In the past I've briefly looked at Signal for a messaging alternative. Because I've been seeing people talk a lot about Signal again recently, I looked again. It appears, as it did the last time I looked, that you can't receive or send messages to users outside of Signal, is that correct? If so, what is a good alternative to Google's messenger? I'm not too concerned about security, but am interested in using software developed & maintained outside of the US.
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@elaterite yes, that is correct, and by design.
Signal is focused on secure private messaging, there is only one mode: encrypted. This is the design goal, this blog post explains it in an approachable manner https://soatok.blog/2024/07/31/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-signal-competitor/.
I sadly do not know about alternatives for Google Messages (assuming phone context). AFAIK it does both SMS and RCS (rich communication services), the latter is the interoperable thing, so RCS messenger might be a search term.
Hope this helps a bit.
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@crypticcelery Thanks, I'll look into it.
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@elaterite we use Signal for our family chat - keeps my trans family safe. But mine is set to only work with invites from people who already have me in their contacts so no-one could search me there. It is very private so no ‘reaching out’ function at all unless both the seeker and the sought choose that option. I think there’s also an issue with criminality (anything truly private appeals to a certain demographic) but because it is effectively siloed (so far) that has not affected us.
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@Janet_52square I understand. So far, I'm glad I don't have to worry about that, but I'm so sorry that you and your family and friends have to be concerned nowadays.
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@elaterite afaik there are no 3rd-party/foss alternatives for Google Messages if you use it for RCS - because of proprietary nature of it (and RCS itself if basically SMS/MMS "amplification" to make communucatuon more like a messenger/conversation type). On the other hand if you use it for simple SMSing, you can substitute it with any SMS app out there w/o issues.
https://news.itsfoss.com/quik-sms-app/
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@nickelson Great, thanks! I'll look into it!
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@elaterite
True, it's from app to app, so both need the app. I use it and really like it. SMS with any privacy conscious app will do, but many have ads. Signal used to allow sending and receiving SMS but that was discontinued. I would actively tell people that I use That so they can either contact me with Signal, or send an SMS if they don't want to. SMS is less secure though.
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@pascaline I don't message very much. I'd just like something non-google and FOSS.
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@elaterite
I'm a bit old-skool but for simple messaging SMS still works. Signal is good though and easy to set up.
@snaptophobic
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@elaterite
For me it is not so much that I want to share 'secrets' with my contacts, but more that I don't want to promote surveillance capitalism.
I use signal, but there are alternatives to that, for example Matrix, but they probably don't offer the same type of functionality as google products.
see also:
https://mastodon.social/@urlyman/113922767601219756
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@Otis_Scops Ya, that would be my goal, to subvert the capitalist surveillance complex. I'll look at Matrix. But I guess I should have been clearer in what I was looking for: a FOSS alternative to Google's Messenger. Thanks for the suggestion!
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@elaterite
I guess Signal is more common than Matrix, but like I said, I don't know how they compare with g Msgr.
I've never used g products,except g maps...
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@elaterite xmpp. It's better than signal since it can be self hosted and is decentralized. It also doesn't require a phone number and has great desktop support. Check out https://conversations.im/ for Android and https://gajim.org/ for Linux and Windows.
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@bhhaskin Thanks! It doesn't look like XMPP is what I'm looking for. I should have been clearer in my toot about Signal. I'm looking for a FOSS alternative to Google's Messenger. I don't message much (like almost not at all). It's mostly just to receive access codes via 2FA messages.
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@elaterite gotcha. You are just looking for SMS/RCS
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@bhhaskin Right. Actually, probably just SMS. I need to go look up those definitions. On a Linux desktop I'm a wizz (since the late '90s). But I was a very late cell phone adopter (like ~2011 for my first phone--lol) and I rather hate the things. I leave mine at home most of the time. So I'm pretty clueless about phones.
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