It seems like I constantly see “X secure messaging option is actually bullshit because it was purchased by Dr. Evil and Y is actually just e-mailing your messages directly to Xi Jinping.”

Is there an authoritatively “best” one I can just…download and setup easily? Is Signal good? Or do I need to solder a Raspberry Pi to the flux modulator of my home Linux NAS GUI, etc…?

    • mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      03·
      2 months ago

      Whoever built that website really needs to fix the hitbox on the ‘X’ when you’re done reading the popups. Or instead of trying to show off with JavaScript they can just have a separate page like most websites

  • gkaklas@lemmy.zipEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    Signal has good encryption etc, is centralized, afaik needs Google Play Services except if you use Molly; but I think it’s a bit more mainstream and simple to use for end-users

    SimpleX also seems to have good encryption, post-quantum etc, and is anonymous and doesn’t even use user identifiers (they explain why that’s good on their website), so it could be good for occasional more sensitive conversations or sth (but I see people struggling with onboarding when installing it, and I still get confused by the UX sometimes). It’s kind of not even decentralized, more like peer-to-peer, with servers to just cache messages when you’re offline, I think.

    Personally for day-to-day I prefer to use Matrix with Element: decentralized (which I really value for competition and user choice), e2e, and has good support for creating communities etc, so I’m lucky to have it as our main chat platform for work, and I’ve been using it for years in our hackerspace and personal chats etc. I see end-users still struggling sometimes with onboarding, but if they’re close friends/family I usually need to set it up for them anyway

  • Wugmeister@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    My understanding is that Briar is ethically the best, but no one uses it. Signal is the best if you actually want to use it to communicate. Telegram is where the pirates and drugs are.

    Here’s the long version: when a dev is making a messaging app, they eventually have to make a choice: do I integrate SMS/MMS? If they want to make this app a daily driver messaging platform to help you ungoogle your android phone, they have to integrate SMS/MMS, which has security vulnerabilities and limits how secure they can make their app. More importantly, people do not tolerate ads on their messaging app, so they flat-out cannot monetize it without losing their entire userbase. If they don’t integrate SMS/MMS, they are creating a closed ecosystem, and a closed ecosystem can be profitable. If leadership changes, the new leaders might decide to turn their users into either cutomers or products.