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
Can anyone recommend anything?
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.