So here’s the thing, every time I try to move away from Facebook messenger I run into the same problem, nobody else in my friends or family actually want to use a secure, private messenger app like signal or telegram, my wife, my parents, my in-laws, my friends they’re ALL on Facebook and they will never take signal seriously enough to actually use it, it really bums me out that there are these far superior options but without anyone else using them they’re pointless…
Anyway what apps do you use to stay in touch with people?
I got my family on Signal by buying them each a drink to install it. Might be worth trying
Whatsapp in general. Telegram with my wife. Messages with my kid.
That doesn’t sound annoying at all lol
I guess at some point the kids will get to Telegram (probably using a dumb phone at the moment?)
telegram isnt really save though, so you might want to not switch to it
Agreed. May best to get family and close friends on Signal right away. Telegram is horribly unsecure.
Telegram with my gf and family, discord with friends. Fb messenger is awful to say the least
Signal if possible, WhatsApp if not. I’m also trying out Session, but it’s still very much work-in-progress.
WhatsApp because where I am it’s pretty much the default app for everyone, friends, family etc, WhatsApp is the go to app here.
I use telegram and signal for different purposes and people.
I’m surprised no-one mentioned XMPP/Snikket nor matrix. Both platforms are FOSS, selfhostable and thus gives you total control over your means of communication. Check them out if you’re curious (I prefer matrix, but snikket is more lightweight and easier to selfhost).
Telegram for family, friends, work and actually for everything I can think of.
Discord for gaming with friends, not as a messenger but as voice comms mainly.
Whatsapp for very legacy stuff, haven’t had a notification in a couple of years. Maybe it’s time to uninstall, finally.
Hope i am not intruding, but you are aware of the privacy-shortcomings of Telegram? They are quite severe if one is not aware of them.
Mandatory “don’t put Signal and Telegram in the same sentence” notice. Not to be a snob, but Telegram is not “secure and private”, all chats are not end-to-end encrypted by default, everything is stored on Telegram’s servers with “forever-ever” retention. The end-to-end encryption is opt in, uses a dodgy encryption algorithm and has some limitations in terms of who you can contact and from what device etc.
Telegram is owned by Pavel Durov who also created the largest Russian social media platform VK, which later was overtaken by Russian state as a tool for crowd control and propaganda. Even if we assume that Pavel no longer has any ties with Russia and its “government”, his biography should still raise at least some questions around whether one should trust Telegram.
And finally, Telegram seems to be going the “everything app” route lately, which makes it a one stop shop of personal communication, public channels, news, bots, stories etc. (you name it). While it is not a bad thing in objective terms, these features are not built with privacy in mind, as that would pose quite a technical challenge. This means that Telegram’s privacy and security will only be sacrificed more and more to get more of the social features out of the door.
/rant over/
I agree with every point. The last paragraph doesn’t have to be a problem though: telegram has very open and really nice APIs and enjoys a lot of FOSS 3rd party apps (only matched by matrix). Of course, we can only enjoy that as long the API usage is still free to use…
The last paragraph doesn’t have to be a problem though
It is not yet, but the trajectory implies it may become a problem down the road. We’re, sadly, living this decade, where you can no longer ignore where a certain service is heading and how it monetises itself.
I like to give Pavel the benefit of the doubt and assume he was not a willing participant when Russia took over VK. That said, it still happened, so what is to stop them from taking over Telegram too whether he is complicit or not?
My preference is Signal Private Messenger app, but like you, I have problems getting some friends and family to use it. So for the ones that won’t, I just use Chomp SMS for my texting app.
The trick is, 90% of all your messages are probably with the same 1-3 persons. (spouse, friend, family or whatever.)
So just install the Signal app for these 1-3 persons on their phones, and you already have most of your communication going via Signal 👌🏼
That’s exactly how I do it. No way you can get your whole work group conversation over to something else, but the bulk is a smaller circle.
My issue with signal is that their desktop app sucks. No message sync, it needs the phone as a relay and it’s made with Electron.
Signal desktop is designed to be a stand alone app that uses the phone phone to first verify the connection via QR but after that relays messages, calls, erc direct from and to the server, inrependently of the phone app.
Did they change it recently or was I mistaken?
Mistaken
Signal >>>>>>>> WhatsApp > texting > Telegram >>>>>>> Messenger.
I’d put iMessage above WhatsApp, as long as it’s iMessage to iMessage.
Signal is wonderful.
