this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2021
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Privacy
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My rundown
If you want anonymity:
1- element, with a self hosted server , or just on any open instance. There is a lot of metadata storage involved. If you want to run it through tor. mind the IP leakage as it uses WebRTC for voice and video calls
2-Wire: You need to trust the company behind it as server code is closed source, but in terms of usability, It is unbeatable IMO, they store more metadata on you compared to Signal
4- XMPP: you can self host an xmpp server if you have the know how. I have used it but was disappointed, most apps and software handle encryption very poorly. and both you and your interlocutor need to have accounts on servers running the same protocol add-ons. quite a messy situation.
3- Jami: P2P secure private communication, has some connectivity problems. but worth a try with people curious enough to join you in
4- Briar: basic chat app with strong encryption. could be used in a mesh network, suitable for situation like protests and big gatherings.
4- Threema : never used it, to use it you need to pay a subscription fee
6- wikr : they say its good
5- Session: still in its infancy. no video or phone calls yet. it was audited back in the time when it relied on onion routing, now they have switched to LokiNet. that audit is no more valid. + they rolled back on Perfect Forward secrecy.
Phone number registration:
1- Signal: Best in class in terms of conversation encryption. with a lot of features. I might be biased but I don't trust the team, especially with the latest server situation.
No subscription fee for Threema, it is a one time app purchase (3€ I think).
Would not recommend Wire since they got bought by some US hedgefund or so and transferred all operations into the US AFAIK.
IMHO XMPP is in no way worse than element/matrix when it comes to encryption (using the same client everywhere, not a mix of 3rd party clients that in the case of Matrix often even don't support encryption at all). But lets agree to disagree on that ;)
In matrix we have element that is the most up-to-date feature rich and E2EE supported on every platform. other community developped apps could catch up to element but are not essential for the success of matrix.
In XMPP we don't have a cross platform compatible app. which could detract a lot of users. my main concern though are features implemented through add-ons. so users have to investigate each instance to make sure they have access to things like encrypted calls. this is a detremental to XMPP wider adoption.