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Privacy is Priceless, but Signal is Expensive
(signal.org)
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
My only problem with XMPP (and a lot of other federated protocols) is really the lack of quality clients. Most of them (especially on systems beyond Android and Linux) don't really have that good of a UX, or their UI is kind of bland or dated.
It's something that I hope gets improved eventually. Because having a variety of choices doesn't mean much if none of the choices feel particularly good.
Want a modern android XMPP client? Try monocles chat. Its UI is kind of modern.
I got mom to use Conversations.
What's up with monocles dev? They have a bunch of forked projects with their own name.
Monocles Launcher is based on KISS Launcher.
mail is based on K-9 Mail
What the other responders said (there are great clients out there, that fit mainstream and niche needs).
Also, it is not a problem of "federated protocols" per se, but of community-led projects. On the downside it may lack consistence and direction, but on the upside you can step in and contribute feedback, tests, documentation, and why not, code :)