Do you prefer XMPP or Matrix

Yes* - I haven’t used Discord in a long time as its bloat simply doesn’t interest me, but for communicating with folk:

Matrix, at least for me, is great, but the most capable mobile client Element has many broken or missing features.
Classic, but not X, has:

• working calls via STUN/TURN,
• an emoji menu,
• correctly showing chat profile images (X duplicates the most recent one for all chats),
• and the ability to create unencrypted group chats (purely for public memes).

X, but not Classic, has:

• attachment captions,
• HD images,
• markdown support,
• a more modern UI,
• and (when it works) fully encrypted 1-1 and conference calls via Matrix Livekit.

I currently dual-wield the two because neither is enough yet, and most other clients lack call functionality entirely.

XMPP, at least for me, is nearly perfect. It just works and I find the fact that desktop clients still look like AOL Messenger quite charming. However it has:

• very manual encryption key management, meaning even I find trusting a new device daunting let alone any adopters,
• no backward decryption, meaning message history needs to be exported and transferred to a new device,
• plaintext serverside storage for several pieces of data. It’s my server so ownership isn’t a worry, but it’s a massive security risk in the albeit unlikely event of a hack or hijack.

I chose higher encryption and easier adoption between Matrix and XMPP but wish there was a more fulfilling option.