I'm trying to move off Facebook Messenger. What are people using for their friends and families for chat apps that isn't Messenger?
Slack and IRC need not apply, I already know about the limitations of both.
@eddieincredible @phildini I'd be prepared to bet that Facebook will own discord within a year or two.
@mike @eddieincredible @phildini I was shocked Amazon didn't buy Discord, and merge it with Twitch. Discord still has no serious business model, and surely won't survive without acquisition.
@Maltimore agree with signal (Minimum Meta Data stored temporarly on US Servers) and would like to mention Threema (Swiss Servers, some fee) and SimsMe (German servers operated by Deutsche Post) @phildini
@Maltimore only signal is FLOSS... @phildini
@phildini I've gotten most of my family on Signal and it's been fantastic.
@phildini A lot of people use WhatsApp. Signal is a step up (not owned by Facebook), but less user-friendly. Telegram has dodgy unaudited cryptography but is still quite popular
@phildini There's always Jabber/XMPP.
@phildini I have a friend on Telegram. Skype is still my go-to for one of my groups. And a few places force me to have Discord, though I loathe it with the passion of a thousand burning suns.
@phildini Most of my family used Telegram. I understand it has cryptography issues, but I didn't pick it. I actually quite like it, though.
@phildini messenger hawks
@phildini most are using either WhatsApp or Signal. Some also Threema and Wire 🙃 Signal seems to be the favorite, though.
@phildini Well, before moving away from it, I would suggest to make people familiar with the alternatives.
You can checkout for yourself Signal, Wire, Conversations (XMPP), Matrix.org / Riot.
I personally simply suggest Signal as an replacement for the current text/SMS app. As soon as it spread far enough, you can simply start using it as people already have it on their phone even when they never used it before :)
@phildini the friends and family part limits the choice. Known to me is WhatsApp, Skype, Hangout & Telegram. First two has (from my observation) biggest adoption. For Asia it will be WeChat on the first place.
@phildini I would recommend Signal as well.
@phildini Thanks for bringing this up as I'm in the same place. Signal looks interesting, and has some good testimonials, but it's only Android and iPhone so I can't use it.
@phildini Signal
@phildini I have never used messenger, and have gotten along fine with just Signal. I use Facebook's desktop site if I absolutely have to message a business or someone else I have no other way of contacting.
@phildini A mix of SMS/iMessage, Google Hangouts, and Signal (in order of usage). I've never used FB Messenger (deleted my account before Messenger was A Thing) but hopefully those cover the various use cases...
@phildini Not sure how good it is for multi-user chat, but Wire seems nice.
@rhwlo Oh hi! Missed your message originally.Thanks!
@phildini I started using Telegram and found a dozen+ friends already here who aren't anywhere else it seems. I also made a bot which made me happy. So I think I'll be spending more time there and encouraging family/friends to do the same.
@webology I’m vaguely worried about their dodgy security claims.
@phildini that said, I don't know enough to know. My security paranoid and social media adverse friends are there. I'm definitely open to better / more secure too if you find something you like better.
For those curious! I went with Telegram, and I'm really enjoying it, actually.
@phildini oof, that's the security scam by the paranoid russian billionaire, right? no shade if you find it fits you, but don't expect any more privacy then like, that kind of description implies. they hand-roll all their own encryption and don't seem to understand why that's bad.
@nightpool I mean, I don't disagree; and as soon as signal gets usable for non-tech humans I will happily have people move over. But right now signal is too focused on the security side of the security/usability spectrum, and I feel uncomfortable making friends and family use it.
@nightpool What I really want is something as self-hostable as mastodon, with the security of Signal.
I don't think I will ever get this, but if I did I would move to that.
@phildini @nightpool Have you tried https://matrix.org/blog/home/
I havent researched it yet but looks similar to what you’re looking for
@phildini i've heard good things about wire.
@phildini
I got my friend group onto telegram before I realized how off it was. Now I wish I had moved towards wire.
As a Skype replacement it's biggest feature are it's stickers and lack of ads.
Wire is minimalist compared to telegram, but seems be good for privacy.
@unwary @nightpool is there a version of wire I’m missing? The only one I can see is a pay-to-play slack clone.
@unwary @nightpool also, if my goal is “better Facebook messenger” telegram does an admirable job.
Agreed, in my case Telegram is-a-better-than-Skype. At which it is admirably better. I just wanted to mention the misleading nature of Telegram.
And yes Wire has it's eyes on Slack, but it's free for personal use, and is open source.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEYVWmLVkF4
Not to sound fanboyish, but it has a mention from Snowden, which was how I heard of it.
@phildini I looked into it as a result of your question and it seems really cool! I've already got my entire friend group invested in Signal though so I don't think I can switch.
@phildini Telegram's crypto is :( and normally I would recommend Whatsapp here because it's Signal with a slightly different take on the security/convenience spectrum, but that doesn't really help if the goal is moving away from Facebook properties. Just remember that Telegram "secure" chats aren't, and their ICO is probably still going.
@csv I see Telegram as at least as secure as Facebook, and possibly more because “not Facebook”. It’s also the one that feels most polished out of Telegram, Signal, Wire.
I audited all of them, and Telegram is going to be easiest for people to pick up, right now. Signal could get there, but it still has some major annoyances.
@phildini discord is garbage but that's what everyone uses now 🤷♂️