Cloudron makes it easy to run web apps like WordPress, Nextcloud, GitLab on your server. Find out more or install now.


Skip to content
  • Categories
  • Recent
  • Tags
  • Popular
  • Bookmarks
  • Search
Skins
  • Light
  • Cerulean
  • Cosmo
  • Flatly
  • Journal
  • Litera
  • Lumen
  • Lux
  • Materia
  • Minty
  • Morph
  • Pulse
  • Sandstone
  • Simplex
  • Sketchy
  • Spacelab
  • United
  • Yeti
  • Zephyr
  • Dark
  • Cyborg
  • Darkly
  • Quartz
  • Slate
  • Solar
  • Superhero
  • Vapor

  • Default (No Skin)
  • No Skin
Collapse
Brand Logo

Cloudron Forum

Apps | Demo | Docs | Install
  1. Cloudron Forum
  2. Off-topic
  3. Best privacy chat apps

Best privacy chat apps

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Off-topic
135 Posts 26 Posters 62.9k Views 23 Watching
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as topic
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
  • marcusquinnM marcusquinn

    Chatting with @humptydumpty about alternatives to Discord, so thought I'd share my conclusions:

    • Signal seems the easiest for people used to Whatsapp, Discord, Messenger, Whatever
    • Telegram seems good but Signal being open-source seems better.
    • Matrix / Element / Mattermost - too quirky and poor mobile experience.
    • Rocket.Chat the best of our current Cloudron options but higher RAM needs.
    • Jitsi & Jami look like the best of the App Wishlist alternatives.
    • Tox looks OKish for desktop but no mobile.

    Hope that helps some - anything better than the above I've missed?

    L Offline
    L Offline
    LoudLemur
    wrote on last edited by
    #99

    @marcusquinn

    Session
    https://getsession.org
    Session will soon support video over Lokinet.

    Berty
    https://berty.tech/
    Berty is based on IPFS (Inter Planetary File System), and near release. Keep an eye on it.

    Cwtch
    https://cwtch.im/

    marcusquinnM 1 Reply Last reply
    2
    • L LoudLemur

      @marcusquinn

      Session
      https://getsession.org
      Session will soon support video over Lokinet.

      Berty
      https://berty.tech/
      Berty is based on IPFS (Inter Planetary File System), and near release. Keep an eye on it.

      Cwtch
      https://cwtch.im/

      marcusquinnM Offline
      marcusquinnM Offline
      marcusquinn
      wrote on last edited by
      #100

      @LoudLemur Thanks. Session I like, worth a follow: twitter.com/session_app Anyone can DM me for an ID to connect if you want to test anything.

      Video calls will be the game-changer for that, at least if they can have a comparable quality to FaceTime/Zoom, which are currently the best-of-(non-open-source)-breed in my experience.

      Berty & Cwtch I need to try, both also sounds very cool.

      The original point of this post being "Off-topic", was for non self-hosted, or not being dependent on self-hosting. The kinda thing you could give your folks to use and they'd have a low friction experience, and it would work well enough for them to also like and recommend to friends once they were also onboard. (something I still even struggle to convince people that really ought to trust me on, because lazyness & what's the point inertia is a very real thing targeted by the spyware that has become ubiquitous with "social media" and "big tech".

      Web Design https://www.evergreen.je
      Development https://brandlight.org
      Life https://marcusquinn.com

      1 Reply Last reply
      2
      • marcusquinnM Offline
        marcusquinnM Offline
        marcusquinn
        wrote on last edited by
        #101

        Have created a "Cloudron" Group in Session, for both testing, and off-the-record chat (well, as much as all other members have a record). DM me for my Session ID. It's probably safe to post publicly, but no hurry to find out otherwise from haste ๐Ÿ™‚

        Web Design https://www.evergreen.je
        Development https://brandlight.org
        Life https://marcusquinn.com

        L 1 Reply Last reply
        3
        • marcusquinnM Offline
          marcusquinnM Offline
          marcusquinn
          wrote on last edited by marcusquinn
          #102

          Anyone tried this "Status" app to the above aims? Looks intriguing at least:

