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Should I use Matrix for Messaging?
(lemmy.world)
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this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2023
84 points (96.7% liked)
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If privacy is the ultimate goal, I think Signal is a bit better.
That said, Signal is doing a bunch of user-unfriendly stuff that turns me off a bit. For example, they had a great SMS integration on Android that they're now killing for no obvious reason. And more problematic- on iOS there is NO backup/restore functionality. None. So if you lose your phone, all your chat history is gone. It doesn't backup to iCloud or anywhere else. The ONLY backup or transfer option is if you get a new phone you can transfer data from old to new.
Android has a full backup/restore function that backs everything up to an encrypted file. No idea why they don't do the same on iOS.
Matrix is also better for multiple device access. On Signal, you can connect additional devices (laptop etc) but they are always subservient to the main device. Conversation history doesn't transfer from the main device to addon devices, although conversations stay in sync on both devices from the point you add the device forward. But if you get a new phone for example, that's a new parent device, so your desktop convo history gets wiped.
Matrix on the other hand, no device is primary and conversation history is stored (encrypted) on the server. So backup your crypto key and you can access everything from any device (including a web browser).
For Matrix- Element is the one to use most of the time...
I would think its NOT good privacy to backup it to icloud. As ANY backup. They probably do no backups, because it is unsafe to do so.
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Yeah, but the best encryption is... not to give the data to unwanted third parties. As then they have time of their lives to encrypt that ( if they want ).
In information technologies there are three main security goals: Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability. And while Signal is really good with the first two it utterly fails with the last one (at least on iOS).
Still I use Signal every day and would also recommend it to everybody who just wants a good private instant messaging client. While I also like and use Matrix (and see a bright future for the protocoll) there are still far too many problems to use it stress-free and smothly in everyday life.
Then why on Android do they do a full database backup encrypted by a simple PIN code?
It could be something legal with apple too. But it was just a guess!!!
Or, maybe they just don't consider at an important enough problem to get fixed. A big part of my point is that if there was a specific reason why they chose not to do it, that reason would be communicated to the users. As far as I am aware, no such reason has been communicated. Don't get me wrong, I like signal a lot. I'm a little bit critical sometimes because I feel that there are important features like this, which have a serious effect on usability, that are not getting the priority they need.