I tried SimpleX but the VPN kill switch on my phone prevents syncing with my computer.
I use telegram primarily as a note taking app with sync features.
Occasionally I send files to friends, so having easy set up for tech illiterate would be great.
I just have some syncthing shared folders with friends/family. It may be a little weird to set up, but once there, it’s seamless.
Signal?
edit / wait - an alternative for telagram as a note taking app??
There’s a note to self feature in Signal
there are decent note apps, like notally, that are smaller than 2mb 🤷
https://f-droid.org/packages/com.kin.easynotes/ 3mb
https://f-droid.org/packages/io.github.quillpad/ 4.6 and it can sync
https://f-droid.org/packages/org.fossify.notes/ 8.9
and than there’s joplin
Standard Notes is my go to for notes 100%. It’s all about privacy through encryption and is FOSS. Plus for this specific scenario, it also allows for notes export.
I don’t disagree, but taking notes in Signal gets you syncing automatically which is convenient and something OP asked for 🤷
And you’ll have fewer apps installed on your phone, which is something I’ve come to value lately.
Friends used telegram so I had the app installed. It was easier to store documents in telegram than in one drive or proton drive, so telegram became my go too. Obviously not the best setup, but it worked and was easy. I’ll try out Signal and Matrix, but continence is a big factor in my choice.
Proton drive has free tier. Not sure if it is as easy as tele for doc storage but holy-shit tele really doing it.
People rave about it.
Unfortunately the Signal recommended by many people may not work for you, it cannot work on multiple mobile devices at the same time, for example on a smartphone and tablet.
I don’t understand why no one recommends Jami? It’s the only messenger that works without a server at all. And yes, it has the ability to forward messages to itself (to use as a note) and works on any devices at the same time.
I am using Signal on two android phones, one android tablet and a linux PC. What do you mean it cannot work on multiple devices?
You have to manually switch.
Not the same.
It works on up to 5 devices at the same time. I’ve used signal on my phone, with it also open on my computer with zero problems. Syncing is instantaneous.
Open Signal rewiews on GooglePlay, there’s every third review about this situation. I forgot to mention, i’m talking about the Android version. The ios version works on ipad at the same time
I use Joplin for notes.
Has a strong smell of: https://xkcd.com/1172/
Honestly? For that limited use, there’s really no need to switch.
However, if you’re willing to do a little extra effort, Join, by joao apps can do what you’re wanting. The notes is easy as pie. Sending files to your own devices is easy. Then you just need a different file sharing method for others.
It’s not a 1:1 replacement, obviously, but sending files via email, or other methods, when it’s only occasional isn’t something that needs to be part of a messenger service that you aren’t primarily using for messages in the first place. Keeping all your eggs in one basket isn’t always as good.
Sorry for a bit of off-topic, but for a note taking app I suggest checking out Amplenote (there is a free plan for browser and mobile apps). I discovered it recently and it’s quite a life changer for me. Proper tag system for notes is a killer feature.
Signal.
Signal is not available for Android tablets, which was a deal breaker when I tried to move my family off Telegram.
What do you mean? Modern Android apps work on all kinds of devices. Maybe the Android version on the tablet is too old?
Tablets can’t run mobile apps?
Signal needs a phone number
which does not need to be in the tablet
It does. The Signal app for Android does not support being a secondary device. It must be the primary device with a phone number.
In addition, whatever Play Store settings they use excluded all of our tablets, even the one that had a SIM. Manually installing the APK worked for this case, but that didn’t really solve our problem.
“Don’t you guys have phones?”
Also, I htought 99% of tablets connect to the mobile network using a SIMcard, but even if you rely only on wifi, see my previous quote.
It is in fact available for tablets
Only iPads.
I think for your use case Signal could be a good alternative, don’t listen to what people say, I would rather encourage you doing ylur own research on Signal and other recommendations you might gonna consider.
I know that habit of using messenger app for notes :) Try [matrix] using Element or SchildiChat. It’s e2eencrypted and federated, and even supports markdown formatting in messages. Also some Slack features are included. The only issue for non-techy person might be verifying sessions - just be sure to use the same client on all devices.
signal is the simplest alternative, it’s actually better than telegram since it doesn’t save data
I was a Signal defender (although I still use it because it’s better than Telegram or WhatsApp) but now I’m more pushing for DeltaChat, Matrix and XMPP.
Most matrix clients just collect loads of data, so meh
All of those are worse
Worse than what? Fully featured chat, E2EE, can be self-hosted and federated. They have it all.
I think Matrix is the way to go because you can host your own server and be completely self hosting without a 3rd party involved.
To add to this, XMPP is much cheaper to host and offers basically the same features when it comes to what OP needs. I host Prosody and it uses so little resources you could probably get it running on the cheapest server you could find.
It’s probably 15 years ago I used XMPP the last time. Back then there were many compatibility problems between the apps and especially on the mobile phone with push notifications, etc. There were problems sending media and VOIP calls were non existent outside of the Google clients.
My guess is that some of those things improved but I have not heard anyone in my circles using it, especially since Matrix became a bit more popular, most of the Open Source projects on IRC also moved to Matrix.
most of the Open Source projects on IRC also moved to Matrix.
No, they moved to libera.chat
Yeah, XMPP has changed a loooott since then.
XMPP’s main problems at the moment are clients, in my opinion. There’s 3 main clients for PC; one is 100% python (including frontend) and breaks semi-regularly, one does not officially support Windows and thus cuts out a large portion of the community + doesn’t have as many features as others, and one lacks features and looks extremely outdated. The state on iOS is even worse as well, and Android is fine but could be better.
If you’re considering XMPP again, I’d recommend waiting a few months for Prose https://prose.org/ to fully release, it looks like it’ll improve the experience a lot.
Can you provide names of these clients you’re mentioning?
Python: Gajim Doesn’t support Windows: Dino Outdated: PSI+
Dino is nice in GNOME as it’s native Gtk which gets you a nicely integrated and modern look and feel. It’s a little low on feature but fully usable.
I’ve gone this route. Not for the faint of heart. If you’re not self-hosting savvy, but you know someone that hosts a server, absolutely sign up with them. Or use a local public server like pikaviestin.fi, which provides accounts for finnish cotizens.
This. I‘m hosting a couple matrix servers and have many friends who have a ton of issues. It really depends on the admin and how tech savvy everyone involved is. If you cant be arsed to understand how key sharing works and check out which is the best client for you, matrix might bot be the best choice. I love it, personally but I suggest it rarely since tech illiterate users tend to get really upset about a free product not matching their insane standards.
Just a heads up about people’s suggestions on signal. If you don’t open your desktop client often and it needs to be logged back in it will not sync your latest notes to self messages (perhaps other messages too).
To be clear, this is a feature, not a bug
This is true.
Well signal also has the note to self.
People will hate this, but WhatsApp is probably the second best and convenient to most people. (But if your friends are willing to get signal, do it.) In fact it was always better than telegram, there I said it.
Also there’s many great note taking apps that have a sync feature. Joplin for one.
