It seems like yet another good messenger app has become shit. I am of course talking about wire. I REALLY like where it didn't need my phone number to sign up, unlike signal does. Also they heavily market it towards corporates and governments.
Back when I first started to use it, they had the old UI. It was good looking, it had a lot of normie fun stuff like scribble and GIF (I can live without it but always a +) and it worked fine at start. It didn't need my phone number, so it was a BIG +. So I started to use it with my friends and family.
After finally convincing them to join here, issues started popping up. Messages aren't being notified to the users. I mean fun stuff is good but THE ONE THING eveey messenger MUST have is to NOTIFY THE PEOPLE. I tried turning on websocket connection, helping my peers troubleshoot and all but NO. NO NOTIFICATION WHATSOVER TO THEM, or rarely they get a delayed one.
Left it temporarily in hunt for other apps. Session was too buggy in connecting to nodes, simpleX is a bit too hard to connect with links and stuff, briar is also like simplex, so after long time I came back to wire in desperation hoping they have fixed this, as again IT IS THE ONE THING A MESSAGING APP MUST HAVE.
But nope. NO NOTIFICATIONS. It came to the point I can't communicate with them unless I SMS them (I don't use whatsapp). And finally, I took the decision. I apologized to them and deleted my wire account. Thinking for now let's f***ing use signal (the other option is whatsapp so yeah).
WHY WE CAN'T HAVE A SINGLE GOOD APP THAT BALANCES BETWEEN CONVENIENCE, USABILITY AND PRIVACY? Is there any app, even paid ones that fits as a perfect alternative? (By payment I mean crypto based, otherwise it's basically as bad as giving the phone number)
You can use threema without a phone number or Google services and you can (as of recently) pay with cash.
Isn't it iOS only?
No I use it on Android for a few years already.
Nope, Android is actually the best option as it's the one that lets you completely avoid Apple and Google's services.
(Granted I got mine through the play store, not quite that concerned)