I understand why people like Matrix and wish that project the best of luck, but it is not comparable to Signal as privacy technology. The last time Matrix was discussed here, just a few weeks ago, the network couldn't even require support for E2E encryption, apparently because too many of its clients didn't have it working.
How long have people been watching and discussing Matrix on HN? It feels like a long time. It's 2020 now. It has never been possible to send an unencrypted message on Signal.
People should use Matrix if they like Matrix. But they should not be suggesting to random strangers that Matrix is as safe as Signal.
> The last time Matrix was discussed here, just a few weeks ago, the network couldn't even require support for E2E encryption, apparently because too many of its clients didn't have it working.
Ironically, we turned on E2EE by default on the develop branches of Riot (the main client) 12 days ago at FOSDEM: https://fosdem.org/2020/schedule/event/matrix/. It will go live across the whole network in the next release, complete with cross-signing for key verification.
So what percentage of Matrix users will now be using E2EE chats? Is it both groups and one-on-one chats or will there exist disparity between the two? Does the app prompt enabling E2EE in rooms where it's not enabled?
A nitpick on that solution (that no longer applies to me, because I no longer use an Android device):
It isn't persistent. Signal always defaults to secure messaging, which caused me regular headaches when I used it. More than a few people I knew installed Signal, used it briefly (or not at all), and went back to sms. Signal would always default to sending securely, and I'd always send these people a message that they'd never see, because they were no longer using Signal.
After some time I'd realize they didn't get it and would have to resend as an insecure sms. Missed more than a few time-critical communications because of that.
I really, really wish they'd made it a per-contact default I could have set.
They're talking about the Android app. In Android the application which sends messages can be replaced, and so Signal offers to replace it, as a result it needs to be able to send old-fashioned SMS messages when the correspondent doesn't seem to have Signal.
Your iPhone doesn't let anybody do that, just like it doesn't let Mozilla provide a different web browser and so on. This has upsides and downsides for security which I'm sure you've already thought about, for me it's a good reason not to own an iPhone, but the rationale for the opposite decision is sound.
How long have people been watching and discussing Matrix on HN? It feels like a long time. It's 2020 now. It has never been possible to send an unencrypted message on Signal.
People should use Matrix if they like Matrix. But they should not be suggesting to random strangers that Matrix is as safe as Signal.