SimpleX Chat is an instant messenger that is decentralized and doesn’t depend on any unique identifiers such as phone numbers or usernames. Users of SimpleX Chat can scan a QR code or click an invite link to participate in group conversations.
-privacyguides.org
It’s clearly proving to be the most innovative technology when it comes to decentralized communication, in my opinion.
I don’t trust for profit venture capital funding, if you want to see where it ends up just Look at how telegram or wickr transitions from being “open” and free to getting stripped of features only to have them become paid only and the wickr sold off to Amazon and ended all non business support…the business model for making a profit off chat applications is bad for users.
Also now that signal supports usernames I have no reason to use anything else even for people I wouldn’t want having my real number.
Agreed, this is why I am slowly moving away from Signal. The moment they announced putting in a wallet along their own crypto, was the sign for me to leave.
Simple answer to the question so far as I can see: in order to connect with someone, you have to video conference with them and show them a code. So the anonymity is only as anonymous as the video conference you use to do that. All of the benefits it claims are merely an illusion.
Just send them the code. It’s okay if the channel over which they the receive the code is insecure
I liked the fact that it is really easy to self-host.
I tried it with friends on discord and in 10min I had a vps with a server running.
Did you use an install script that you found online or did you set it up yourself?
I followed the documentation on their website to install it on a vps
They do. I absolutely love it
If I want a simple chat protocol, I use IRC or XMPP. These are battle proven by time. If I want a really secure protocol, I use Signal or Matrix. These are endored by many security experts who their shit when they assess protocols, crypto and solutions.
SimpleX may be a good alternative for anonymous communication, but there is plenty options out there. Considering how many startups are funded by cheap VC money, and the business model is always “provide something awesome, and once you have enough traction - enshittify it” makes me very weary of investing myself in new solutions no matter how open-source the are.
I may sound bitter and skeptic, but I’ve seen this pattern has been repeated many times over.
Signal was funded by the CIA for a decade
So? Tor is in a similar boat.
Government agencies need secure crypto to hide their activities, and it doesn’t work if they’re the only ones using the technology.
I think his point is that funding doesn’t equate to it being shit
Interesting project, but last time I tried it was battery hungry, and having made quite an effort to get some of my contacts on Signal, I don’t see it happen to get them all on SimpleXChat. And Signal Stickers make Signal more attractive for some.
I’d say the battery problem is now under control. The UI is still horrible though…
I would use it, if there were unified push support.
Jami has that.
Jami is broken
Jami is a bloated insecure mess. It is getting better but I would not use it
Also Molly and Mercurygram and most of the Matrix messengers
What is that and why does it matter?
unified push works as a stand in for gms on devices without it. it runs in the background & receive the wakeup pings for the apps (in this case simplex) so you only need one websocket open instead of a different background service for each app. hugely reduces battery use.
Does that work without google services? I thought this was why signal said they wouldn’t remove gapps depends, and all privacy apps do pull instead of push?
AFAIK yes, it’s the whole point.
I’ve been a fan of SimpleX for a while now. Privacy comes at the cost of convenience, and SimpleX is the most private messaging platform according to this spreadsheet.
Thanks for this report.
Beware https://privacyspreadsheet.com/messaging-apps uses Google fonts. So much for privacy.
No Jami? Absurd.
Jami really needs to get talked about more. I think it’s great.
Jami hasn’t had a security audit
Doesn’t work, never will. Partly because both have ro be online to chaz
I think it’s just that there are too many options and the communities are so fragmented. I’m trying out simplex but it still feels like beta software. Regardless I’d like to see it succeed so we have a real private alternative that doesn’t rely on big tech or shady government sponsorship.
Any chat protocol without full mutli-device support is not really an option for me https://github.com/simplex-chat/simplex-chat/issues/444.
Session messenger allows you to chat without linking a phone number to your account. It’s what drug dealers use lol.
What really bothers me about Session is that you effectively cannot selfhost - hosting a node is prohibitively expensive. So seems like the only people who can realistically host a node are crypto bros, big companies and government agencies. Thanks, I would rather stick with IRC/XMPP/Matrix.
Fair
Same for simplex 🫠
Never tried it. But I use Element, which is based on the Matrix protocol.
Isn’t matrix encryption beta? I remembered element always warns about that
I don’t think so.
With SimpleX each server is replacable/fungible
Because Signal is great.
It’s really not. Requires phone number and is centralized
i don’t know in what world you’re living, but in this world where people think you’re (edit: we are) a pain in the ass for refusing to install WhatsApp when everyone is expected to use it for official communication (work + organizations); Signal is great.
I’ve convinced a couple of dozens of people to use Signal, and only one to keep Simplex as, at least, a backup.
as a caring-about-privacy minority we can invite “them” to Signal. “They” know Signal and Telegram👎. “They” understand our concerns. “They” for whatever incomprehensible reason keep using WhatsApp 🤷 We’re left out of the loop because once “everyone” is on that WhatsApp group, it’s tiring for them to send an email or an sms to the exceptional one or two people
What are you talking about? Your comment isn’t relevant at all. Next time read more carefully
it is relevant.
requiring phone number and being centralized doesn’t make Signal “not great” in a world where a great majority of people use WhatsApp + read the last comment again but more carefully ;)
signal is a great alternative to a WhatsApp world. Simplex or Session has no chance with the general public
Oh youre right I was completely wrong
my bad, i should have worded it clearer :/
went up and edited it
Because when you read their website https://simplex.chat/ and they say stuff like “Possibility of MITM > NO” and “Central component or other network-wide attack > No - resilient” they kind lose their credibility.
Also, “Other apps have user IDs (…) SimpleX does not, not even random numbers.” > there must be an ID at some point. When you invite someone with a QR code or a link that effectively becomes an ID - even if it changes for every invitation. Also servers need to coordinate message delivery, some form of ID is required for that.
The way the messaging queues work and what the servers see is interesting but I’m yet to dig into that.
In F-Droid, after disabling all anti-features, SimpleX still is listed. Signal never will be due to connecting to GCM or Firebase. Molly is an improvement for Signal but not for untrackable privacy like SimpleX from using a different ID with each individual SimpleX contact.
I hoped Molly leaved the sms feature, that is the only thing I can use as a bait for let my friends switch to signal.
No, because SMS code was removed from Signal, I believe Molly would have to fork the code if they try to put it back in.
Not to mention, SMS was removed because it’s inherently insecure at every level. Keeping it would mean there’d be an insecure side channel into the protocol. While it’s a useful onboarding mechanism, it can also be abused — and was. So eventually it got removed to prefer privacy and security over convenience.
That’s a valid reason, prioritizing security over convenience. I forgot about the fact that texting is plain text communication.
