If anyone is wondering about iOS xmpp clients, there are Monal, ChatSecure and Siskin.
As it was mentioned, they do NOT support audio/video calls and it will take time they will. Tested Monal and ChatSecure, liked Monal better, it worked ok for messaging. Apple is really making hard the client development e.g. through api changes (as a sidenote Apple can be really nasty to developers/FLOSS developments). Gajim wanted to have Jingle development for audio/video calls during G Summer Code two or three years ago but nobody applied. They are kind of stuck with development.
@kalman
Thanks yes i had been wondering about iOS clients, i searched for about an hour to see if there was anything good for iphone and the only one seemed to be Monal but as i dont have an iphone there was no way to know about its capabilites, Thxs for letting us know that it cant do voice or video.
It is really sad as all my most of my family have bought into the iphone gimmick and they have owned one for years. Where they found the money to buy one i have no clue as they are so expensive.
I have told them their next phone should be from /e/ and have tried to explain the benfits, hopefully in the future they shall.
@facb69
Movim looks intresting, had they have had a windows desktop version i`d have tested it with my phone but sadly i only own one android, i shall keep an eye on that one thxs.
I think Xmpp is a nice protocol it always seemed reliable in the past when i had used it for PC, i am truely shocked at the lack of video, voice Xmpp apps for iphone, i had thought they had a strong community, but seems i`ve mistaken community for consumers. I had heard there are a number of obstacles to code for iOS and they seem to be many years behind on the Xmpp front.
As for other apps, i decided to try jitsi meet app to test and works very well, i had a very hard time to find the Jitsi meet windows version which does exist, but wasnt on their main website I had to look at their forum and found a link for PC windows, MacOS & Linux (downloads are halfway down the page under the heading : Installation)
I know some already use it Jitsi meet with matrix, but thought i`d try the standalone version. You can type text, voice video and share screen desktop within the app but, it is not really a tradtional messenger, in that you have to pre-arrange to meet in a virtual room, so oflline messaging isnt an option. I didnt spend much time with it, but seems to be an option for those in combination with another messenger.+ you can self host and is crossplatform for use with android and iphone to that is something. Tho their privacy policy does imply they can collect personal data ( i am guessing thats if you use their servers but dont know for sure how self hosting if the same apllies)
So in conclusion Rocketchat as mentioned in a previous comment and Jitsi-meet are crossplatform but can collect/harvest data)
If and when Signal remove the phone number request on signup i feel that could be the best crossplatform… eventually,
Forget it. In my experience those iPhone users just don’t get what they are doing. They are convinced that the iPhone is the most secure and privacy respecting phone on the planet (and the best looking too). It isn’t. But apple’s marketing works, they tend to stick to apple (as it has the most fool-proof design too, so it’s relatively easy to use).
Wire should deserve more attention (it has everything, opensource, cross plattfrom, no phone number required). And Tox is often forgotten.
Thanks for sharing your experience. Do you have experience with RiotX by any chance (well knowijng that it is still under development)?
RiotX has fewer functions and this makes it less confusing. However, everything still runs like a dog with three legs going through treacle. This is probably because everything is still on the overloaded matrix.org server. I couldn’t recommend it to a neophyte. The big problem though, for Matrix AND XMPP, is the inertia of users of GAFAM services. To get people to move seems to require it to be easier than doing nothing. I despair.
Again some notes about Wire: We tested it with my GuildWars-Group, 3 Techies + 8 non Techies, after 6 Month we all were annoyed enough to move to Signal as the next best Solution we Techies found for our Guildies. We had all sorts of trouble on Iphones and Android Phones. Somtimes checking on Teamspeak who got a message and who not.
Not only had we delivery times up to several hours, some group messages did not reach all members which we confirmed with screenshots, not believing it at first. It happend to all of us, not only the iphones or androids or techies. And yes a great part of the group is happy with whatsapp and does not understand the security concern.
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Looks like the issues mentioned above only relate to group chats, right? Because I have been using Wire for one-to-one conversations for over a year and it works perfectly this way.
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I’ve come to realise that normals aren’t going to leave WhatsApp any time soon. No amount of explanation trumps the belief that the surveillance doesn’t matter and that their lives would be so much more difficult without the convenience of it. “Why do I need so many apps? Why don’t you just download WhatsApp? It’s free!” is something they often say when asked to cater to yet another of their contacts preferred networks.