          • https://status.im/
          • https://status.im/get/
          • https://cryptonews.com/coins/status/
          • https://apps.apple.com/us/app/status-private-communication/id1178893006
          • https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=im.status.ethereum

          Web Design https://www.evergreen.je
          Development https://brandlight.org
          Life https://marcusquinn.com

          jdaviescoatesJ 1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • marcusquinnM marcusquinn

            Anyone tried this "Status" app to the above aims? Looks intriguing at least:

            • https://status.im/
            • https://status.im/get/
            • https://cryptonews.com/coins/status/
            • https://apps.apple.com/us/app/status-private-communication/id1178893006
            • https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=im.status.ethereum
            jdaviescoatesJ Offline
            jdaviescoatesJ Offline
            jdaviescoates
            wrote on last edited by
            #103

            @marcusquinn while there are few good interesting ideas floating around in the web 3 space, and loads of money sloshing around to help experiment with such ideas, personally I find it mostly to be a big turn off for being a slow, expensive, and environmental nightmare. ๐Ÿ™‚

            I use Cloudron with Gandi & Hetzner

            marcusquinnM 1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • ? Offline
              ? Offline
              A Former User
              wrote on last edited by
              #104

              Oh gosh they incorporate โ€œweb3โ€ ๐Ÿ˜ž

              1 Reply Last reply
              1
              • jdaviescoatesJ jdaviescoates

                @marcusquinn while there are few good interesting ideas floating around in the web 3 space, and loads of money sloshing around to help experiment with such ideas, personally I find it mostly to be a big turn off for being a slow, expensive, and environmental nightmare. ๐Ÿ™‚

                marcusquinnM Offline
                marcusquinnM Offline
                marcusquinn
                wrote on last edited by
                #105

                @jdaviescoates Wait until you see how much energy humans consume to do the things the miners are replacing ๐Ÿ˜ฌ

                Web Design https://www.evergreen.je
                Development https://brandlight.org
                Life https://marcusquinn.com

                jdaviescoatesJ 1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • marcusquinnM marcusquinn

                  @jdaviescoates Wait until you see how much energy humans consume to do the things the miners are replacing ๐Ÿ˜ฌ

                  jdaviescoatesJ Offline
                  jdaviescoatesJ Offline
                  jdaviescoates
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #106

                  @marcusquinn like what? What are they/ have they replaced. Nothing as far as I'm aware.

                  A single Bitcoin transaction uses more energy than an average U.S. household uses in 2 months!

                  I mean, perhaps you're referring to how much banks still invest in fossil fuels? But if you think web3 is going to replace banks any time soon you are wrong ๐Ÿ™‚

                  A 10-year old iPhone could process more transactions per second than the entirety of the Bitcoin network it's so insanely slow.

                  I use Cloudron with Gandi & Hetzner

                  marcusquinnM L scookeS 3 Replies Last reply
                  0
                  • jdaviescoatesJ jdaviescoates

                    @marcusquinn like what? What are they/ have they replaced. Nothing as far as I'm aware.

                    A single Bitcoin transaction uses more energy than an average U.S. household uses in 2 months!

                    I mean, perhaps you're referring to how much banks still invest in fossil fuels? But if you think web3 is going to replace banks any time soon you are wrong ๐Ÿ™‚

                    A 10-year old iPhone could process more transactions per second than the entirety of the Bitcoin network it's so insanely slow.

                    marcusquinnM Offline
                    marcusquinnM Offline
                    marcusquinn
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #107

                    @jdaviescoates Think that's one for the rest of the internet to debate. Personally, I see the incentives for more progress in energy production, efficiency, distribution and security as a good thing.

                    Web Design https://www.evergreen.je
                    Development https://brandlight.org
                    Life https://marcusquinn.com

                    jdaviescoatesJ 1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • marcusquinnM marcusquinn

                      @jdaviescoates Think that's one for the rest of the internet to debate. Personally, I see the incentives for more progress in energy production, efficiency, distribution and security as a good thing.

                      jdaviescoatesJ Offline
                      jdaviescoatesJ Offline
                      jdaviescoates
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #108

                      @marcusquinn said in Best privacy chat apps:

                      I see the incentives for more progress in energy production, efficiency, distribution and security as a good thing.

