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?
Yes, it is unfortunate that forward secrecy is missing from all of these. Is there any encryption mechanism for text which maintains PFS? I haven’t tried AGE personally.
Haha takes me back, the bots. IRC was much prevalent back then, I suppose I’m just nostalgic. I won’t argue against Matrix.
Thanks, so we’re on the same page.
Edit: there seems to be some work going into PFS
https://otr.cypherpunks.ca/
https://www.cs.umd.edu/~jkatz/papers/forward-enc-full.pdf