrypted, and the time it was sent and received is not encrypted, and who it was sent from and to is not encrypted.

    Not to mention that in Matrix, private key management for encryption in rooms and stuff like that is quite frankly a pain in the ass. Even I as a cryptocurrency user have trouble making sure that my keys are properly stored without fucking them up.

    I would not recommend my friends or family members use it for these reasons.

  • poVoq@slrpnk.net
    61·
    2 days ago

    No bridges are not end 2 end encrypted. The best you can do is host the server and bridge in your own home and thus have the bridge “end” in a secure location.

    If your friends and family are not very technical, then Matrix is probably a bad idea as it tends to be quite in your face about all sorts of technical issues especially with the encryption keys and so on. It works ok usually once everything is set up though.

    XMPP is IMHO the better option as the mobile apps are easier to understand and the e2ee usually works out of the box and stays out of the way unless you specifically want to mess around with it. For a friends & family server I recommend setting up https://snikket.org/ or rent a server from them cheaply.

    There are also good bridges for XMPP, but setting them up requires more understanding of self-hosting.

  • CameronDev@programming.dev
    61·
    2 days ago

    I got my family onto signal. The app is basic, but that is kinda a benefit when getting half-blind 90yo’s onto it.

    I switched from hangouts when they killed group calls by trying to be zoom.

    No regrets, but group calls sometimes dont ring, which is annoying. Mostly good though.

  • EngineerGaming@feddit.nl
    2·
    2 days ago

    I got my mother on XMPP - if you set the person’s account up, Conversations is as easy to use as Whatsapp or Signal, but doesn’t have the central server dependence.