                      OK, but Web 3 does that how?

                      It's really not very distributed at all and pretty much the whole ecosystem relies on a tiny handful of privately owned and controled entities, just like Web 2

                      See eg this nice critique by Signal's creator:

                      https://moxie.org/2022/01/07/web3-first-impressions.html

                      Also, what are these high energy "things the miners are replacing"?

                      I use Cloudron with Gandi & Hetzner

                      marcusquinnM 1 Reply Last reply
                      2
                      • jdaviescoatesJ jdaviescoates

                        @marcusquinn said in Best privacy chat apps:

                        I see the incentives for more progress in energy production, efficiency, distribution and security as a good thing.

                        OK, but Web 3 does that how?

                        It's really not very distributed at all and pretty much the whole ecosystem relies on a tiny handful of privately owned and controled entities, just like Web 2

                        See eg this nice critique by Signal's creator:

                        https://moxie.org/2022/01/07/web3-first-impressions.html

                        Also, what are these high energy "things the miners are replacing"?

                        marcusquinnM Offline
                        marcusquinnM Offline
                        marcusquinn
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #109

                        Also, what are these high energy "things the miners are replacing"?

                        Bankers.

                        Web Design https://www.evergreen.je
                        Development https://brandlight.org
                        Life https://marcusquinn.com

                        jdaviescoatesJ 1 Reply Last reply
                        1
                        • marcusquinnM marcusquinn

                          Also, what are these high energy "things the miners are replacing"?

                          Bankers.

                          jdaviescoatesJ Offline
                          jdaviescoatesJ Offline
                          jdaviescoates
                          wrote on last edited by jdaviescoates
                          #110

                          @marcusquinn said in Best privacy chat apps:

                          Bankers

                          Yeah. Thankfully, whilst most banks are still investing in climate catastrophe, not all are.

                          I do personal banking with Nationwide and business banking with Starling, neither of which invest in any fossil fuel companies nor projects.

                          https://bank.green is a useful website for checking how much your bank has invested in fossil fuels since the Paris Agreement.

                          The worst offender in UK/ Europe are Barclay's

                          See also:

                          The Banking on Climate Chaos report:
                          https://www.ran.org/publications/banking-on-climate-chaos-2022/

                          Recent issue of Ethical Consumer magazine on banking:
                          https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/sites/default/files/flipbook/Issue186/

                          I'd suggest moving money to more ethical banks (and pensions if you have one, see eg https://makemymoneymatter.co.uk/ ) is a far more effective action than using all the insanely wasteful web3 stuff ๐Ÿ™‚

                          Probably also worth mentioning:
                          https://www.ethex.org.uk/
                          https://www.abundanceinvestment.com/
                          https://www.wearemoneymovers.com/

                          Happy ethical banking everyone!

                          I use Cloudron with Gandi & Hetzner

                          marcusquinnM 1 Reply Last reply
                          2
                          • jdaviescoatesJ jdaviescoates

                            @marcusquinn said in Best privacy chat apps:

                            Bankers

                            Yeah. Thankfully, whilst most banks are still investing in climate catastrophe, not all are.

                            I do personal banking with Nationwide and business banking with Starling, neither of which invest in any fossil fuel companies nor projects.

                            https://bank.green is a useful website for checking how much your bank has invested in fossil fuels since the Paris Agreement.

                            The worst offender in UK/ Europe are Barclay's

                            See also:

                            The Banking on Climate Chaos report:
                            https://www.ran.org/publications/banking-on-climate-chaos-2022/

                            Recent issue of Ethical Consumer magazine on banking:
                            https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/sites/default/files/flipbook/Issue186/

                            I'd suggest moving money to more ethical banks (and pensions if you have one, see eg https://makemymoneymatter.co.uk/ ) is a far more effective action than using all the insanely wasteful web3 stuff ๐Ÿ™‚

                            Probably also worth mentioning:
                            https://www.ethex.org.uk/
                            https://www.abundanceinvestment.com/
                            https://www.wearemoneymovers.com/

                            Happy ethical banking everyone!

