Alternate to Whatsapp?

manksudons89231

Looking for a Lightweight Messaging App with Reliable Push Notifications.

Background:
I switched to GrapheneOS because WhatsApp was accessing the microphone silently, spamming me, and selling metadata. I don’t trust it anymore.

What I Want:
✔ Instant or near-instant push notifications (as fast as WhatsApp or better)
✔ Minimal battery consumption
✔ Does not require phone number
✔ Free to use (no paid subscription)
✔ Email is fine as a login method

What I’ve Tried:
Session – Notifications are delayed until I manually open the app
Briar – Same issue
SimpleX Chat – Same issue
ElementX (Matrix) – Too complicated to set up

What I hate:

Whatsapp
Telegram
Signal

Problem:
All the apps I’ve tried either fail to deliver timely notifications or are too complicated.

Question:
➡ Is there any single messaging app that meets all these requirements?

W1zardK1ng

manksudons89231 maybe try XMPP with any compatible application.

Watermelon

manksudons89231 What I hate:
Whatsapp
Telegram
Signal

I suggest you to reconsider Signal, or try Molly/Molly-FOSS. (If you want to use Molly with FCM push notifications, I suggest you first install Molly-FOSS from Accrescent for high assurance of authenticity, then update to Molly with FCM support. Updates are more secure than fresh installations on Android because the signing certificates of apps are always pinned.

About WhatsApp/Telegram, does the following help? It's security advice though rather than usability.
https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/29977-privacy-in-the-messenger/23

schweizer

In my eyes the problem is not solved with Molly. A key requirement was:

manksudons89231 Does not require phone number

Molly does not solve that. Yes, you can use a burner phone number or a sms verification service but that usually costs money which violates your requirement

manksudons89231 no paid subscription

Additionally if you use a fake number for registration this a huge security risk. Someone else might get that number and take over your account. You can prevent that with a Signal PIN but if you do not use signal for seven days the PIN does not fulfil its function. Your current contacts will send their messages to the person that has taken over your account. There is no possibility to revoke your identity.

There are only few services that work without phone number. Threema is one of them but you have not tried or considered it even if it was recommended. So why are you asking if you already know your answer?

lackofhumor

manksudons89231 SimpleX Chat – Notifications are delayed until I manually open the app

If you look into SimpleX settings, you can decide how often you should receive notifications.
It can be set as:

when you open the application
every 10 minutes
live

Every 10 minutes might fail if you don't withdraw battery optimization.
Live works pretty well, except it will consume (a lot) more battery, which is against one of your requirements.

Apart from this, I find SimpleX to be promising.

manksudons89231 XMPP is good but apps build on this are so confusing

If you want to give it a chance, you can try OpenKeychain (for keys management) + Conversations (for messages delivery).
Among the pros you will have encrypted messages with async keys, possibility to stay always on TOR (or a proxy of your choice).
Conversations also implements OMEMO encryption (xmpp extension), so you might skip the keys part, even if it is advisable to have them.

manksudons89231 If you recently switched to GrapheneOS and are looking for a WhatsApp alternative, here is a good solution:
Molly

Overall I agree with your choice, it is the best balance between a usable client (important for other people if/when they switch) and privacy/security.

With molly (over signal) you also can encrypt the local db with a passphrase, feature that signal removed long ago.
This is important especially if you have a rooted phone.

andrej567

it also depends on your chatting partners.

I am not able to force my daughters school to change a messaging platform

i guess you tried the most of messengers

manksudons89231

andrej567

In my case, contacts are not a limitation.
My contacts are on Android and iOS and are ready to switch.

The only real blocker is notifications.
If messages don’t arrive instantly (or near-instantly), the app becomes unusable in real life, regardless of how secure or private it is.

In everyday life, no notifications = missed messages = wasted app.
That’s why I’m specifically looking for a messenger that can deliver reliable push notifications on GrapheneOS with low battery usage.

Murcielago

manksudons89231

In my case, contacts are not a limitation. My contacts are on Android and iOS and are ready to switch

That's great—unfortunately, this is often the limiting factor.

I personally wouldn't choose a messenger that's too exotic—it's probably more sustainable in the long run if your friends can also use the messenger with other contacts. That's one reason I agree with Watermelon reconsidering Signal/Molly.

ShoulderSurfin

manksudons89231 .. you are lucky. In my case .. they absolutely won't switch from iMessage. The concept that everyone should be able to easily (and privately) communicate is lost.

andrej567

not all notifications beep for me, from whatsapp, element, slack, email, I am not sure why exactly. Sometimes they do after unlocking the phone. or they beep and arrive 30 seconds later.. happens on iphone too.

