Or Threema since it’s from my country and we have a good privacy reputation 🇨🇭
Comment on Apple responds to the Beeper iMessage saga: ‘We took steps to protect our users’
CaptainSpaceman@lemmy.world 6 months agoSounds like more people should use Signal
Dariusmiles2123@sh.itjust.works 6 months ago
Zak@lemmy.world 6 months ago
The problem with Threema is it costs money.
It’s not a lot of money. It’s not an unfair price. It’s completely reasonable to expect to pay for services rather than using things that spy on you. None of that matters though. I have a hard enough time getting people to use Signal, which is free; anything paid is a complete nonstarter.
BearOfaTime@lemm.ee 6 months ago
Yep.
Base usage must be free.
And that base needs to compete with everything else.
Maybe a paid tier for media beyond a certain size, say 50mb or 100mb, I don’t know. If I had to pay for being able to have 50mb attachments, I’d be willing to work to keep the sizes lower, helping reduce their costs. If I felt I needed the attachment size, say for work, then I could upgrade.
Or maybe a paid tier for self-hosting that can interconnect with the rest of Signal.
Hell, once I can start using Signal as my primary (or if they brought SMS back), I’d happily pay.
LWD@lemm.ee 6 months ago
[deleted]Zak@lemmy.world 6 months ago
WhatsApp already had a very large userbase when in started charging, and IIRC only charged after the first year of use to better hook people. Given its dominance in certain markets (Europe comes to mind), WhatsApp could probably succeed with a paid model even today, but something with a tiny userbase isn’t going to grow that way.
CaptainSpaceman@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Yeah, ive used Threema and Matrix and neither competes with the ease of adoption that Signal has for normies
SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 months ago
Sounds like more people should just use the same Matrix bridges that Beeper is using for their main service and just spinning up their own Matrix server instead of trusting a third party with their Apple credentials logged into a Mac that lives on their property and is technically owned by them. The “original plan” was to send out refurbished iPhone 4’s to people to use, but apparently letting consumers have a little more control was going to be too confusing or something and instead they rolled out a fleet of Macs internally.
Matrix is trusted and secure. Why bother with a third party charging for a service of… setting it up for you, with a flashy front-end?
BearOfaTime@lemm.ee 6 months ago
If you can get them to switch, I’d appreciate it.
I had people switching to Signal as their SMS replacement which was compelling for them. Then Signal dropped SMS support and those people reverted.
habanhero@lemmy.ca 6 months ago
SMS support isn’t really as big of a deal as the Internet blows it up to be. It’s a usage pattern primarily in the US where the most of the world had comfortably adapted to other messaging options (WhatsApp reins king in Latin America, LINE in SE Asia, WeChat in China…)
The whole iMessage / blue bubble envy is real but it’s totally overhyped.
BearOfaTime@lemm.ee 6 months ago
It gets people on board.
So yes, it’s that big of a deal. Without it, I have no way to convince people to switch.
And guess what, I live where that matters, so…
habanhero@lemmy.ca 6 months ago
I’m sharing the international perspective. Like I said, it only really matters to people in the US, not much of an issue for the rest of the world. People have iPhones outside of the US and still use third party apps to chat away, life goes on.
Dismissive of what? All I talked about was SMS support, I didn’t mention anything about Interop, which I think is a great thing by the way, thank you very much for asking.
Again, what? You are setting up a straw man. Signal is my actual daily driver and I fortunately have been able to convert most family over. Of course, I still have to juggle multiple apps to talk to everyone else. But I’m not losing any sleep over it, and personally I think neither should you.