                            marcusquinnM Offline
                            marcusquinnM Offline
                            marcusquinn
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #111

                            @jdaviescoates This we agree on.

                            I wouldn't worry about the "energy costs" of PoW blockchains, a large amount of the excess heat can be reclaimed and re-used, and it is motivating and diverting more funds to renewable energy investment, because ultimately, cleaner energy is also cheaper energy for all.

                            Web Design https://www.evergreen.je
                            Development https://brandlight.org
                            Life https://marcusquinn.com

                            necrevistonnezrN 1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • marcusquinnM marcusquinn

                              @jdaviescoates This we agree on.

                              I wouldn't worry about the "energy costs" of PoW blockchains, a large amount of the excess heat can be reclaimed and re-used, and it is motivating and diverting more funds to renewable energy investment, because ultimately, cleaner energy is also cheaper energy for all.

                              necrevistonnezrN Offline
                              necrevistonnezrN Offline
                              necrevistonnezr
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #112

                              @marcusquinn I highly doubt that the average miner running 100 AMD cards re-uses any of the excessive heat.

                              Itโ€˜s just a stupid system under which numbers are crunched that donโ€™t need crunching and which gave rise to money laundering and cybercrime at an unprecedented level. Thereโ€™s not one ransomware attack without cryptocurrency involved.

                              I donโ€™t know why less oversight in finance matters would benefit anyone. And is there one aspect of cryptocurrency that has benefited society as a whole?

                              marcusquinnM 1 Reply Last reply
                              1
                              • ? Offline
                                ? Offline
                                A Former User
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #113

                                This is off topic...

                                But I will say that crypto tends to be defended by those who make abnormal amounts of money off of it. Also miners can have a special corner of hell for the GPU shortage. Web3 is not needed. Its just a way to ram "bLoCkChAiN" into everything. Decentralization does not and will never need blockchain. Source: activitypub.

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                3
                                • necrevistonnezrN necrevistonnezr

                                  @marcusquinn I highly doubt that the average miner running 100 AMD cards re-uses any of the excessive heat.

                                  Itโ€˜s just a stupid system under which numbers are crunched that donโ€™t need crunching and which gave rise to money laundering and cybercrime at an unprecedented level. Thereโ€™s not one ransomware attack without cryptocurrency involved.

                                  I donโ€™t know why less oversight in finance matters would benefit anyone. And is there one aspect of cryptocurrency that has benefited society as a whole?

                                  marcusquinnM Offline
                                  marcusquinnM Offline
                                  marcusquinn
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #114

                                  @necrevistonnezr I heated my whole house with GPU mining this winter, so self-proclaiming my own confirmation-bias.

                                  I like learning, and I like primary source information. I could have taken any bunch of opinions, regurgitated them and moved on, but I just like to know โ€” and I'm satisfied that I can make my home-heating consistently profitable to fund other hosting and research projects.

                                  I guess a significant part of the developing world, that now has an alternative currency to trade with, might be voting with their usage, and good for them.

                                  If there were no utility, I'm sure the costs in chips & power would not be funded indefinitely, get here we are, 10-years in and mining, trading, and all sorts of other applications both exist and grow.

                                  Like most things, none of us truly knows the future, and in many ways how the present works either, but I do like the idea that self-determination can survive and thrive in the face of accelerating AI capabilities โ€” for which, soon enough, these public words are merely food for their modelling, and the utility of anything online will only be as good as the trust of either the few or the many that control the network we've taken for granted as being secure enough to rely on.

                                  Maybe we're just being tricked into generating the computing power that an artificial hive-mind craves, who knows?


                                  a9aa466b-03ea-4ac3-a2a2-a82af4de3675-image.png

                                  The Sun, 1991


                                  cdd24e6e-34ba-40ee-b3c4-14b2340e5166-image.png

                                  Daily Mail, December 5, 2000


                                  Web Design https://www.evergreen.je
                                  Development https://brandlight.org
                                  Life https://marcusquinn.com

                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                  2
                                  • jdaviescoatesJ jdaviescoates

                                    @marcusquinn like what? What are they/ have they replaced. Nothing as far as I'm aware.