So what is needed is a truly all in one messenger app. Something that they could use to chat with all of their contacts, regardless of whether they used WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, Matrix, XMPP, etc, etc, etc, would seem to be a proposition which would increase convenience without forcing anybody to leave any particular network.
Signal actually achieves this in a small way by unifying secure Signal messaging and insecure SMS. Matrix has its bridges to several networks and so some will argue that Matrix clients are already the solution to this. But I, who have been developing desktop software professionally for nearly 30 years, found setting up a bridge to a Telegram channel extremely arduous and I required a lot of help. What hope does the average non-technical user have?
What I am proposing is something which has been around for a long time in the desktop world: a multi-protocol client. Such a client would connect to the supported networks directly, rather than being bridged e.g. from Matrix. A user would simply create accounts and enter their credentials for what ever networks they needed to be connected to thus eliminating the current bridging pain. This would allow WhatsApp refuseniks to preserve their privacy by selling the convenience of “all-in-one” rather than the threat of privacy violation. It’s much easier, in my experience, to sell a gain than to sell an insurance against loss.
If such an app were to be developed and widely adopted then it would be up to the privacy preserving networks to encourage their use by a better experience through features, etc. This could see use of the surveillance networks wither and die through lack of interest without ever having to persuade someone that it wasn’t in their interest to stay.
Now, having written all of this, I feel sure somebody is going to say that such an app already exists or that the concept is unworkable for some reason or another. Both may be true. Ladies and gentleman, you have the floor.
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Worth noticing that on the desktop we can use a single app to rule them all: Hamsket or Ferdi. Unfortunately, I don’t know the acceptable equivalent for Android/iOS.
Did you even read past the third line? 
For those still curious about rocketchat which is crossplatform iOS, Android, linux etc, i was looking very hard to find the windows version which is not easy to find as it not on their main download page, i found it here. its called rocketchat-setup-2.17.9.exe
As i dont have 2 phones to test messengers i try and get the windows one to test call my /e/phone. Sadly on installing it wants you to sign up with an e-mail which is better that using your real telephone number. I could make a tempoarary e-mail just to test it but in reality I cant be bothered. I`d rather not discolose my e-mail even tho have a yahoo one that already gets lots of junk mail. It could still be a good alternative for some folks to try/test rocketchat tho i cant say for sure how good it is. If you do try it let us all know 
@Vaughan
Sounds ambitious, makes sense the only problems is if someone makes this dream multi-protocol client would u trust it to enter your details into it, also if there are various updates for one service, i can imagine some parts breaking, and could be a pain for the developer to maintain. Nice thought tho.
If it was FLOSS, yes.
Plug-in based?
I found the F-droid version of rocket.chat app to access the public rocket.chat server, one cannot disable the app analytics settings. it is permanently enabled. so i stopped using it.
@zypper Thx for testing the rocketchat app, yeh seems they are harvesting some data; that and with your e-mail required for registration.
That is the problem with so called free apps, in their privacy statement they say they dont sell your data, but do say if they get aquired in a merger they will share your info with whom ever buys the company. No doubt looking to get a pay out ike the whatsapp founders whom sold whatsapp to facebook for US$19 billion in 2014. When you think about whatsapp and how much facebook paid for it, it really should make us all nervous, nothing is free, and the metadata they collect in conjunction with those whom still use facebook, collecting data about your friends, associates ; who knows whom how they are connected is really a huge conspiracy in the guise of marketing.
For those whom use Riot IM and find the servers a bit slow, heres a list of public servers you can sign up for. After testing Riot it seems quite good and is crossplatfrom.
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I really like this idea, build it!
I agree and there are options too, with RiotX (more like regular messaging apps) and Riot regular
Sadly, I have no idea how to develop Android apps. Nor do I have time to learn.
I wonder if the large open messaging protocols ever have meetings with each other to discuss interoperability. Would be a good idea
It would, but still likely limited to open systems. The killer idea in a multi-protocol app is in not requiring the co-operation of WhatsApp et al.
Edit: At least for as long as there are web interfaces/third party apps are allowed.
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