I can’t even get people to USE telegram, which they have already installed, let alone get them to understand, subscribe and install a federated messaging app. it seems like it’s whatsapp or back to the trained pigeons.
this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2023
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Yes, but you can use the federated app and bridge whatsapp into it. It's a good solution :)
How does this work? And can you please expain it in terms an idiot, like myself, would understand?
Basically the bridge listens for new posts on both services and copies them as needed. Think of it like a bot on Reddit or lemmy that automatically posts stuff on behalf of someone else.
Does that make sense?
That makes sense, thank you!
How do you install a bridge on Android? Using the bridge, could you theoretically link a WhatsApp account from a different phone?
You'd install it on the server, so it would need your WhatsApp credentials and whatnot, at least that's how other bridges work.
Ah, okay. I think I understand now. So, I would have to host a server to do that then I assume?
Thank you!
If you want to be in control of the server and bridges yourself, yes - you'd have to do that.
If not, you can just use a service like beeper
Cool! Thanks so much!
I kinda do this, but only thanks to Beeper. Not sure I would be able to do it by myself lol.
I've been hearing about this "bridging" thing. Is it possible to bridge into an IRC network that hasn't been bridged yet? My options seem to be "OFTC, Snoonet, W3C" but I want to bridge to another network, and I don't know if I even can or if I have to be a server admin or something.
Yes, it's possible but you either have to host your own server, have to be on a server where the IRC bridge is installed and can be used by anyone or use a service like Beeper that takes care of it for you.
Ah damn, thanks. I'll eventually host my own server one day!
Nobody should use Telegram, in my opinion. It's run by a shady company that doesn't even disclose the inner workings of their service properly, uses a non-standard encryption protocol and doesn't even encrypt chats by default. The only thing I like about Telegram is the fact that you don't have to expose your phone number to use it.
One thing they really have going for them is timely delivery of image data.
When I detect motion in my driveway I send them the JPEG through their API, without skipping a beat I get the image on all of my devices including my watch.
I tried email, discord, SMS, slack, pushbullet. Stuff either takes a long time to come through or comes through missing an image. I honestly hope they never shut down the service because I cannot find another service that runs as well. Fortunately for my needs I don't care and the least about encryption.
I got a small team in school to all adopt my self hosted Matrix as a chat solution for a project we were working on throughout the year. It was great. Everyone jumped back to Discord after we graduated though.
I've gotten a few people on element and some of them even use it to varying degrees! Don't bother with the "federation" thing, just let them go with matrix.org or tell them what server to use and how to make element use it on sign up, even better if you can say "lemme see that phone real fast" and hand it back saying "type a username and pass, don't lose the pass!"
My issue is the IOS client for element won't let people sign up without email AND removes the "email notifications for this acct" tic box thingy, so you need to use a junk email or sign in on the pc client (or web client) and then check that box which works acct wide. I use GrapheneOS but for my IOS friends it is a pain during sign up, and they never want to give it the ability to notify (which imo is pretty important in a chat application), I just don't get iphone users tbh.
My kids love SchildiChat, because of the turtle.
I love it too, and it's on F-Droid!
To me the only thing lacking from Matrix is the ability to search encrypted conversations on mobile.
I believe Element has it for desktop and iOS, but nothing for Android...
Anyone know if there are go-to servers to use? Looking to try Matrix for a team of around 20 where client information can be shared privately
EDIT: mainly I was seeing if any of the public servers listed on joinmatrix.org/servers/ would be more recommended than others
Host your own Synapse instance and lock it down to your users.
I'm clearly weak on terminology. When you say Synapse instance, Sypnase is the server software that would then allow me to host an instance of Element/Matrix? And an instance would be running that software somewhere — namely, a device I own or a VPS?
Yes. Synapse is the server side part of Matrix. You install it at a Matrix host, or on a VPS, or even a Raspberry PI device. See https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse#installing-and-configuration
Once up and running you connect a client like Element to it.
Nice, thank you. I appreciate the clarifications!
I use Mozilla's instance, but I'm not sure what differences might be applicable to hosting a team. I just use it to join existing rooms.
Are we talking about a company?
Element provides hosted and on-premise solutions for companies: https://element.io/
Synapse is the server that's normally used and can be installed pretty easily: https://matrix-org.github.io/synapse/latest/setup/installation.html
There's a list of public servers here: https://joinmatrix.org/servers/
But be careful if it's for a company, public servers might go down.
As frontend you can also use the Element clients or web interface, they are completely free.
No Windows server solutions? Synapse has Docker but I’ve had a hell of a time getting it up on my Win Server 2016 install.
I don't think Windows server is officially supported by Synapse so Docker, WSL or a Linux VM are probably your only chances.
Thank you. I think in my (ill-educated, poorly framed) original question, I think I was seeing if there were recommendations from the list on joinmatrix.org/servers/ I see that some are green-lit for privacy while others aren't.
This team isn't enterprise level or anything and I'm just looking to elevate them from emails to, originally, Slack. They're not sharing state secrets or anything, but are inconsistent about sharing client information that while not necessarily directly identifiable, should be kept under a tighter lid than it currently is.
Even if the messages are end to end encrypted I wouldn't trust a third party with that data (unless it was a company that does it for a living.)
I'd probably recommend running your own instance, I imagine for that few users it would be pretty cheap. Though maintenance is probably the biggest issue there.
Or just use a third party Matrix server but send client info over email using GPG keys. That would cost you nothing.
Do you mean self-hosted, like from our own computer?
No, he means from a server. Either a VPS, a physical server you buy, or an old laptop in the corner that you keep always running (idk if that's enough for matrix, I want to host my own for about the same number of people but have yet to take the plunge. Also want to host myself a nextcloud instance, a jellyfin server, and motioneyeos. One day...)
I think this helps me clarify what I am asking: I want to set up an instance of Matrix/Element that is private (defederated?).
To do so, it has to live somewhere. And I gather that can be a public server like @domi linked to, or on a VPS (or physical server, but I don't want to go there).
Public server is what I originally had in mind: are there any that are better options than others in relation to security/privacy?
If I instead rent space on a VPS, (a) what's a decent one to consider and (b) do I then need to install something in addition to Element like Synapse, which someone else mentioned?
Oh! I misunderstood lol. Honestly, I have some of these same questions, so I wish I could help here but I cannot, sorry.
Yeah it's definitely a chore to get anyone to use anything other than iMessage. A few friends and I use Signal even though they have iMessage and loved it. But everyone else is hooked to iMessage. Convenience is King in terms of adoption, unfortunately.