Given that the XMPP contingent is around, is there a comparison between a typical 2024 XMPP server (with all the recommended extensions and whatever), and Matrix?
this post was submitted on 28 Apr 2024
36 points (92.9% liked)
Privacy
31872 readers
416 users here now
A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.
Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.
Some Rules
- Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn't great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
- Don't promote proprietary software
- Try to keep things on topic
- If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
- Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
- Be nice :)
Related communities
Chat rooms
-
[Matrix/Element]Dead
much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
I use XMPP every day to talk to friends & self-host a Prosody server (may move to ejabberd in the future).
The client & server situation can be a bit loosey-goosey since the base XMPP spec isn’t large, but involves a ton of opt-in XEPs. Luckily the Conversations compliance helps define a common set of expected specifications for servers & in many senses, I’m happy to see there is a zoo of clients you can find that fit your need from a CLI, to TUI, to web, to native clients that something will meet your needs & written in several different languages so you could find something that fits your interest for contributing to if you have the skills.
Yes! I don't get why Matrix is the one that's more popular now. My Prosody is botherless, consumes little RAM and does not have storage concerns like Matrix does. It just does all the messaging basics. It needs more love.
Yep. It works and it's awesome. I use conversations on android devices and dino and gajim on desktops, various family members use siskin on iOS.
With zero app or server-software or provider lock-in, and an actual in-practice diversity of apps and providers, the whole thing seems pretty immune to enshittification.
With signals now usernames, why should I use xmpp? Ive heard of it before but it'll be just another messaging app imo.
3 reasons for me:
-
XMPP implementations have been around so much longer than signal, to me signal would be "just another messaging app"
-
XMPP doesn't require my phone number. Signal might give you the option to use usernames with your contacts, but still requires a valid number for registration last I checked.
-
I can self host an XMPP server instead of trusting/depending on someone else.
Signal also requires you surrender to the Android/iOS duopoly to install the app on a device with a SIM to create that account. You can’t create an account on a SIM-less tablet; you can’t have a Linux phone. I’m not entirely sure if it behaves like LINE tho, where they will check in to see if the phone is still activated else it will kill access to your account from other platform--I have to keep Signal installed to talk to my family currently.
And even if centralization wasn't a concern, there would be a massive issue: much harder to maintain several accounts. I cannot imagine using the same account for things related to my real identity and to my online one. Also would not like to expose my encrypted conversations to a smartphone: thus, the public groupchats are on a separate account that I log into on both devices, while personal messages are left on laptop only.
With XMPP you can self-host a server or you can have your own custom domain hosted with XMPP via the Conversations developer. Signal is a centralized service in the USA, hosted on Google servers. And yes, one more app on the phone will cost more battery life.
Snikket launched their XMPP hosting in March this year. From the looks of it you can pay for one account where you'd be admin for a group of friends, family and give them accounts.
For Android Conversations is really nice I think. Conversations is available for free on F-Droid but you can support the developer by buying the app on Google PlayStore. Does OMEMO by default.Video calls with Conversations always worked very well for me (but this depends on which XMPP provider the other person uses), better than Signal. There are some Conversation forks on F-Droid as well with different features.
I agree with donation to upstream Conversations since it is the basis of many forks, but I still prefer the differences of Cheogram: 1) webxdc support, 2) black theme (not dark). The JMP support stuff could be great if I had a use for it, but currently don’t.
Or you could just donate to the dev directly rather than give google a cut .
Of course we use XMPP, its the dead king of messaging
Yep, I and a few friends use it.
yup and it's great! Unfortunately there are not good iphone apps that work with omemo encryption.
It's really lightweight and that's such a great feeling.
That’s the Apple price you pay tho. It’s not a popular platform for FOSS or otherwise ethical software since you have to use their overpriced hardware to develop on & there are fees to publish apps (even with EU opening up alt stores, many won’t see it as legitimate for a long time--difficult enough with F-Droid eco). Have you considered upgrading to a Linux or Android phone? (/s, but kinda not)
Misread and thought you were askin about android so comment is edited .
Fdroid has Iphone stuff now?
What ?
Them:
yup and it's great! Unfortunately there are not good iphone apps that work with omemo encryption.
It's really lightweight and that's such a great feeling.
You:
Search fdroid i have heard they some great ones (and used a good one for a very short amount of time).
Me:
Fdroid has Iphone stuff now?
They say there's no good apps for iPhone with OMEMO support, you say try fdroid, I question when fdroid added iPhone apps. It's all very straight forward, I can't explain it any better than this.
Shit i misread so i edited my comment
Oh lol I was like "damn I didn't think iPhones can sideload, is this some European shit?"
No its just "not paying attention and half reading before commenting shit"
Lol we've all been there!
They say there’s no good apps for iPhone with OMEMO support
Have you looked at https://siskin.im ?
- If you unsure about an app and OMEMO, see here : https://omemo.top/
I use android I was just wondering when iPhones started letting people sideload. Recently heard they're making them usbc so I figured maybe it was new.
I've been using xmpp for several years now. Even running my own server for family and friends. It's a great feeling to be fully independent imho.
Sure, works great.
There is even an integration with Lemmy that server admins can use to give every account on their Lemmy server also an XMPP account with the same handle/address.
Nice, didn't know. Do you mind linking me to this feature? Maybe a tutorial on how to enable it?
I used it for a few months. Mostly with snikket. It worked fine for Android but I had problems getting notified on an iphone.