Open source alternatives to Instagram, TikTok, and WhatsApp raise funds on Kickstarter | TechCrunch

[winterfrost@lemm.ee]

I'm all for fediverse.

[notsteve_@lemmy.ca]

Ah ok that makes sense. In my head this guy was maintaining four codebases which did seem impossible

[jagged_circle@feddit.nl]

It is not open source. That's why its not allowed on fdroid. It has parts that are open source, like most apps. But the app itself is closed source and a risk

[nursery2787@lemmy.ml]

Simplex is a much closer alternative

[suoko@feddit.it]

The number of cell phone companies is so high nowadays that it could be compared to the number of fediverse instances.
They would just need a prepackaged docker to set it all up and they would just do it.
No need for eternal history of messages and media, they could manage it a la WhatsApp.

[jackalope@lemmy.ml]

The only part that isn't open source is their spam filter.

[jagged_circle@feddit.nl]

Nope. Google deps

[sudneo@lemm.ee]

I don't know how sup will be, but signal is a mature product, run by a nonprofit, with functional apps etc. I moved my group of friends and my family years ago and it has all the essential features. People want stuff that just works, especially for talking and communicating daily. I doubt sup will be the same level of maturity while also offering the same security and privacy features as signal does, at least for years to come.

[scrollone@feddit.it]

Also, Google will kill RCS sooner or later.

[itjustdonn@slrpnk.net]

Isn't Hubzilla the next one they made?

[matombo@feddit.org]

still more work then just letting google handle it for them, so wont happen

[perfectly_boiled_pizza@lemmy.world]

I worked for years in one of the biggest in telecom companies in Europe. They supported RCS for about 2 years, before they stopped. I tried to restart the project, but there was no interest. It is viewed as a waste of money since customers already use Google Messages, iMessage, Facebook Messenger, Snapchat and WhatsApp.

[warmaster@lemmy.world]

Centralized. Not good. Conversations is on fdroid and is decentralized, federated, and uses a mature and battle tested protocol. If I wanted something new, I would prefer Matrix over Signal.

[deway@lemmy.world]

People act like we need an alternative to Whatsapp but XMPP/Jabber exists and is much older.

[renzev@lemmy.world]

I tried using it with a friend, and it completely nuked my phone's battery, while my friend's phone silently killed it (likely for using too much battery). I understand that truly privacy-respecting messengers will always use slightly more power than apps that use the google notification thing, but simplex is just a complete power hog beyond any reasonable limit. Hopefully they fix it at some point, it seems like a pretty solid messenger otherwise, and their approach to privacy and anonymity is unparalleled, at least in theory.

[exfed@lemm.ee]

Not open source

There are lots of good reasons to be upset with how Signal produces builds. And maybe Signal has no good reason why they keep opaque dependencies. But by every common definition of the term, Signal is open source. Being on FDroid is not the definition of open source.

Please don't gatekeep. There are better ways to criticize Signal. This is not one of them.

[rocket_dragon@lemmy.dbzer0.com]

Diaspora is the fediverse version of Facebook. It hasn't taken off quite like lemmy or mastodon and it's much older, but still seems to be in active development.

Convincing family is hard, I have a lot of them moved over to Linux already, but they don't want to quit Facebook

[nonfuinoncuro@lemm.ee]

what happened to pidgin

[viking@infosec.pub]

Nobody but a handful of nerds uses it though. You won't get your grandparents and less tech literate friends to leave whatsapp in droves, simple as that.

[jagged_circle@feddit.nl]

If your releases include closed source blobs, then your software is closed source.