Edit - y’all are awesome! I’m gonna check out all of these - thank you!!

–

A family member is moving out of country and convinced the best way to keep in touch is with WhatsApp. I really don’t want to install any Meta shit on my phone.

Any recommendation for a FOSS or other alternative from a company that’s less of an ethical dumpster fire?

  • Palestine WIll Be Free@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    5·
    6 hours ago

    Signal then SimpleX. SimpleX is really cool and new but you can’t have groups larger than 50 people. It was recently smeared by Wired as being a haven for neo Nazi’s but that’s bullshit unless you want to accuse Monero of being solely for illicit deeds and money laundering.

    Also, there’s Matrix which is like a federated Discord and NOSTR which is also being smeared but is a quite promising technology that Jack Dorsey was looking into and Edward Snowden uses.

    • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
      111·
      15 hours ago

      Seconded - it even has a much better way of dealing with media attachments.

      Just make sure you configure a PIN and backups.

  • jbaber@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    245·
    16 hours ago

    For my family member who moved out of country, signal’s voice quality was not very good. WhatsApp’s quality was better than a regular phone call, very impressive.

    Also, outside the US WhatsApp is some kind of standard the way rich Americans think iMessage is. Companies will ask her to contact them on WhatsApp, so she’ll have to have it regardless of your personal involvement.

    There’s also jitsi.

    • riot@lemmy.world
      6·
      12 hours ago

      Also, outside the US WhatsApp is some kind of standard the way rich Americans think iMessage is. Companies will ask her to contact them on WhatsApp, so she’ll have to have it regardless of your personal involvement.

      That really depends on the country that the family member is moving to, and is not an absolute thing world-wide.

    • Vitaly@feddit.uk
      3·
      16 hours ago

      Do you think signal’s voice quality is not as good as whatsapp? It might be because they have less servers than whatsapp

      • mexicancartel@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        1·
        4 hours ago

        Whatsapp and telegram calls are P2P for contacts by default. P2P might reduce call issues which i’m not sure signal does that or not

  • airikr@lemmy.ml
    12·
    15 hours ago

    XMPP. Oh, wait, company based.

    • Signal if you want phone number based signups.
    • SimpleX Chat if you want to experience full privacy.
    • Threema if you want basically the same as SimpleX Chat, but want to give them money first.

    But XMPP would be the best option. Snikket is recommended for easy setup.

  • LifeLemons@lemmy.mlEnglish
    161·
    16 hours ago

    Signal or XMPP are good option

    XMPP may be a bit overwhelming as you need to select a provider and a client. Doesn’t require phone number.

    Signal is private and easy to use like whatsapp. Needs phone number to use.

    Telegram is cool but encryption isnt enabled by default, would like to avoid it for this. Cool for public groups.

    Edit: Teleram isnt good at all, dont use it. Look reason in the replies

    • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      192·
      16 hours ago

      Telegram’s MTProto has, to my knowledge, never undergone any security audits. It’s a roll-your-own-encryption, which is always dubious when you’re unwilling to have it audited. I would never suggest Telegram, even for cleartext communications.

      • mexicancartel@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        1·
        4 hours ago

        Are telegram’s secret chats using MTProto? Also i have seen many claims saying it have been audited. They do public bug hunt contest with huge sum as reward to test this afaik

  • unknown1234_5@kbin.earth
    1·
    11 hours ago

    I’d recommend just regular texting, but if for whatever reason you can’t/don’t want to the. matrix should work, it’s basically foss discord.