SimpleX Chat, no phone number or e-mail registration needed. Truly a privacy pioneer.
As is the highest up vote, Signal. However, if you refuse to install WA (you should) and they refuse to install Signal (scold them for being dumb), a backup is to bridge WhatsApp with Matrix and use Element on your phone. Way more complicated than Signal and I still strongly recommend they use Signal.
Does this work with WhatsApp groups chat?
Yes, here's the supported features for the recommended bridge: https://matrix.org/ecosystem/bridges/whatsapp/
a backup is to bridge WhatsApp with Matrix and use Element on your phone
Any recommendations on where to start learning how to set up a bridge like that?
Signal
Signal
Seconded - it even has a much better way of dealing with media attachments.
Just make sure you configure a PIN and backups.
For my family member who moved out of country, signal's voice quality was not very good. WhatsApp's quality was better than a regular phone call, very impressive.
Also, outside the US WhatsApp is some kind of standard the way rich Americans think iMessage is. Companies will ask her to contact them on WhatsApp, so she'll have to have it regardless of your personal involvement.
There's also jitsi.
Here goes to hoping that EU massages Whatsapp third party compatibility actually works. It would be great if Signal decided to enter the program, so that I could start recommending it to friends and family as a full on replacement, while not losing the ability to communicate with those who use WhatsApp.
I understand Signal stance, but it would honestly be better to have a mainstream alternative to Whatsapp that actually cares about privacy, rather than a niche product nobody uses
Also, outside the US WhatsApp is some kind of standard the way rich Americans think iMessage is. Companies will ask her to contact them on WhatsApp, so she'll have to have it regardless of your personal involvement.
That really depends on the country that the family member is moving to, and is not an absolute thing world-wide.
Do you think signal's voice quality is not as good as whatsapp? It might be because they have less servers than whatsapp
Whatsapp and telegram calls are P2P for contacts by default. P2P might reduce call issues which i'm not sure signal does that or not
Signal or XMPP are good option
XMPP may be a bit overwhelming as you need to select a provider and a client. Doesn't require phone number.
Signal is private and easy to use like whatsapp. Needs phone number to use.
Telegram is cool but encryption isnt enabled by default, would like to avoid it for this. Cool for public groups.
Edit: Teleram isnt good at all, dont use it. Look reason in the replies
Telegram's MTProto has, to my knowledge, never undergone any security audits. It's a roll-your-own-encryption, which is always dubious when you're unwilling to have it audited. I would never suggest Telegram, even for cleartext communications.
Are telegram's secret chats using MTProto? Also i have seen many claims saying it have been audited. They do public bug hunt contest with huge sum as reward to test this afaik
Agreed, I will edit the comment
XMPP. Oh, wait, company based.
But XMPP would be the best option. Snikket is recommended for easy setup.
Signal. Though SimpleX is growing as a superior private messenger.
Signal, Matrix/Element, Wire
I'd recommend just regular texting, but if for whatever reason you can't/don't want to the. matrix should work, it's basically foss discord.
Why would you recommend texting as an alternative?
not as an alternative to Whatsapp, I mean not bothering with an alternative to texting. there is no need for something like Whatsapp because everything it does is already part of just texting normally. Whatsapp is a texting alternative, and as such is pointless.
Texting doesn’t do end-to-end encryption though, which is a dealbreaker for many.
Otherwise you don’t get all operators being able to read your messages, all the vulnerabilities of SS7 (so not only your operator, any random dude with experience can read your messages)
So many advantages!
But it is compatible with iMessage that it is what really matters, really 😂
Lemmy
Hey do you want to go get some pizza after work? BTW I love this new messenger called Lemmy, I feel so much safer that we're not being spied on! C ya
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