It seems like I constantly see “X secure messaging option is actually bullshit because it was purchased by Dr. Evil and Y is actually just e-mailing your messages directly to Xi Jinping.”
Is there an authoritatively “best” one I can just…download and setup easily? Is Signal good? Or do I need to solder a Raspberry Pi to the flux modulator of my home Linux NAS GUI, etc…?
I’d rather use a Swiss messenger than basically any other country, but yeah Threema is not mainstream and might as well not exist to most normals.
I’d trust them personally over any other country though, and I did once make my own messenger that used a few different encryptions (main one was serpent) and 2 passwords (using a lot of variations on both with slightly dif encryption types in multiple rounds which I’ll be honest was slow) . But yeah most normal people need to at least know something is mainstream/popular before they will ever install an app.
Signal if you trust them to not leak your identifier and because its gotten the most mass adoption.
Simplex if you can convince your circle to use it because it has no identifiers and is user friendly.
@ParetoOptimalDev @ivanafterall i did read that #simplex wasn’t as reliable as some alternatives. happy to be told that’s garbage though
I use signal but if I could convince everyone I knew to use a messenger for security it would be Threema. No chance of that happening it’s hard enough convincing people to use signal.
My understanding is that Briar is ethically the best, but no one uses it. Signal is the best if you actually want to use it to communicate. Telegram is where the pirates and drugs are.
Here’s the long version: when a dev is making a messaging app, they eventually have to make a choice: do I integrate SMS/MMS? If they want to make this app a daily driver messaging platform to help you ungoogle your android phone, they have to integrate SMS/MMS, which has security vulnerabilities and limits how secure they can make their app. More importantly, people do not tolerate ads on their messaging app, so they flat-out cannot monetize it without losing their entire userbase. If they don’t integrate SMS/MMS, they are creating a closed ecosystem, and a closed ecosystem can be profitable. If leadership changes, the new leaders might decide to turn their users into either cutomers or products.
Telegram is not a secure messaging app.
Is that the one Amazon purchased?
No, Telegram is a Russia controlled service not using encryption at all unless you specifically turn it on - and never for groups.
Being Russia controlled they put out a lot of disinfo and so way too many people and news outlets still include it in the “secure messaging” category.
