Check out eul, it's a native desktop client for all major messaging platforms. Signal support is coming in October. It's only 4 MB, and it can handle thousands of messages without lag.
I'm really sad it has to be downloaded, but there's no other way to do authentication. Will switch to Servo once it's ready, it's only ~20 MB.
> doctor_evil_quote_fingers.jpg
Looking at your comment history (on both your accounts), you say you plan to open-source it, but you're not sure under what license, and you also hope to make money off it but you're not sure how - possibly through a "paid option"? I commend your effort, but until the exact nature of the project is settled, I would expect confusion and reluctance on the part of your potential users.
Personally, I would never use a secure messenger I couldn't compile myself.
Some previous threads: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14778263 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15209790 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15081269
No IRC.
WA communicates your address book to Facebook.
This article explains a lot better than I can some of the security tradeoffs with Whatsapp, particularly in regard to metadata and data collection.
Also, the worst UX? IMO Signal looks and feels much better and less cluttered than WhatsApp, Wire and Hangouts. Only Telegram has a superior UX (and a really nice QT native desktop app), IMO.
Strange. We have opposite conclusions from the same data. I figure I need to minimize the amount of people that "have root" so to speak. If I can't trust Apple, it doesn't matter if I trust Signal. Apple controls what actually gets downloaded to my phone.
I use signal for a different reason: mark certain conversations as "phone only" so notifications don't come up at inopportune times like when I'm at thanksgiving dinner with my extended family.
Signal has the worst app (on iOS) and worst UX of anything I regularly use. There's unlikely to be a desktop client which is actually usable (doesn't depend on a phone, works on platforms I care about). The app is less buggy on iOS than it used to be, but it's still not great. Also doesn't work well with groups. And tied to PSTN identities, and the "talk to a new person on the street" interaction sucks. But, the most widely audited crypto, a good development model, and good adoption within some activist communities.
Wire is great, although it's a little "game-like" vs. professional for certain UX. I know the developers and really like it, and it's great for group chat and desktop, but doesn't have much adoption. But, one big global system, too.
Riot/Matrix and Mattermost are nice because you can run them on private networks. Nice apps. I've not seen as much analysis of their security as Signal.
Whatsapp, Telegram, etc. have massive adoption. Whatsapp is now solid security for user to user.
Apple's stuff is great but is Apple-only, and I'm wary, even if I trust the security model, to let a single company own my OS (and update whenever, without really auditing it) and my "end to end encrypted" apps -- way too easy to slip in any kind of backdoor there if they want.
etc. I'd happily trade in 50 ok to good systems for one great standard and then OS/other-application integration -- but it seems like we don't do standards anymore.