A new messaging app is in development, and the project is described as “an open source WhatsApp for the Fediverse.”
Oh boy… Another messenger… Yay…
With the open nature of the fediverse I actually see some potential here. Right now there isn’t a single messenger that I truly like. They’re all just different shades of okay or worse.
Mobile-first, requires phone number, proprietary server-side, google play market.
Doesn‘t quite have the userbase at least for me. I‘m only using it for one work contact and that’s it. I also heard from others who use Element a bit more that it’s quite buggy, although I haven’t experienced that myself yet.
Nobody is telling you to use it. This originally spun out of development of a messaging app just for Pixelfed, but evolved when the dev realized it could be made to work with any Fediverse account, not just his own server project.
An optimistic view is that it could end up opening the door for end-to-end encryption to come to private messages in Fediverse servers, over time.
I think what @deadsuperhero@lemmy.ml is trying to explain is that Mastodon and Lemmy for example may be able to implement Sup as a part of their softwares too. Currently if you try to DM someone on Lemmy, the options are a Matrix redirect, or Private Messages designated as not secured.
Though I do wonder about the viability of this. People would still need to set up with Sup to receive messages, at least as I understand it. As a result, this would run into a similar problem as matrix, just without needing to use a different federated server and login I suppose.
This would also require that project leads for AP softwares would want to accept the service as a part of their distribution, assuming it even is implmented in such a manner.
TL;DR it’s hard to say anything for certain when details seem to be slim.
I’m for it, plus I like the name.
What’s Sup?
Nothing much, you?
No, what’s, Sup?
… Just chillen…
Visible anger.
I wonder how it’ll compare to Matrix.
I think it’s intended to be more like WhatsApp, in the sense that you use it for one-on-one chats or messaging small friend groups. I don’t think it’s a current goal to try to take on Matrix / Element.
Actually, for now @dansup@mastodon.social is working on an activityPub library called #pubkit https://pubkit.net
He’s working on multiple things at once. Where he finds the energy, I don’t know, but PubKit, Sup, and a few other things are all happening right now.
This one article is part of a series where I’m hoping to put up one feature per day of what he’s been working on. Pixelfed is notoriously hard to cover, because the lead dev is so active.
Do we if it will have scope to do group chats at all or well?
Seems to me that private group chats are significant piece missing from the fedi, especially as they seem to me to be a reasonable alternative platform structure compared to all the doom scrolling engagement stuff that the Fedi has so far more or less sought to simply clone.
