alt Hacker News> If you want a suggestion for secure messaging, it's Signal/WhatsApp. If you want to LARP at security with a handful of other folks, GPG is a fine way to do that.
I want secure messaging, not encrypted SMS. I want my messages to sync properly between arbitrary number of devices. I want my messaging history to not be lost when I lose a device. I want not losing my messaging history to not be a paid feature. I want to not depend on a shady crypto company to send a message.
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Then your next best bet is Matrix.org. Not to the same security standard as Signal, but if you don't have a specific threat against you then it's fine.
> I want secure messaging, not encrypted SMS.
I send long messages via Signal, typed on a desktop computer, all the time. (In fact, I almost exclusively use Signal through my desktop app.)
You don't have to use it like "encrypted SMS"! You're free.
> I want my messages to sync properly between arbitrary number of devices. I want my messaging history to not be lost when I lose a device.
OK. https://signal.org/blog/a-synchronized-start-for-linked-devi...
> I want not losing my messaging history to not be a paid feature.
I genuinely don't understand what you mean here. From https://signal.org/blog/introducing-secure-backups/
"If you do decide to opt in to secure backups, you’ll be able to securely back up all of your text messages and the last 45 days’ worth of media for free."
If you have a metric fuckton of messages, that does cost money, sure, but as they say:
"If you want to back up your media history beyond 45 days, as well as your message history, we also offer a paid subscription plan for US$1.99 per month."
"This is the first time we’ve offered a paid feature. The reason we’re doing this is simple: media requires a lot of storage, and storing and transferring large amounts of data is expensive. As a nonprofit that refuses to collect or sell your data, Signal needs to cover those costs differently than other tech organizations that offer similar products but support themselves by selling ads and monetizing data."
If you want Signal to host the encrypted storage, that costs money. If you don't want to pay Signal money, they provide 45 days of backup for free.
If you want to self-host your own backups (at your own cost), that's easy to do.
You can literally set up SyncThing to stream your on-device backups to your NAS, cloud storage, or whatever.
> I want to not depend on a shady crypto company to send a message.
Shady crypto company?
Are you referring to MobileCoin? That feature isn't in the pipeline for sending messages.
I checked! https://soatok.blog/2025/02/18/reviewing-the-cryptography-us...
I seriously don't care what messenger you use, as long as it isn't email, which can't be made secure. Pick something open source. It'll be less secure than Signal, but way more secure than email.