If no one's on any kind of private messaging platform, SimpleX is good and fairly easy to use. But I mostly use Signal just because everyone's on it.

Also consider your threat model; Signal is appropriate for just casual personal conversations, but it is centralised and not self-hostable. The servers are run by the Signal org who are based in the US. If the potential of message metadata (which can be used to eg create networks of who's messaging who) getting into the hands of the US state could create significant issues for you, you may want to at least find either a decentralised or self-hostable solution which is not so US-centric. I assume, though, since you're talking to these people on non-private platforms, that these are not super sensitive discussions anyway.

Signal. It's changed a lot. For the better.

Personally I'd go with Signal. Matrix has a certain jank level IME, for example rooms can get desynced between homeservers and the only way to fix is to create a new room and abandon the old one. Not sure how often that happens for small scale use though, I've only seen it in large rooms.

I will second the others that only suggest Signal or a variant of Signal like Langis or Molly. Everybody has each other's phone numbers, go with Signal so people don't need any other contact information.

No bridges are not end 2 end encrypted. The best you can do is host the server and bridge in your own home and thus have the bridge "end" in a secure location.

If your friends and family are not very technical, then Matrix is probably a bad idea as it tends to be quite in your face about all sorts of technical issues especially with the encryption keys and so on. It works ok usually once everything is set up though.

XMPP is IMHO the better option as the mobile apps are easier to understand and the e2ee usually works out of the box and stays out of the way unless you specifically want to mess around with it. For a friends & family server I recommend setting up https://snikket.org/ or rent a server from them cheaply.

There are also good bridges for XMPP, but setting them up requires more understanding of self-hosting.

I don't use messengers with vendor lock-in. Therefore Matrix and XMPP see: https://www.messenger-matrix.de/messenger-matrix-en.html

Both self hosted on a Raspberry #freedombox https://freedombox.org/

Matrix has all the features like Slack and WhatsApp and XMPP Conversations: the very last word in instant messaging.

i use simplex with people i used sms with before, and matrix for everything else

If you're going to bring your friends and family, then you need to make it easy for the lowest common denominator.

I'd recommend using Signal in that case.

Signal for security standard and ease of use, which is essential, if You want to use it with non techy people.

Simplex for anonymity, You can download it, share chat and start talking without registration.

I got my family onto signal. The app is basic, but that is kinda a benefit when getting half-blind 90yo's onto it.

I switched from hangouts when they killed group calls by trying to be zoom.

No regrets, but group calls sometimes dont ring, which is annoying. Mostly good though.

I've used Signal since it first came out as TextSecure like 10+ years ago.

It doesnt have fancy bells or whistles, but its work well for me and good enough that ive gotten elderly family members to use it too