Recommended matrix client?

DeletedUser88

Which matrix client is the best from a privacy and security perspective?

ErnestThornhill

https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/4708-looking-for-a-security-and-privacy-focused-client-and-homeserver-for-matrix

DeletedUser88

ErnestThornhill Thanks for the link but they don't really go into the reasons why these clients are secure and private. Seemed like everyone was just listing their preferred one. I'd prefer a more technical discussion.

AlphaElwedritsch

In principle, there are only three clients for Android that are up to date and maintained:
1) Element
2) Schildi Chat, which is an Element fork and only has a few more features. But they don't provide any more security
3) Fluffy Chat, a client written in Flutter that is nice to look at but is incredibly slow. And offers less than Element. Possibly less in terms of security too.

Long story short:
You're really only left with Element, a fork of it, or a slow Fluffy.
All the same in terms of security.
Basically: eat or die

You might get further here too

https://www.kuketz-blog.de/element-messaging-ueber-die-matrix-messenger-teil7/

DeletedUser88

AlphaElwedritsch Alright, thanks. Probably gonna go with element.

plantmom

AlphaElwedritsch i am testing out a bunch of clients and so far fluffy is giving overall by far the best ui ux experience on mobile or computer. As well as being available on all platforms. The element web version is probably the best tbh, but all the other element apps are missing major functionality. Kinda baffling how they would do an "upgrade" to element x and actually make it much worse and delete features. Schildi is OK but the UI/ux is unpolished and baffling

AlphaElwedritsch

And save yourself the time of testing Element X
Wasted time. Still far too rudimentary.
I just did it the other day.
Ended up back with normal Matrix...
All my tests always fail. There's always something wrong with all the clients. In the end, it's always pure Element.

DeletedUser88

AlphaElwedritsch Yeah I was looking into it and decided against it. Seemed in its very early stages.

Velocity9490

AlphaElwedritsch I'd say it's good enough for most people. And it's definitely better for beginners, as it doesn't take 20 minutes to sync the chats.

goskm75f

Fluffychat

missing-root

Schildichat was often a lot behind on updates compared to Element.

But I think to remember that its UI made sense, while Element sucks a lot.

SimpleX is by far the better messenger for private communication, for public stuff... I dont know.

plantmom

Velocity9490 it is missing the entire spaces feature which is one of the only things that differentiates matrix from something like signal

jackFang

Client for which platform? I used fluffychat for android, slightly buggy. I would recommend Element in the meantime. Haven't had a chance to try SchildiChat but it looks promising too. That is until Element X is polished and ready.

Velocity9490

plantmom I think the main difference between Signal and Matrix is decentralization. Spaces aren't really anything special, they're basically just lists of rooms. The fact that Element X exists shows that spaces are fully optional, and not needed for Matrix to function.

plantmom

Velocity9490 true, that's one of the differences. But there are quite a few decentralized messaging protocols. None of them have a feature like spaces, which allows you to organize communities or projects and allows matrix to substitue for stuff like discord.

pixelfairy

Is SchildiChat[f] the only one that doesn't need google services?

mmobder

pixelfairy element and elementX don't require gpservices either

r134a

mmobder Do u know a source for Element outside of f-droid that is compatibale with notifications? Their apk on github releases relies on google services as far i'm aware. I'm asking because i am using their apk on github and its has no notification options besides google services. I believe their f-droid release has an option for notifications not dependant on google services. Though for probably obvious reasons i'm not really willing to install it through f-droid, especially since it isn't updated consistently. The version on f-droid still predates a high priority security release.

mmobder

r134a ts has no notification options besides google services

weird, I'm using the ! Element X (not the former) from github paired with ntfy - works good without gs
https://github.com/element-hq/element-x-android/releases/download/v25.08.2/app-fdroid-arm64-v8a-release-signed.apk
Fdroid currently hosts 25.06.2

I've used regular Element from github with ntfy some time back and it was ok as well

r134a

mmobder Thanks, i should have been more clear. I'm not using ntfy, i want to use the option 'Background sync' under Notification method. This seems to be not possible on the github version of element (on element (non x) they only host -gplay apks). I just tested it with element x from the page u referred to, and on first glance there doesn't seem to be an option to use background sync aswell. Perhaps i will add a ntfy server eventually to my homeserver.

Edit: seems on Element X this functionallity is not (yet) implemented:

https://github.com/element-hq/element-x-android/issues/4586

Element has this option, though as far i'm aware not offered on the releases they host on github (only -gplay variants).

mmobder

r134a Perhaps i will add a ntfy server eventually to my homeserver

I'm using public ntfy provided by adminforge (same for mollysocket) and it works just fine if you accept public service for that kind if metadata/events