I am in search of the best communicator option which protects our privacy and at the same time is Open Source, when the developer has nothing to hide I started playing with Telegram and Signal. Telegram is Open Source, easy to be founded in F-droid But is has some negative opinions in mass media, that it is used mainly by criminals and negative personas Signal on the other hand is closed source (available in Aurora, but not in F-droid) and text messages have no notifications, when Google services or microG are not available. This is what I have experienced and I wonder if there is any other communicator worth trying, as it seems that each messenger is wrong because of something
It is even more surprising for me, that Signal is recommended by Snowden as a private one, while it is not working properly without Google which has nothing in common with privacy
What communicators do you and recommend and use daily?
Signal IS open source. Telegram’s client is too but its server is closed source & proprietary. Furthermore, all Signal to Signal messages are encrypted whereas, by default, Telegram to Telegram messages are not. If you want to use a centralised messaging service which is open sourced and encrypted by default there is no option but Signal.
Regarding usability I find Threema slighlty better than Signal. For example the verification process between users is more straight forward. Also the distinction between chats and contacts helps to keep control. The backup function is also worth mentioning, for example, you can choose ecloud as your backup target, the backup is encrypted!
There are some other differences, fore example the use of an unique ID instead of your mobile phone number.
Please have also a look at the following comparisons:
I must admit that more and more of my contacts switch to Signal and some to Telegram. However I was curious which one is safer and why is that From what I have noticed by trying different os options on the phone the /e/ os goes smoothly with both.
Another question is how to ask people to use especially Signal? Do you have any practised tricks and tips on that?
Indeed, it’s not in the original F-Droid repository, my F-Droid client includes also the TwinHelix repository containing Signal-FOSS which I found out now.
Signal is safer because all Signal to Signal messages are end to end encrypted. Telegram messages are not unless you initiate a secret chat. Most users don’t seem to realise this and so don’t bother. As to how to persuade people to adopt Signal, I have no advice. My attempts have been generally unsuccessful.
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Signal on the other hand is closed source (available in Aurora, but not in F-droid) and text messages have no notifications, when Google services or microG are not available.
Question: how well does Signal work with /e/? I am interested in switching to /e/, but it is important for me that Signal work well.
It works well for me. (I don’t know how you use notifications, I don’t know how good Signal notifications work with MicroG. I don’t want them, so that is not important for me).
Eventually I use Signal from yesterday morning on my /e/ Phone. It works as it should as a communicator itself and as the text message app. I believe that thanks to microG on board it has all notifications as it should
For those interested in the different types of messengers and the differences between the various providers and apos, I would recommend the website https://www.freie-messenger.de/.
The site is written in German, but the content of the site is really well researched and proof. There is also a short overview in graphical form:
I started playing with Telegram and Signal. Telegram is Open Source, easy to be founded in F-droid 
But is has some negative opinions in mass media, that it is used mainly by criminals and negative personas 
