I daily drove Matrix for a while and honestly, the UI/UX isn't so good. Signal is the only platform I can reasonably get people on, and it's just a better user experience (stickers, nice look, fast messages, link previews, etc.).

I'm honestly sick of people saying some alternatives are great for everyone when they still have work to do, you can't even easily make encrypted groupchats on there. So much fragmentation, so little polish - still love the devs but like, be realistic

Great article and it is strange that Moxie doesn't really like Signal forks using their servers. Isn't what Moxie doing against the license of the project?

Signal is great but as written in the article there are problems with it. But the great thing about Signal is that it is really simple to use and there is nothing to really set up.

Element on the other hand has a kind of complicated UI. I am fine with the UI but I often hear new people complaining about it.

The matrix protocol is great and I love the decentralised aspect of it.

If you install the app on another device, sometimes old messages in an encrypted room won't appear and then you have to request a key from another session, get the device verified, etc. This process is kinda difficult to understand for me.

Matrix is quite good. Other alternatives are Briar and Anonymous Messenger. https://briarproject.org https://anonymousmessenger.ly

I think it would be nice to have a consumer focused document covering:

• Product risks.
• Roadmap of where we want to go.
• Feature implementation matrix of where we want to go.
• I would also like to know the challenges to what we want (feasibility? pros/cons?)

In addition: I don't want to depend on servers.
I don't want the risk of self hosting a server. I don't want a server that can be blocked. I don't want to trust client/server code. I don't want people/admins to know who I am talking to. I don't want people/admins to know where I'm talking from. I don't want admins to know about groups, the subject, or the members. I don't want to depend on an organization that can be controlled by government or ideology. I don't want to depend on anything that can be shutdown.

Status and Session seem to be the next evolution (though still not perfect).

• Matrix has no SMS support, it is a weak argument but it is one because some people prefer All-in-One Apps instead of installing 1000 apps.
• You can use Signal with burner Sim, the old argument .. but but it uses your phone number is nonsense.
• You can use Signal forks that work without phone number like e.g. Molly.
• It is correct that Matrix uses AWS, azure and co. as servers, however the metadata impact those servers can see or use or abuse is not given. This is proven, same like that the code is considerable good enough. From what I know the Matrix clients ... none of them nor the protocol got audited.
• Skipping each time a new player pops up instead of fixing the existent protocols and clients is not for everyone a solution.
• Most Matrix clients, at least on Desktop suck, it ends up with using alternative clients and then there is the problem of fragmentation and that those clients might even be more insecure or do not implement all feature.

I use both Matrix and Signal and they both suck in terms of usability and alternatives clients with better GUIs and resource usage.

Claiming over and over and over Matrix is the solution when it is not and had multiple times already incidents is cringe. There is metadata leakage, there is the group chat encryption problematic and and and, I do not even mention all problems. It will take years to address all of this.