In light of what’s happened to Durov and possibly seeing Telegram compromised, I’m doubling my efforts to find a new main messenger. Before you start, not Signal as it’s a bad fit for the needs of me, my family and friends.
So what do I need?
- The ability to run on multiple devices. Me, my family and friends all have multiple Android devices.
- The ability to run on desktop. Linux and Windows.
- Built in sticker repository. What can I say, I like to lazy flirt.
- Animated Emoji. I like my messenger experience vibrant.
- Material You. Again with the vibrancy, but also, it’s a sign of modernity.
- Phone number linking. My family and friends are lazy as hell.
- Synchronized chats. I don’t mind self hosting a bridge, but the ability to see messages on multiple devices is a must.
- Voice Messages
- Video Calls
- Group Video Calls
- Stories integrated into as first class citizens
- Private. If you suggest WhatsApp, I’m assuming you’re either stupid or a troll.
Can anyone recommend anything?
Signal is modern as in modern, good cryptography. Most of development time went into that.
With security, you always need to trade-off convenience and bling features. “Lazy as hell” don’t go well with that. I can understand lacking group video calls and ability to run on multiple devices, but not “sticker repository” and “animated emojis”. I wish they didn’t spend time on the Stories feature either, it’s supposed to be a messenger, not a social media platform.
The problem with Signal is getting other people to use it.
Part of that issue is "the dropping of support for SMS, and the awful UI/UX.
Isn’t it the opposite? I always thought Signal is pretty much the only private messenger that has any chance of mass adoption. I mean, most people at least heard about it which is already a lot in comparison to others.
Also, personally I actually really like the UI/UX. I’m curious, could you elaborate what you don’t like about it?
Regarding SMS support… Yeah, I agree. I really miss that feature.
I think the challenge of getting others to use anything other than what they’re used to is going to be the same regardless what that anything is. I know people who have continued to use something no matter how many articles were published about its security flaws, data harvesting and spying. They just don’t care. It’s what they know and it’s what their friends know.
So if you’re going to have to change someone else’s mind, pick what you like best because that won’t be the deal-breaker.
the dropping of support for SMS
Disagree. The fact that most people are clueless about types of messaging and don’t distinguish between SMS, MMS, RCS, iMessage, Signal, Messenger, WhatsApp, Telegram, Line and so on just caused extra confusion for regular users. Removing SMS support from Signal was totally justified
I think the problem is, is that there’s a bunch of people who don’t get that modern day communication has changed. Things like Stories and Stickers are a big part of modern day communicating. The cost shouldn’t be not being able to do pretty standard things.
Neither as first class citizens. Stories are in a tab and stickers are on a third party unofficial website.
I might use emoticons sometimes but that’s about it. If there’s a population that absolutely can’t live without Instagram like short-length videos all the time, then there’s an equivalent population who considers it feature bloat.
I see your opinion however you have been exceedingly rude in many comments on this thread, even to good people who answered you in good faith.
Sticker repository? lol, Telegram has that market cornered and you know it :)
https://matrix.org/ is probably the only reasonable solution to your problem but reading between the lines you’re inferring that Telegram is dead in the water.
I’m a popcorn fanantic and await to see the, corns?
We would not recommend Matrix for security considering the recently admitted their old encryption code was bad and a lot of clients are still using their old encryption code:
https://soatok.blog/2024/08/14/security-issues-in-matrixs-olm-library/
Matrix, Signal, and Threema are the main contenders. Nothing else comes close to all your preferences. For stickers/emoji/gifs, you’ll probably need a third party keyboard, but I don’t have any recommendations for those.
Matrix should not be considered as their security has been pretty bad until recently (they intentionally shipped bad code and knew about it for years): https://soatok.blog/2024/08/14/security-issues-in-matrixs-olm-library/ and many clients still use that bad code.
Threema has been pretty bad historically: https://soatok.blog/2021/11/05/threema-three-strikes-youre-out and their desktop offering is not one-to-one with the mobile apps, it’s pretty limited in what it can do and has to have a device connected to the network at all times, open on the app and unlocked with the screen on.
Signal stickers is a good enough repo to integrate them
What makes signal unsuitable? That’ll help spark some ideas.
3, 4, 5 and 11.
Not sure about 1 as we run it on our tablet so it definetly can be linked to other devices but we aren’t sure how many.
7 can be done by linking devices, so not sure what is meant by this.
Edit: ah, okay, so seems the Signal app itself cannot be linked to multiple Android devices, including tablets, that’s pretty bad. The Molly fork can work as a linked devices though, however Signal only supports linking 5 devices at the same time.
- Signal can only run on one Android device
- Signal has no built in sticker repository
- Signal doesn’t have animated emoji
- Signal hasn’t adopted Material You. Especially so for Monet.
- Signal doesn’t synchronize chats because there’s no bridge.
- Signal presents Stories on a separate tab, effectively making them a third class citizen.
Why not signal? It fits your criteria… If not, try GNU Jami, it’s well designed but not material you, and has most of your features.
Edit: Session is another messenger which has some of your features you might want
Why not signal? It fits your criteria…
Okay, I’ll bite. Tell me how it fits my criteria, using the bullet point list provided.
X The ability to run on multiple devices. Me, my family and friends all have multiple Android devices. ✔️ The ability to run on desktop. Linux and Windows. X Built in sticker repository. What can I say, I like to lazy flirt. X Animated Emoji. I like my messenger experience vibrant. ✔️(partial Material You. Again with the vibrancy, but also, it’s a sign of modernity. ✔️ Phone number linking. My family and friends are lazy as hell. ✔️ Synchronized chats. I don’t mind self hosting a bridge, but the ability to see messages on multiple devices is a must. ✔️ Voice Messages ✔️ Video Calls ✔️ Group Video Calls ✔️? Stories integrated into as first class citizens
Not sure what you meant by stories integrated as first class citizens. Signal does have stories, though.
In summary, signal fits your criteria quite well, only missing out on full material you support, stickers, and animated emojis. I may be missing an app, but I believe that this is the best you will get without going for telegram.
Edited for accuracy
Signal Stickers works well enough to have a good repo of stickers.
The ability to run on multiple devices. Me, my family and friends all have multiple Android devices.
https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007320551-Linked-Devices
Scroll down to other devices and tell me what it says please
As for the rest, you’re being dishonest with those ticks. I don’t understand what the benefit is.
Not sure what you meant by stories integrated as first class citizens. Signal does have stories, though.
Not tabs.
In summary, signal fits your criteria quite well, only missing out on full material you support, stickers, and animated emojis. I may be missing an app, but I believe that this is the best you will get without going for telegram.
Literally fails at the first hurdle and then the third and fourth, but somehow fits my criteria?
