Hey,

the world of different messaging applications for phones is wide spreaded. The big four (i guess) are Whatsapp, Telegram, Facebook, and Signal, but there are also messenger like Hangouts, Snapshat and so on.

So what do you think about the different apps? Which do you use if any and what do you think about the security side of these? Do you care about your privacy while using them?

I personally use Signal by OpenWhisperSystems, which is open source and provides an Android, iOS and Desktop App. The only thing I'm missing is a comfortable CLI application (this one is available, but it seems a bit clucky). But I dislike the dependency to GApps, since I like to avoid the big players in the internet.


r4ndom

I just use a signal-like app called Silence

I am using WhatsApp for the most part, Signal for the sensitive stuff and Telegram for people, who think it is more secure than WhatsApp. I really dislike Telegram. However, Signal has a beta version without the dependency to the play services.
Besides these, I really like Wire, which just had a successful security audit and recently announced, that they want to open-source their server software.
I also like Antox based on toxcore, which is a really interesting encrypted messaging protocoll. At the moment however, it is still in development.
The one thing I wish for, is compatibility between WhatsApp and Signal, which technically should be easy, because the use of the same protocoll. This way, I could use a free app and still connect with my WhatsApp friends. But this seems to be a dream for now....

Threema here, occasionally also Signal for those who only gave me their number.

(27-02-2017, 01:13 PM)asyncial Wrote: I also like Antox based on toxcore, which is a really interesting encrypted messaging protocoll. At the moment however, it is still in development.

I use Signal (because Moxie Marlinspike seems like a very trustworthy person, and has also inspired usage of the signal protocol in google allo, facebook messenger and whatsapp).

I also follow tox quite closely and z3bra and me are working on a client for tox (originally by sin and FRIGN, two 2f30/suckless people). The client is called ratox and can be found here. Development is slow, but steady, considering that I'm working full time at the moment. Also, since nobody else uses tox, I rarely have the opportunity to use it.

Edit: also, I have a bit of hope left in tox (it's going forward quite slowly). People have been calling it dead for around two years now, but I'm still confident.

I don't use messaging apps for the joy or beauty of them but simply to communicate. In practice it is mostly whatsapp nowadays because most everyone has that.

(27-02-2017, 01:13 PM)asyncial Wrote: However, Signal has a beta version without the dependency to the play services.

This is nice. Now the only thing missing is a F-Droid entry for it. But anyway I need to check this out right away.

(27-02-2017, 03:00 PM)pranomostro Wrote: I also follow tox quite closely and z3bra and me are working on a client for tox (originally by sin and FRIGN, two 2f30/suckless people). The client is called ratox and can be found here. Development is slow, but steady, considering that I'm working full time at the moment. Also, since nobody else uses tox, I rarely have the opportunity to use it.

I think I read the post on z3bras blog about it. But I must say, I have never heard of tox before.

@fhee:
Like it :)

(27-02-2017, 11:27 PM)Dworin Wrote: In practice it is mostly whatsapp nowadays because most everyone has that.

I abandoned WhatsApp when it got bought by Facebook. I cleaned up my chat history drastically.

Signal, Telegram and sometimes wire.

I use WhatsApp mainly for personal purposes, just because it's the most common here. Beside that I only use Telegram.

Never really keep an eye on any of those, if it's important i'd expect a call and if it's business, and email.

I use textra for SMS, some built-in client for email on my phone, and pretty much no other communications protocol. If someone messages me on facebook, I try to guide the conversation to email or text, just because I hate having to go to a desktop to view/send messages, and FB literally won't let you use messaging on mobile without their absolutely dreadful messenger app.

I ought to just get rid of Facebook, but then I know I can expect to hear "Are you, like, running from the law or using a fake name or something? I can't find [my name] on Facebook." from prospective employers and dates.

My main messenger is Whatsapp, purely for the fact that all my contacts use it. I use Telegram for the odd few contacts. I also wanted to have a play around with FireChat, which connects using p2p. Unfortunatley nobody I know uses it so I didn't get very far.

i use facebook messenger, i would rarther use something like signal but it would be near impossible to convince all my freinds to do the same.

I use Signal for a specific use case: My apartment gets 0 cell service, and wifi calling on our provider is garbage. The only way I can call my wife when she's at home is to use VOIP, and Signal is perfect for it.

(16-03-2017, 02:56 PM)fre d die Wrote: i use facebook messenger, i would rarther use something like signal but it would be near impossible to convince all my freinds to do the same.

That's a tough one. I have several members of my D&D group that only use FB Messenger to communicate and therefore must use my wife as a middleman because of my refusal to touch Facebook.

Stay strong, evbo. If I have a few regrets in life, then the creation of a facebook account would be one. A while ago, I cleaned the fucking thing for good, deleted all posts, likes, pictures etc. I only leave it open, because my tattoo artist insists on using fb messages instead of sms or something else. She want's to keep her phone private - what i can totally understand..

(16-03-2017, 05:41 PM)mrtn Wrote: If I have a few regrets in life, then the creation of a facebook account would be one

Same here. Deleted it two years ago when I became privacy-focused, but I'm worried about what damage was already done.

i feel like i am too far down the facebook hole, when it comes to communication to where i can't really delete it...

I don't have facebook, though it annoys people, it's probably for the best. I don't really do social media.

I have however convinced people to use hangouts since it's so easy because of their google accounts. And to be honest, I feel like google itself is way up into everybody's business. I use it because of my android phone, and the whole "one account for all" thing seems like too much.

That being said, I've been using hangups for some time now, and it is at least convenient and nice to use in urxvt with urlselect. Especially with altering the source to not display emoji at all.

I use hangups at work as well. There are many shortcomings though. I suppose you use it with a.bunch of friends, say 16 persons. Quite easy to select each one of them in the contact page. Were almost 200 people at work, and people create new "temporary" groups all the time to talk to multiple persons. I just cannot scroll in nearly 500 conversations when I need to talk to a specific person...

You cannot create groups either, or add contacts, or close conversations correctly (i need to close them twice)

So for now, I still consider IRC to be the most mature text conversation system.

I've been working on ratox as well though, and I must say I'm pretty enthusiast about tox, but the UID contact system will slow its adoption for me...

I use Matrix on a self-hosted homeserver. It is nice because of the normie-friendliness, but there is a problem with centralization because matrix.org homeserver is too large and practically every public Matrix room has a matrix.org user in it. I already moved all of my family members and (almost) all classmates to Matrix, it was tough, but worth it.

Cool and interesting thread to revive

I use Signal fairly exclusively these days, as do most of my friends (and now family too!)

I've always been interested in the various privacy focused (encrypted/decentralized) messaging apps. I'd love to use some others but the problem that has always existed it getting those you want to message with to switch to the next/new app.

Some cool messaging apps that I find interesting include:

cwtch
Briar
Session
SimpleX chat

I remember wickr being pretty popular once but I haven't used it in years.

I'd never heard of Tox until reading the comments in this thread today. Looks cool!

In case you are tempted to start your server at Discord or another of these commercial services, consider IRC!

IRC is a modern protocol (see https://modern.ircdocs.horse/ for how it evolves) and also let you use webapps without effort (share the URL https://web.libera.chat/#nixers for instance) for those who prefer it this way.

Moving to Discord means offering its freedom into the hands of companies whose goal is to increase their market share.

<3