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Telegram, the FSB, and the Man in the Middle
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this post was submitted on 10 Jun 2025
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Privacy
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Yeah, it really sucks that the closest feature parity and ui/ux parity in messengers is proprietary services.
Even signal isn't there. Mind you, they can't offer all the same options by virtue of prioritizing encryption as the default, not afaik, with things like the easier syncing of messages.
I like matrix and it's various apps fine overall, but they are definitely behind in polish and usability features. They just aren't great as a primary messaging option. That's ignoring the difficulty of onboarding people, which is tangential to this, but still relevant since it doesn't matter how great a messenger is if you can't use it with anyone. Since the lack of features and ui/ux issues prevent onboarding, it's a real problem.
IMO getting Matrix's UI to work like apps people are familiar with is an order of magnitude less effort than any other option, and possibly an order of magnitude better than other options in terms of meeting the design goal of private messaging.
OTOH I don't make UI's 🤪
I've heard that from some code minded folks before though, so I don't think you're wrong. ElementX is better than regular element in that regard already. Been a while since I tried anything else since I only have one person that I communicate regularly with on there. Everyone else is more sporadic, so I haven't had as much impetus to keep up on apps as much as I used to.
Signal has numerous well-documented flaws, a history of slow fixes to vulnerabilities, and is highly centralized. It can really only be positively compared to Telegram.
I don't disagree tbh.
However, in terms of ui/ux it is still the closest comparison that's not wholly dominated by capital drives. Things like WhatsApp have better ui, but I don't think anyone remotely interested in things like signal would use those at all if not forced to it.
Right now, matrix, arcane chat, xmpp, and similar options are better than signal under the hood (supposedly, I don't have the knowledge base to verify for myself), but the ui is anywhere from outdated to outright horrible.
I've seen all kinds of justifications for it. I saw one of the more highly suspicious furries claiming that they have to use Signal because so many furries are disabled that they can't figure out how to use anything more complicated (whicj other options really aren't, they just insist on Matrix which is Godawful and everyone comments on being viscerally disgusted by). People don't really need anything more fancy than iMessage. You're being babies. Just use your public borked and corrupt messengers and mentally sort them into the Facebook pile. If it's not secure from federal law enforcement, then it's not safe to have conversations on freely, since class consciousness, common sense, and human rights are illegal.