I wish one of them had something like the WhatsApp statuses. It's one of the main conversation starters for me and reasons why I stay on WhatsApp. If Signal were to get statuses, I'd probably switch immediately.
Poll: Switching from WhatsApp
701–710 of 972 posts
Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp
#702Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Asking to leave WhatsApp is like cancelling your contract with your ISP and going offline just because you don't like the company. If I choose to stop using my ISP, I have no need to "go offline". I can simply switch ISPs and I still get the exact same internet. This is why we must not fall for this "critical social infrastructure" trap. No one company deserves our business. We can and should go elsewhere. Messagin…
> Matrix ... the only "modern" messaging system that wants to allow people to switch providers while still messaging the same people. But does it really do so in practice? If I'm using Element/Matrix and a colleague is using WhatsApp, or Signal, or Telegram, or Briar. Can they reliably send me messages? Can I reliably send them messages? I've been told it's possible, but more than one person I know has tried and fail…
> But does it really do so in practice? If I'm using Element/Matrix and a colleague is using WhatsApp, or Signal, or Telegram, or Briar. Can they reliably send me messages? Can I reliably send them messages?
Matrix is not the provider. Matrix is the protocol/idea. Element is both an app and a service.
What is common, reliable, and achievable in practice: I decide I no longer like New Vector (who run the matrix.org home server). I switch to Purism's matrix server. I no longer am doing business with New Vector, yet I can still chat with everybody that is using New Vector's matrix service.
Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp
#703Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If you care about such things, I think Signal wins hands down. And the UX is fine, just not quite as good as Telegram in my view. Signal (by design, probably) has no chat sync or backup. That's a dealbreaker in my book. Edit: looks like chat history transfer has been a feature since June 2020: https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/9/21280664/signal-chat-trans...
It does have a backup functionality, which unlike WhatsApp's doesn't store your messages unencrypted. It also doesn't force you to use a specific storage provider. If you want to have it synced, you can point your favorite sync client at it. https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007059752-Ba... Additionally, they've introduced an optional PIN which you can use to recover profile, contacts and settings when…
I have Signal on Desktop and iOS. I would like to save my chat history to an external hard drive. How do I do that?
Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp
#704Earlier quoted context omitted.
How is it possible for this answer to be first... Really HN? WhatsApp is critical infrastructure?? Excluding company ownership, what is the crucial difference between all IM listed? There's LITTLE DIFFERENCE, they all serve the same purpose, feature parity is pretty much there. When you add company ownership to the mix, WhatsApp is owned by fucking Facebook. Let that sear in your mind.
>Excluding company ownership, what is the crucial difference between all IM listed? The crucial difference is that in my life everyone is on WhatsApp, and no one is on any of the other IMs. That is the difference. And I don't use the word everyone here lightly, I mean it (99,9%) literally. My family, my parents, my friends, my colleagues, my 91 year old grandmother, my potential clients, my actual clients, the suppor…
> I can't speak for other countries, but in the Netherlands WhatsApp is undeniably a part of your social infrastructure.
It is in Brazil too, without a shadow of a doubt.
Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp
#705> Verification codes are currently delayed across several providers because so many new people are trying to join Signal right now (we can barely register our excitement). We are working with carriers to resolve this as quickly as possible. Hang in there.
Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp
#706Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Matrix ... the only "modern" messaging system that wants to allow people to switch providers while still messaging the same people. But does it really do so in practice? If I'm using Element/Matrix and a colleague is using WhatsApp, or Signal, or Telegram, or Briar. Can they reliably send me messages? Can I reliably send them messages? I've been told it's possible, but more than one person I know has tried and fail…
> But does it really do so in practice? If I'm using Element/Matrix and a colleague is using WhatsApp, or Signal, or Telegram, or Briar. Can they reliably send me messages? Can I reliably send them messages? Matrix is not the provider. Matrix is the protocol/idea. Element is both an app and a service. What is common, reliable, and achievable in practice: I decide I no longer like New Vector (who run the matrix.org ho…
But you're still only talking about apps that run on top of Matrix ... your initial comment made it sound like it was possible to interact with people on WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, etc.
I know that Matrix isn't the provider, that's why I mentioned Element/Matrix. I know that you can communicate between services that are all running on top of Matrix. That's why I specifically asked about other services. As I say, your comment seemed to imply it was possible, but most of the information I have suggests it isn't.
Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp
#707Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's about time someone made a unified messenger client that combines all these conversations and hides the detail of which service you are using to talk to friends.
Is there a reason why there isn't a client that can work with matrix/signal/telegram/any service with open source clients available? Are there any existing OSS projects which have made any progress in this domain? People are right, it doesn't solve the issue with Whatsapp, but it would mitigate some of the barrier caused by the network effect. I'm also sceptical of walled gardens, something usable in this domain woul…
They wont allow it. Then they would have to pay the cost for server infra while not being able to push ads via the client. The problem is how to get money to pay employees and make profit. If you want an open messeging app/protocol it would have to be mostly peer to peer to save on server cost, and developed by voulantenteers, and servers hosted by the community.
Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp
#708Earlier quoted context omitted.
Covered your first point in my other comment here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25670543 . Not copy-pasting because I don't want to come off as spammy. Isn't MTProto proprietary as well? Also, the option to delete on a periodic basis is not an alternative to not having things stored in the first place. That said, there is no way you can verify that copies are not retained on the servers in either case (WhatsA…
> Isn't MTProto proprietary as well? Clients are open-source, so you can see the code for e2e encryption. > That said, there is no way you can verify that copies are not retained on the servers in either case (WhatsApp or Telegram) so there's not much to argue there. This is exactly true, so I actually prefer Matrix.
> Clients are open-source, so you can see the code for e2e encryption.
Cool. Unfortunately the cases where it's applicable are too limited for my liking.
> Matrix.
Matrix is great, I just wish I had more luck onboarding my network onto it. I really enjoy using Element.
Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp
#709Earlier quoted context omitted.
> As a reminder encrypted messages aren't easily searchable That's false. Encrypted messages aren't searchable by third-parties. End-to-end encrypted messages are searchable by only the communicating parties regardless of where they're stored. There's also the issue of mirroring by third-parties, but then we're talking about data in transit versus at rest, your backup methods, and so forth. (And I don't have time to…
Building and maintaining a super fast searching index on a phone is not an easy task or even doable. Telegram is used a lot in developing countries which are using phones made 3-7 years ago. Or phones that are made recently but with old chips and tech. Maintaining a search index across literally millions or billions (some groups are really really big) messages isn't something your phone can reasonably do. I do wish t…
This is patently false. Local indexing and search will always outperform a network call
Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp
#710How can I switch if my friends use WhatsApp?