I want to stop using WhatsApp because I fuckin hate it. Does anyone use XMPP regularly? It allows encryption so I was considering it.
The consideration is whether I will have to self host it or I can use some publicly hosted instances (like how there are open Matrix instances). Also whether it has support for desktop clients that run natively on Loonix without electron.
Please share your thoughts if you have experience. Feel free to suggest other alternatives too. I won’t mind that.
I don’t know much about XMPP but when I briefly looked at it there seemed to only be a focus on mobile platform and not much offering on desktop. Can I ask if you have considered Matrix?
XMPP is an open protocol, meaning that it can be integrated in any app you build around it, which also means that it can only be as good as the app turns out to be. The great strength of XMPP lies in its flexibility, so naturally there is a whole bunch of apps to choose from, also for desktop, like Adium or Pidgin
These are not generally good recommendations for XMPP desktop clients these days. Both have have experienced slow/inactive development in recent years, and don’t support modern XMPP features such as end-to-end encryption and multi-device synchronization. Pidgin is showing interest in catching up again, but I’ve no idea about plans for Adium’s future.
Good clients to recommend these days: Gajim or Dino (both Linux / Windows) or Beagle (MacOS). There are also web clients such as Movim.
I am not opposed to matrix. But the support for encryption in non-electron client seems like it’s not there yet. It seems harder and more resource intensive to self host than xmpp. Plus it has been getting very friendly with corporations lately so it makes me unsure about it’s future. And it has way more features than I want.
If XMPP doesn’t fit the bill for me I am down to use a publicly hosted matrix instance.
For an e2ee capable matrix client that doesn’t use electron, look at nheko. I have recently switched, and it is fantastic. You will need element temporarily to bootstrap keys, but after that, nheko will be able to do everything for you!
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I wasn’t able to retrieve the keys the last time around. Will try it again.
Ya try nheko again, key exchange should be working.
The key with Nheko probably is: the latest release is from April. AFAIK they are planning a new release after e2e is “finished”, but I guess final 10% is the toughest one…
In other words, one might need to use the nightly builds to get better experience.
I manually exported and imported the keys and it worked fine after that. So I don’t have to use element anymore.
Nice. I think I did do that once a while back too, so maybe key exchange isn’t working properly.
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