Signal actively discourages third-party clients and doesn't accept community contributions in most cases(not that you'd actually want to, because their codebases are trash.) We can do better.
Matrix with bridges and your own server is quite a nice experience. Have a look at beeper: https://www.beeper.com/
Telegram now has 550 million users according to the article. Facebook Messenger has 1.3 billion users - more twice as many, but I won't call that a "much wider adoption".
A large part of the world can't afford sending images (and even videos) via SMS.
And no, Facebook Messenger is not fluid, it's laggy as fuck.
I'm thinking this may be a messaging issue rather than a technical bug in some cases - `Unable to decrypt: The sender's device has not sent us the keys for this message` isn't very helpful.
I think while this isn't ideal, it's important to note (for those following along) that neither Signal, Telegram or WhatsApp support end-to-end encryption across desktop and mobile, history syncing to new devices, and a self hosted OSS server with multiple client apps.
- 100x more people use it (I joined Signal years ago and I still have 1 actual conversation)
- The speed and the level of polish is unmatched
Of course for any serious Signal user it isn't an alternative but for many of us we only use it for postcard level anyway.
They have the opportunity and a need for profit from a smaller advertising base.
I'd bet on it actually: in a few years we'll get a big fuss when Telegram reveals their new targeted advertising functionality...
For now Durov has kept his word for 7 years which is a whole lot longer than most. He was also clear from the start that he would, if necessary, find a non intrusive way to fund it and I feel he might be onto it.
WhatsApp was great too right up till Facebook bought it.
Anyone who buys Telegram is buying those servers and any messages you have stored on them.