My niece has an old iphone with no SIM/phone number. Only wifi internet access.
Looking for an app for both of us to be able to chat
She cant chat with me over signal because no phonee number. She chats with the rest of the family over imessage, but i have an android phone
Is there an app available for both android and iphone to let me chat with her?
Thanks
Edit: willing to self-host for extra privacy. My nieces and nephews are all young children so i definitely want to encourage/educate them to get off corporate controlled communications channels
You can use a voip/sms service to register with the traditional messaging apps: signal, telegram, etc
I.e. google voice, or https://kycnot.me/search?q=sms&type=
Though I think :
Matrix, simplex, and briar are good options that don’t need sms at all
jisti, nextcloud talk, element matrix …go big: IRC
Would be so cool if my kids and nieces/nephews used IRC!!
Threema.
It costs $5 dollars, so you’re less likely to be the product. Highly private. Includes some open source code. Audited. Android and iOS. Doesn’t require phone number.
Here are the settings I recommend during first setup: Tap next instead of making a Threema Safe password Tap next instead of entering your phone number Turn off “Sync contacts”
Signal v7 with username IDs is right around the corner. I’d suggest you wait a few weeks if you can.
I’d love to see data to the contrary, but I believe even with username IDs, they will still want phone number verification. I.e. like telegram does
We’ll see in a few weeks time; hence my recommendation to wait a little ;)
We’ll see in a few weeks time
It’s coming in a few weeks? Source?!
I’ve been waiting for Signal usernames for a long time
“Update UI for PNP launch megaphone.” is pretty unmistakable ;)
We don’t know how long it’ll be exactly but “a few weeks” is a good assumption here.
It has been in beta for a while now and it still does require a SIM for registration.
Matrix / element
To expand with my personal experience, I self host a synapse server partly for the reason that i want my children (aged 8-14 now) to have a communication platform they can access to get ahold of me with out requireing a sim card. I do not federate, and i do not allow account sign ups. That keeps a pretty isolated instance while still allowing everyone on that homeserver to be able to talk to each other.
I help them get Element setup on each device. I dont think this is overly complicated, but i am sure i am a horrible judge of complexity… They have to enter the url of the server, then their password, then they need to scan a qr code/verify from an existing device. Or, they need to enter a second passcode to verify their identity. I help them keep those secrets in bitwarden, so imo, that complexity is an opportunity to explain some opsec and encryption!
This
That gets really complicated with room keys and stuff though. So it’s not particularly user friendly.
SimpleX.
WTH dude… You can send letters. Unfortunately it’s IRL only and isn’t at all what you asked for
Briar fits the requirements.
No need for sms. Works over the internet, wifi only, or Bluetooth. As long as everyone has android it’s a great option.
That being said simplex is probably the right answer here, but no reason to antagonize the person who suggested a valid option.
How can it be a valid option when it is only available on android and the reason why OP is having this issue, is that the niece is on an iPhone?
That’s a very cogent message, thank you for writing it. I now understand your concern. I had missed the iphone requirement
With Signal you only need a SIM card to register the account via the Signal app on the phone. You can receive the SMS for registering on another phone. After registering you can simply use Signal over WiFi. If this is too difficult, XMPP with a good OMEMO client for E2EE is an option. Easiest to install and start with is perhaps DeltaChat, E2EE chat via email : https://delta.chat/en/ You only need to learn what to do if the E2EE is not working right away. They have a FAQ and hints in the app.
Signal is no longer requiring phone numbers as of V7, so you could just wait for that to get released.
Still need a phone number to register. Then after that, you can give out your username to others without revealing your phone number
Telegram will allow her to use a virtual numberTelegram isn’t private. Their privacy practices align more closely to Facebook than Signal.
Sorry, I didn’t know
You can also try Jami.
Use caution as there hasn’t been a security audit
https://simplex.chat/ is probably the best option today
The app is great and the server is very easy to self host.
Jabber (XMPP) or Matrix/Element.
Conversations on Android and Siskin on iOS.
One non-techie parent has Siskin running on their iPhone and it hasn’t skipped a beat in years of messaging using omemo-encrypted XMPP. For servers, they’re on tigase.im and I’m on conversations.im.
Here’s a guide on optimum siskin settings; I don’t know if defaults are better now or not.
Conversations.im is free on fdroid but it’s well worth paying something to the developer directly.
Https://snikket.org will get you started with XMPP easily.
Try SimpleX chat.
Edit: or session
XMPP.
Threema.
Matrix.
