Simplex

• If you have a targeted group/peer need then whatever they are using or whatever you all decide right in the beginning - I'd suggest Matrix or some other decentralised alternative, definitely not Signal.
  • Matrix had the huge opportunity to be "the messaging app" but they neither became good at corporate usage and definitely ended up sucking at personal usage. They started doing too many things, at once, and while completely ignoring the individual user.
• If you want a wider general acceptance then sadly Matrix is DoA. WhatsApp becomes a huge choice outside USA and China but it has started becoming shittier by the day and looking at who has become WhatsApp's global head now, I don't think it's gonna get any better (check his last "app" or company's screenshots and come here if you don't end up vomiting). So Signal or maybe some other similar app. You are limited by societal trends and acceptance here, not the tech or finesse or privacy of an app.
• If you just want privacy and a simpler app, proven (at least so far), then well Signal it is, as much as I hate it for reasons they decided to make it a centralised messaging app and then stuffed crypto in it etc.

I created this to help find active matrix rooms https://activematrixrooms.com/

I've come to distrust Matrix, the metadata leaking is one thing but then combine that with the fact that .org is basically the default server and you almost have to federate with it, and they were started as an Amdocs project before spinning off into "the matrix foundation," and Amdocs is Israeli, and while I don't have PROOF they're connected with Mossad I'd rather not chance it.

Plus, the apps all sucked last I used them, Element was the best and it was still buggy as all hell, and the Linux app is just an electron wrapper, and it was too hard to use for most of my "normal" friends (I agree, they should get good, but they do not get good, what should I do hold 'em at gunpoint and install Fedora, my options are limited). And the rooms had such a bad CP spam problem they stopped them from being publically searchable, you (now still?) have to know the room's addr to join. Even still, with that CP problem, it becomes hard to reccomend family/friends to make an account. I don't want to see that, I don't want them to have to see that, and I don't want them to think I want to see that and judge me because of spam in the RasPi room because I'm the guy that recommended the app, I don't need that in my life.

Signal requiring phone numbers is also not my favorite, and the single point of failure is not the best either. Better than Matrix imo, but still. Also last I used it they still supported SMS and when a contact would delete Signal without deleting their account, the message would still try to deliver through Signal instead of defaulting back to SMS, so I'd have to switch my default to Messenger every time I wanted to talk to them and back to Signal when I was done. That was annoying.

Now happily using Delta Chat, easy onboarding for "normals," low (no?) metadata leaks, webXDC seems cool, p2p video/audio calling, multi-relay support for resiliency, groups (but anyone can kick anyone, they're meant for known contacts or family more than matrix-like rooms), no discoverability so nobody gets your acct by just having your phone number or etc (so my friend doesn't have to worry about their abusive ex finding them on it like on IG or Snapchat), due to those last two things it doesn't seem to have the same CP problem as Matrix rooms, channels are pretty neat, you can share location for increments between 30min and 24hr, bunch of cool stuff!

Matrix for maximum protection

Signal for non-techie family and friends who are not also vendors on the Darknet

Comments are giving single-word answers without explanation…

Cannot answer your question without you giving some context or explaining what you want. Signal is a service ment to be used wigh particular multiplatform application. Matrix is communication protocol having chat as main focus, with multiple services and apps supporting it.

IRC is the best (jk)

Signal is more like WhatsApp, Element/Matrix is aiming to be more like Telegram or Discord.

Matrix is open source and federated, end of the story.

Signal.

I don't use either, bcz I use simplex in my personal life. It is really quite great!

Currently me and my friend are using a self-hosted server with Matrix, and Sable as a client.

Sable is the only one with Discord-like functions out of all the clients I've tried, all the others falling very short.

Besides that there is Fluxer, which is far more feature complete than any Matrix client. It has some key features holding it back, though, which are no Federation yet, and no E2E encryption yet. But otherwise setting up your own fully functional server is incredibly easily.

My wife and I use signal. It has more features (encryption included) than regular texting.

I'm aware of decentralized alternatives but convincing my wife to use those (with the potential extra setup) would have been to much to ask. It took me years to get her to use matrix and that's super easy to get up and running.

Matrix is only really enjoyable with unencrypted chats.

I have fairly recently switched phones. Now, a good number of older messenges fail to decrypt. Even when I don't switch devices, a group chat for a three day long event with a very small group already gave us lots of fun decryption errors. Oh, and I have this other fun group chat where Fluffy Chat constantly reminds me that people whose devices I haven't verified will be able to read my messenges every time I send something. Also, Matrix has coutless clients with different feature sets and I heard calls are a pain to ßet up.

Signal, on the other hand, just works. Federation and decentralization is obviously nice but a functional product is more importmant. I haven't had a chance to try XMPP unfortunately.

From purely a user perspective, because I haven’t dug into the tech behind either, I’d probably vote Matrix. Signal is nice but personally I find matrix easier to use for group chats and bigger rooms. I only have 4-5 people on signal and it’s useful for those moments but on Matrix I can find bigger chats to join and jump in and just talk with a handful of people.

Matrix is nice but it’s clear they’re appeasing more towards shareholders than the community, self-hosting via Docker Compose was a PIA as there are 4-5 services that need to talk to one another.

Think its relatively new, but theres also chatto