we literally released Element X last week… https://element.io/blog/we-have-lift-off-element-x-call-and-... :/

In spite of my earlier comment, I do think it is worthwhile to stick around a little longer to see how it goes. As Arathorn mentioned, the latest ElementX release just came out and they are saying it is production ready. I got the update yesterday (I was using it in beta before) and I did notice some of my rooms syncing faster in the ui. Once SchildiNext rebases I am hoping it will be something I could finally recommend to people, at least if voice/video aren't needed. If voice/video is a requirement for you, then I could totally understand going to discord, although I am hoping that with the native matrix calls it could change that once the ux is equivalent.

SimpleX is OK as direct replacement to Telegram, very similar except you are not able to write the comfy bots (yet) over there. On the plus side, no need to sign up with a telephone number either.

If you are willing to try out new things other than XMPP, I'd recommend looking at the NOSTR protocol and more specifically at the 0xchat client. They provide private message with E2EE but the biggest advantage IMHO is that you get connected to a huge variety of other services and people using the same protocol.

I find that better than building the connections on what are essentially closed gardens or, at best, isolated islands. Over there exist hundreds of servers (relays) run by volunteers where new features are proposed by users and actually implemented (success or failure depends truly on themselves).

Other good features being delivered on NOSTR are for example the anonymous IPFS (blossom files) where you can host complete static sites across the relays. There is truly plenty to discover there and to build, feels like the 90s and has been fun.

I just tried 0xchat. It's full of useless crypto shit, missing translation errors, their website is down and their "Oxchat Open Group" is basically dead.

Not a great first impression.