                                    A single Bitcoin transaction uses more energy than an average U.S. household uses in 2 months!

                                    I mean, perhaps you're referring to how much banks still invest in fossil fuels? But if you think web3 is going to replace banks any time soon you are wrong ๐Ÿ™‚

                                    A 10-year old iPhone could process more transactions per second than the entirety of the Bitcoin network it's so insanely slow.

                                    L Offline
                                    L Offline
                                    LoudLemur
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #115

                                    @jdaviescoates said in Best privacy chat apps:

                                    @marcusquinn like what? What are they/ have they replaced. Nothing as far as I'm aware.

                                    A single Bitcoin transaction uses more energy than an average U.S. household uses in 2 months!

                                    I mean, perhaps you're referring to how much banks still invest in fossil fuels? But if you think web3 is going to replace banks any time soon you are wrong ๐Ÿ™‚

                                    A 10-year old iPhone could process more transactions per second than the entirety of the Bitcoin network it's so insanely slow.

                                    Wow! That is amazing. I had no idea.

                                    marcusquinnM 1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • L LoudLemur

                                      @jdaviescoates said in Best privacy chat apps:

                                      @marcusquinn like what? What are they/ have they replaced. Nothing as far as I'm aware.

                                      A single Bitcoin transaction uses more energy than an average U.S. household uses in 2 months!

                                      I mean, perhaps you're referring to how much banks still invest in fossil fuels? But if you think web3 is going to replace banks any time soon you are wrong ๐Ÿ™‚

                                      A 10-year old iPhone could process more transactions per second than the entirety of the Bitcoin network it's so insanely slow.

                                      Wow! That is amazing. I had no idea.

                                      marcusquinnM Offline
                                      marcusquinnM Offline
                                      marcusquinn
                                      wrote on last edited by marcusquinn
                                      #116

                                      @LoudLemur That's the wonder of statistics. Rarely are they every questioned, and you can always find one that supports your argument.

                                      f801a7fa-33b0-4a50-ba88-e55861c50570-image.png

                                      I'm not saying anything is true, if you found it online, there seems to be an increasing chance it is biased. I'm just saying, there's a fact for every occasion now, and the quoting of them usually tells you more about the hopes, belief or fears of the quoter, than they do about the subject matter.

                                      Web Design https://www.evergreen.je
                                      Development https://brandlight.org
                                      Life https://marcusquinn.com

                                      jdaviescoatesJ 1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • marcusquinnM marcusquinn

                                        @LoudLemur That's the wonder of statistics. Rarely are they every questioned, and you can always find one that supports your argument.

                                        f801a7fa-33b0-4a50-ba88-e55861c50570-image.png

                                        I'm not saying anything is true, if you found it online, there seems to be an increasing chance it is biased. I'm just saying, there's a fact for every occasion now, and the quoting of them usually tells you more about the hopes, belief or fears of the quoter, than they do about the subject matter.

                                        jdaviescoatesJ Offline
                                        jdaviescoatesJ Offline
                                        jdaviescoates
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #117

                                        @marcusquinn whilst you have a valid point about stats, that's a very silly graph.

                                        The banking system is many many MANY orders of magnitude larger than the whole web 3 ecosystem, let alone bitcoin.

                                        It's not even comparing apples to pears, it comparing a grain of sand to a whole beach.

                                        Now do same figures per transaction ๐Ÿ˜‰

                                        I use Cloudron with Gandi & Hetzner

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        2
                                        • B Offline
                                          B Offline
                                          byghuutran
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #118

                                          Someone has purpose to make money from Signal or open source chat app like this?

                                          1 Reply Last reply
                                          0
                                          Reply
                                          • Reply as topic
                                          Log in to reply
                                          • Oldest to Newest
                                          • Newest to Oldest
                                          • Most Votes


                                          • Login

                                          • Don't have an account? Register

                                          • Login or register to search.
                                          • First post
                                            Last post
                                          0
                                          • Categories
                                          • Recent
                                          • Tags
                                          • Popular
                                          • Bookmarks
                                          • Search