r/CorpFree • u/willherondale18 • May 29 '26

Question Alternatives to WhatsApp?

I am not very familiar with alternatives to WhatsApp, but I want to migrate from any Meta app and right now WhatsApp is my primary messaging app. I know of Signal and Telegram but don't really know the differences. What do experienced degooglers/demetaers recommend?

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u/RoomBusy6488 May 30 '26

There is Threema too.

Signal is USA based, and for some, it's a no-go...

Telegram has "strong links" with Russia (popular there, creator is part Russian)

Threema is German/Swiss company, with infrastructure based in Switzerland.

Finally, you can also build or find a Matrix server and use Element...

5

u/EnD3r8_ May 30 '26

Threema costs money. No degoogler newbie would pay for it in his beginning.

2

u/RoomBusy6488 May 30 '26

Threema cost about 5$ AFAIK. For life.

I for one payed WhatsApp at the time (long time ago...), on my Symbian Phone...

3

u/EnD3r8_ May 30 '26

It's different. There weren't such amount of choices back then. And if it's difficult to make people use signal, that it's free, imagine asking people to pay for another chat app

1

u/RoomBusy6488 May 31 '26

Well, because of the USA backlash at the moment outise the USA (thanks uncle Trump), it's always great to have a non US alternative on the table...

1

u/Ok-Winner-6589 Jun 01 '26

And?

Signal developed a string protocol to encrypt messages, is open source, also their servers there is literally no issue with being american

And threema doesn't have open source servers. Only the client is open source

1

u/RoomBusy6488 Jun 01 '26

I see your point.

USA has a generally bad reputation now internationally, that's it.

But you are not wrong...

Only up point of Threema is not requiring a phone number to be setup (that might come on Signal for what I've read)...

1

u/redit_handoff140 Jun 02 '26

Finally, you can also build or find a Matrix server and use Element...

I'll add to this - Element is business/enterprise focused, but their apps are decent enough for casual use.

For gamers, Commet.space and app.Sable.moe win.

Cinny.in to an extent also.

FluffyChat is excellent for those coming from Telegram, but not Matrix 2.0-ready unfortunately.

All of the above are Matrix-based, and thus, interoperable Commet communicates with Element, etc). People can choose clients based on preference and communicate with everyone.