this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2023
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I only use it because there's no way I could convince my friends and family to move to anything else.
There's no point in switching to another app if I then literally couldn't communicate with the people I need to through it.
I've been using Beeper a month or two. They had a long waiting list, and initially it was subscription only, but they are working on smashing through the waiting list and have changed to a freemium model where you get it for free and (eventually) they will have extra features for subscribers.
Basically, it's one chat app that connects to lots of different chat services.
If you're technical, the app is a fork of Element, and the service uses matrix bridges to connect to different chat services, but it's all presented in a (somewhat) polished way. The wait list is because they are still struggling with scaling and quirks but if you're on Lemmy you're probably already well familiar with putting up with this.
It covers heaps of chat networks. Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Signal, Telegram, and more. It also will let you SMS (unlike Signal π¬).
You can also connect to Matrix rooms but you don't seem to be able to connect to an existing Matrix account (it uses a Beeper matrix account to connect).
It doesn't do video/audio calls so they recommend you leave the original app installed and disable message notifications (but leave on call notifications) if you use this.
app is closed source :/
Looks cool though
Yep. But if you're keen on this stuff, you can self host matrix and the bridges and do it yourself. Their bridges are open source, just not their apps whose features are their business model.
A modern-day Trillian.
That's interesting!
I'm just not sure the "security" of WhatsApp is preserved in that case but it's certainly better than not being able to talk to certain people at all.
Also I think these kind of meta chat apps have been tried before and it usually doesn't end very well so I'm not sure I would be super optimistic.
Any of the chat provider can break their link to beeper and since they probably don't really care about it it shouldn't very reliable.
But a cool find nonetheless!
Nice. Looking into this one. Although in reality I use about 95% whatsapp just because everyone else does. Wish we could all just switch to Signal or even Telegram but nah... Whatsapp is so engrained everywhere that it is not going to go away anytime soon.
Well, that's super neat and very useful for my circumstances. I'm moving outside of the US soon to a place where WhatsApp is dominant, but I still want to use SMS/MMS with family and friends in the US since I doubt they'll make the switch. I've been using WhatsApp for about a year now while coordinating stuff for my soon-to-be home and I've come to the conclusion that WhatsApp is complete garbage.
Signal kinda put themselves out of the messaging app battle when they dropped SMS support
I totally get why they did it, but I think a lot of people stopped using it for this reason, unfortunately
I don't really want to start a debate on the Signal SMS dropout but ...
They could have put a big red warning and a disclaimer you have to read once for the unsecured SMS. It would have been fine.
Yes, you would have to maintain that but I think it would definitely have been worth it considering how much reach they lost dropping this feature.
I stopped using Signal when they did, and that's one less tech user advertising their secure app.
It's a shame because I think this will slowly kill the project.
I tend to agree
I don't think anyone uses or cares about SMS where I live
Lucky you. SMS is still the primary way people message each other where I live.
That's rough. I guess at least it's universal
I don't mind it so much. At least it's not Facebook Messenger or Whatsapp. I'd rather die than put those on my phone.
Facebook Messenger is dogshit but WhatsApp works well imo. More features than sms or even rcs. Dogshit privacy though, even if security might be good.
I've never used it, and I never intend to. I know SMS isn't ideal for privacy, but at least I can use FOSS apps to interact with it, and it doesn't mandate intrusive features like "reactions" or read receipts
I'm not sure what's intrusive about reactions but you can turn off read receipts. Yeah it isn't ideal either but video calls, sending media/files, group chats (do NOT suggest MMS. Never MMS.) and so on. Lots of features, secure, but yeah privacy is dogshit. Signal is great but I've only managed to convert a few people to it.
I'd welcome the chance to use something more privacy based than Signal
I just never like reactions in an app used for general messaging. They make sense on a more memey plaything like Discord, but not in a messaging app that I'm supposed to take seriously as my primary way to communicate. In fact, simple text only without any other formatting would be ideal. That's kinda what I like about this place, with the exception of upvotes/downvotes, which could be removed for all I care.
I think images can be useful and even reactions when it's a (large) group chat. Haven't had anyone use them 1-1
I've got a group chat going in SMS with several family members, and I always cringe when I get the message "[brother] laughed at an image," and I don't even know what fucking image it was because I don't have an iPhone.
Reactions just seem like something that should have never been implemented in a place where they're not universally supported. Maybe I'd feel different with Signal, since I could simply not pay any attention to them. But if someone can't simply have the time to say "I like that," then why even react at all? I don't need to know that you lived, laughed, loved at my image.
I think it's less annoying with a large group chat to have people react to an image than 20 identical messages. I've seen some do group votes through that (π vs π) which seems like a good use case. Tbh I haven't seen people use reactions much so probably partly because of that they don't bother me.
I guess it would be preferable to getting all the disembodied "x laughed at an image" or "x loved an image" messages without even knowing which image it refers to. One could simply ignore the feature if it were less intrusive.
Yeah, I guess I'm not sure about the actual statistics. I do know it was the point when I realized I wouldn't personally use Signal because everyone I know uses SMS, SMS federates with email, and if I tried switching to a non-SMS app, I'd be screaming into a void.
The only other message apps people around here use are Snapchat, FB Messenger, and WhatsApp, and I'd rather cut people off than use any of those.
same here. Heck, even Nextcloud Talk is more sophisticated than frickin' WhatsApp these days...
Same but replace WhatsApp with messenger and iMessage.
I literally installed Telegram/Signal on my families devices, synced their contacts with the app, and said βif you want timely responses, message me hereβ
I think this could help you.
Interesting Iβll look into it thanks