Nordlicht

Guess you tried already a lot.
I'm using Threema, but they have a one time fee.
https://threema.com/de/pricing

manksudons89231

Nordlicht
Not everyone in my contact list agrees to pay; they already use an industry app for free. Free choice.

FOSS

gristle-cause

Why is Signal on the shit list? That's the only messenger I recommend, there aren't other options that come close on privacy & security

manksudons89231

gristle-cause

Long story short:

Phone number is enough.
Simple analogy: we fully secured our room (Signal) but left a spare key outside (via WhatsApp or other shady government third-party services).
Meredith Whittaker’s strong views and background (Signal’s president):
Privacy should not require a phone number — it is the primary surveillance identifier for everyone.

Trivia:
The open-source community does not trust closed-source systems, even when there is no evidence that they are shady. The only reason is that they are closed.
The same rule applies here: the primary surveillance identifier is the main ID for a Signal account, regardless of the justification (spam reduction, etc.).
Signal is not a privacy-focused app; it’s just a reduced-metadata version of WhatsApp (similar to early WhatsApp). However, companies have already collected most major user data.
Look at Whatsapp, then vs now,

Good question, it created an idea make it possible to my preferences, I will post it once all good.
Test 1: Installed Molly (fork for Signal), Will let you know people.

manksudons89231

W1zardK1ng

XMPP is good but apps build on this are so confusing, Uhh! I added this to my test list in the last, currently testing Molly(Fork for Signal).

57n

I think Wire would meet all your requirements

manksudons89231

57n

I added to my test list, yeah i am testing one by one, will try, Thank you.

manksudons89231

Watermelon

Wow, I really appreciate the detailed report on each point you mentioned. It helps me a lot in gaining more insights and testing whether it fits my problem set. Thank you for your time. I am now trying out everything that the other commenters suggested in their replies, and I will post a detailed report from a basic user’s perspective at the end.

tux_

Signal is by far the best option on that list. Yes, the phone number for registration issue is annoying, but there are workarounds (such as throwaway SIMs bought for cash or crypto). I wish Signal provided an alternative, e.g. a one-time small fee like $1 in crypto for registration to prevent "abuse."

gristle-cause

manksudons89231 Signal is not a privacy-focused app; it’s just a reduced-metadata version of WhatsApp

Scorching hot take

manksudons89231 Installed Molly (fork for Signal), Will let you know people

I use Molly as my signal client, nothing but good things to say. Do be aware, it's a security-focused improvement over signal. It still uses the same comms network as Signal, thus it doesn't add much in the way of "privacy" except that which it inherits through stronger security

eggy

gristle-cause Do be aware, it's a security-focused improvement over signal. It still uses the same comms network as Signal, thus it doesn't add much in the way of "privacy" except that which it inherits through stronger security

This is not true. It's both for security and privacy. The privacy part is allowing you to run a mollysocket + ntfy to allow bypassing Google metadata collection via FCM which is huge.

gristle-cause

eggy certainly true on stock android. Less impactful here on GOS, where Play Services are removed by default, in which case Signal notifications will fall back to its own websocket implementation in lieu of FCM

For GOS users who choose to install sandboxed play services on the same profile, you do still have a point; Signal would default to FCM, Molly would not

manksudons89231

[SOLVED]

Date: 8 Jan 2026

If you recently switched to GrapheneOS and are looking for a WhatsApp alternative, here is a good solution:
Molly [https://github.com/mollyim/mollyim-android]

Signal is designed for users who rely on Google services on their phones, whereas Molly is a completely de-Googled, privacy-focused Android version of Signal. It is essentially the same app, but with enhanced privacy features.

============Trivia============
What I’ve Tried:
Session – Notifications are delayed until I manually open the app
Briar – Same issue
SimpleX Chat – Same issue
ElementX (Matrix) – Too complicated to set up
Many apps are not perfect WhatsApp alternatives; however, Molly is the only solution that worked well for me(Everything working good). I did not tested any other app because it is working 100% good

Don't confuse: in 2026, "Molly-FOSS" & "Molly" are merged in to one app ie., "Molly"

Signal requires a phone number during initial account creation, but after that, it is no longer needed.

I was wrong to assume that requiring a phone number means Signal is not privacy-friendly. Signal uses phone numbers mainly for human verification and ease of use for basic users. After creating a username, the phone number is no longer required.

I also admit that I was wrong to blindly follow a recent post by Elon Musk about Signal. As Trump recently said, Elon Musk is 80% intelligent and makes mistakes 20% of the time. I sincerely apologize to Meredith Whittaker on this platform, and I will not blindly follow Elon Musk going forward.

Thank you for all your suggestions.