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@debby Agreed, for sure. Signal is the best of the centralized messaging apps available for the reasons you state. Nobody should use the others. BUT...

But, #Signal's server software is proprietary, not open source, which concerns me. Only their client software is open source. Why might this be?

UPDATE: Signal has made all their software open source. My information was outdated. However, the software only runs on their own servers, which might be concerning to some people. This is certainly a better situation than WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, X, Threads, and BlueSky.

#XMPP servers, on the other hand, are entirely open source. The servers are distributed and privately owned, like Mastodon, Friendica, Lemmy, Piefed, Sharky, etc. allowing people to choose their server and then communicate with anyone using any other XMPP server.

The optional #OMEMO encryption that most XMPP servers offer is as good as the best others offer, including Signal. They support video calls, file transfers, group chats, and all this stuff.

I believe in Open Source distributed software so much, and that nobody should allow a corporation to keep their identities and data, that I opened my own XMPP server to the public this weekend (https://between-us.online).

I just wish I could convince people I chat with to start using it. I seem to care more about these concepts than most other people. Is it me or them who has it wrong?

@_elena