GrapheneOS has 3 main official chat platforms alongside the forum. You should consider to go along with the longer and more formal nature of the forum. Each of the chat platforms is bridged so you can choose you preferred platform:

Matrix requires you to choose a client and server, since it's a federated protocol comparable to email. Matrix is overall the most private option but it has major usability drawbacks including being fairly slow. Our main 2 Matrix rooms were recently bricked by Matrix bugs in the state resolution protocol which is why they're so small compared to the more niche rooms. The main room had over 15k people before getting bricked in November 2022 and over 13k before getting bricked again last month. This is why we added Discord as an option 12 days ago and overhauled the Telegram experience by merging it into a single group with Topics resembling a more primitive Discord experience. We previously weren't linking to Telegram on our site to encourage using Matrix over it but we've stopped trying to focus only on Matrix and we expect both Discord and Telegram to grow faster long term.

    GrapheneOS Yeah, we got a few chat spots for ya. There's Discord, Telegram, and Matrix. Matrix needs a client and server pick, kinda like email. It's real private but can be slow sometimes. Had some hiccups with Matrix rooms but fixed things up. Discord's new, and Telegram got a makeover, so they're growing fast now.

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    grapheine You can sign up with Email on Discord I think

      I've read negative comments about Discord in privacy-related discussion groups. I'll pass for now.

      grapheine I was able to create a Discord account with only an email address fine, so it sounds a bit hit and miss.

        Same here. I registered on my phone while connected to a well-known VPN and just provided a SimpleLogin email alias to register. I was never asked for a phone number. Stumbled across a thing in the settings that tells you what your account standing is, and my account has an "all good" standing.

        treequell sorry! You're right. I was trying to create an account through an invite link for a service provider. I created one through discord.com and was able to verify through email!

        christiee the menu bar with all the circular icons? That one should go away if you tap somewhere else. If it doesn't, that's an issue with Element, not GrapheneOS.

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        Simply comment that, whatever platform you choose, it becomes very difficult to follow a conversation when they respond to you from another because a lot of garbage appears introduced by the manager.
        In my opinion you should choose a platform and use only one.

          [deleted] It sounds like you're referring to the bridge software being used. Currently, Discord is unique in that the experience there is significantly better. We initially had the bridge set up the way it is right now, but had to go back to the way it's done on other platforms due to some issues.

          A community member has created a patch for the bridge software to fix these issues, so Discord is now back to using webhooks for the bridge. I encourage you to give the Discord side a shot (I believe you might already be in there) and see how you like it now.

            11 days later

            rvlt.gg Open source alternatives to Discord
            session No cell phone number, no e-mail, three-hop network.
            Matrix has no categories. All the information is crowded into one room.
            Telegram. It requires a cell phone number to invade privacy.