@Vaughan
Many years ago duckduckgo had a free xmpp server i had got some family members to install Jitsi for windows and we used to talk on pc, of course was years ago but was able to do webcam, desktop sharing video, text and voice. I dont know how secure it was back in those days but was fun to use.
As for conversations IM messenger i had a look at their site and requires a small fee for the app to use their server comes with an annual fee of 8 Euro after a 6 month trial period.
I realize you can use your own server to avoid this fee, so i decided to download conversations IM from the /e/ app store and try it. (btw i went to f-droid first and the download failed).
So i wanted to try conversations and installed it, then to avoid the fees, i signed up elsewhere registering for an free xmmp account at 5july.org which supports omemo encryption. I then did the same for my PC, installed pidgin, installed lurch plugins which give it omemo encryption. etc ( probably pidgin is the wrong one to install for this test but it was the 1st one i found in a quick search)
Anyways when i run conversations IM i dont see any option to call or video chat, i am guessing the one they sell on goolag play store is a different client for which to do voice and video? anyways, couldnt figure it out to try/ test. … and if a friend or family member uses an iphone, i would have to research an xmpp client for them that does calls videos etc. The issue with family members is they may not be too techy, they want to install it and use right away I live far away from them so know i can try to explain how to set it up but i dont own an iphone so when they hit the first hurdle encountered they will giveup and continue using whatsapp oh no!
@maestr0
Thanks for pointing out Threema now does video calls, i had not used it, the wikipedia page had no mention of video calls, but see that they have indeed recently implemented video calls out of beta 2 months ago.
@ebob
As for wire theres a bit of a scandal going on. See harvey186`s post called wire is dead. Edward Snowden tweeted about Wire when it got sold “This is a grim turn for a once-promising app” Wire had moved its holding company to the United States in February 2019, without disclosing this until November 2019. Due to the extensive online surveillance activities of the United States government, many people concerned with protecting their privacy argue against trusting any service that is based in the USA. This techcrunch article maybe of interest,.