Over the past days, two popular chat services have accused each other of having undisclosed government ties. According to Signal president Meredith Whittaker, Telegram is not only “notoriously insecure” but also “routinely cooperates with governments behind the scenes.” Telegram founder Pavel Durov, on the other hand, claims that “the US government spent $3M to build Signal’s encryption” and Signal’s current leaders are “activists used by the US state department for regime change abroad.”
Matrix would work for that and would avoid proprietary software and sketchy companies
Does it sync automatically between desktop and mobile? Can I share an image into it on mobile and have it a few seconds later on laptop?
Yes, just keep in mind the encryption is flaky if you use a browser that clears browsing data. Best option is to use a client