I’ve been working really hard to research and rank messaging apps by their privacy. The more green boxes the better.

I plan to turn PrivacySpreadsheet.com into a place for privacy data on everything from cars to video games. It’s all open source too on GitHub.

Not trying to advertise, I just put a lot of time into researching all this, and I want to share it since I think others could benefit.

  • Southern Wolf@pawb.social
    9·
    5 months ago

    I think you left off Session from this list. Based on everything I know, it’ll probably come in number 2, or even number 1 if it beats SimpleX.

    • 𝕽𝖚𝖆𝖎𝖉𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍@midwest.social
      5·
      5 months ago

      SimpleX may be one of the best, privacy-wise, but until they implement multi-device support with shared history, it’s simply a non-starter. Not being able to access a conversation on both my phone and my computer puts a messaging app near the bottom of any usability list.

      SimpleX is close to implementing it; the last time I checked, there was a way to link two devices, but it was exceedingly cumbersome - too difficult to ask a non-tech person to work through - and the history syncing didn’t work. If they get that worked out, it’ll be a strong contender; I only wish it’d been part of the original design and not a tack-on, as I expect it’ll consequently be a major source of bugs for the project.

      • BearOfaTime@lemm.ee
        21·
        5 months ago

        It’s kind of there now - you can link devices, but you have to manually switch between them. So only one device is active at a time. Not what people are looking for, but it’s a start.

        Not really useful for me, yet, but I like their approach. They didn’t just throw out a fully-functional use-anywhere but flawed system, just to appease users. They’ve remained focused on keeping it secure. It’s an Agile development approach, which works really well for stuff like this.

        My guess is it’ll be more fluid within the year (at least I hope so). I’d really like to switch to it, especially since you can self-host. Would be useful for my family, and could possibly make getting friends on board easier.

        • 𝕽𝖚𝖆𝖎𝖉𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍@midwest.social
          1·
          5 months ago

          Yes, it’s coming along. Just very slowly. I think I first tried SimpleX a year ago? It isn’t quite near where I’d feel comfortable suggesting that my friends and family switch to it, and at this rate, it’ll yet be a while.

          I wish them luck, though.