

4·
19 hours agoDo 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.
This happens every now and then, new or old data, several accounts, sometimes billions. Far too frequently.