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What is the best alternative to Loopy Telegram Pro Messenger?
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Telegram
All
37
Experiences
Pros
28
Cons
8
Specs
Top
Pro
Free and convenient large file sharing
Copy/paste videos, gifs, images, geolocation, documents, and even executable files. Drag over files for practically any time up to 2GB in size. Images can be compressed, too.
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Top
Con
Not fully open source
Telegram has an open API and protocol free for everyone, but the backend software is not open source. Therefore 100% privacy can not be evaluated.
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Top
Pro
Free of cost
The application is available free of cost.
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Top
Con
Can only be used with a phone number
It is not possible to activate and use Telegram by mail etc. You need a phone number.
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Top
Pro
Privacy focused
In addition to the end-to-end encryption [only in secret chats] that provides privacy to communications, the app also includes self destructing timers for chats, and the ability to permanently delete messages, yours and theirs, from your and their devices.
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Top
Con
Only "Secret Chat" messages are encrypted end to end
The only way to get end-to-end encryption (client-client) using Telegram is to use the Secret Chat function, anything through the service is server-client encrypted. Also secret chat is only implemented in the mobile apps, meaning there is no way to encrypt messages end-to-end when using the desktop client or the web browser client.
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Top
Pro
Media messaging
Videos, gifs, images, geolocation, and documents.
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Top
Con
"Secret Chat" feature is not available for desktop client
Secret chats with end to end encryption are only available on mobile apps.
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Top
Pro
Channels for one way broadcasting
Broadcasting channels suitable for announcing things.
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Top
Con
No source code sintax highlighting
Telegram does not have source code syntax highlighting, making it difficult to share code snippets.
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Top
Pro
Beautiful UI
Very customizable with a lot of clean looking options.
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Top
Con
Does not work for visually impaired
Doesn't work for visually impaired.
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Top
Pro
Possible to send photos and videos without compression
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Top
Con
Does not support spherical 360° photos
Spherical 360° photos becoming more popular these days, but Telegram does not support such format.
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Top
Pro
Supergroups of up to 200,000 people
In Supergroups, anyone along with admins can delete their messages from all sides. A message can be pinned to the top. All of the user's messages can be deleted by an administrator, and they can be banned and reported as well. Supergroups can have a public link (outside of Asia, due to high spam volumes), which is also a username.
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Top
Con
Does not support text messaging
You can NOT make it your default text messaging App.
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Top
Pro
Two-step verification
You can set up an additional password to your account, which can be reset by your email. You don't have to use an email if you do not want to. If you lose access to your email or forget your password, you will be able to reset it via text message if your account is over seven days old and will receive it within a week (in case you recover anything before then).
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Top
Pro
Secure
Telegram uses an open source MTProto encryption protocol that provides complete end-to-end encryption for secret chats. To show off their confidence in the protocol the company behind Telegram has organized $200,000 and $300,000 challenges to break the encryption. So far there have been no winners.
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Top
Pro
Saved messages
You can write messages to yourself. You can write some notes, add links, and see everything across all your devices.
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Top
Pro
Cloud chat keys are kept in different jurisdiction
Even though encryption used for cloud-based storage (e.g. Gmail, Facebook, iCloud) may not be as secure as end-to-end encryption or zero-knowledge storage, Telegram does the most that it can by holding keys to chats in different jurisdictions, requiring intergovernmental cooperation to obtain the keys. This is aside from whatever other security measures have been taken, of course.
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Top
Pro
Multiplatform native client apps
There are native desktop, mobile and web client apps, that are optimized for speed and are light on memory usage.
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Top
Pro
Open source client apps
Client apps are open source, making whole service more trustworthy.
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Top
Pro
Unlimited storage
Unlimited number of files can be stored forever on the cloud. You can upload files up to 1.5 GB each.
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Top
Pro
Voice and video messages
You can post voice and video messages if you are too lazy to write text messages.
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Top
Pro
Group Voice Chat
This Discord-like feature adds to the interactivity of the application.
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Top
Pro
Pinned Messages
You can pin messages to the top of groups or supergroups so members will see them when opening the group.
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Top
Pro
Self-destruct messages
Messages in individual chats can be set to self destruct on a timer. They will disappear after the timer expires. Messages in all new chats can be set to self-destruct with a global auto-delete timer in Settings > Privacy and Security > Auto-Delete Messages.
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Top
Pro
Edit or delete messages after sending them
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Top
Pro
Banned in China
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Top
Pro
Save time with inline bots and link previews
Unfortunately, on the desktop videos don't play, but images are viewable without visiting popular websites like imgur and Instagram. You can play YouTube videos and others within the app, so you don't need to embed code or anything. With inline bots, such as @gif, @pic/bing, @vid/YouTube, etc, you can look things up without leaving the client or chat that you're in. Simply type the name and some keywords and wait for the results to load.
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Top
Pro
@mentions
You can ping people to get their attention by @mentioning them.
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Top
Pro
Desktop app handles HiDPI
The desktop app has a built in setting to scale the UI of the app up to 200% which allows for those with 4k monitors/screens to use the app without scaling issues.
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Top
Pro
High quality calls
Uses the latest GPL audio codecs, such as Opus, an adaptative high-quality codec that supersedes AAC at any bitrate.
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Top
Pro
Customer support is within the app
Although it's volunteer based, but still pretty top-notch if available, which it tends to be.
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Top
Pro
Large groups can have channels called 'Topics'
Topics are now available in groups of 100+ members and have a sleek two-column layout and new buttons to quickly navigate. A default topic called General is now in every topic group, holding the group’s service messages and previous message history.
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Top
Pro
Popular in the USA
On SimilarWeb you can see that Telegram is on the top 15 among all communication apps.
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Specs
Platforms:
Web, Android, iOS, Windows, Linux, macOS, BSD, Windows phone, UWP
Publisher:
Various companies affiliated with Telegram
File Size:
2048 MB
End-to-end encryption:
Secret chats
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Experiences
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1185
282
Nekogram X
All
4
Experiences
Pros
3
Cons
1
Top
Pro
Expands on nekogram
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Top
Con
Slightly outdated
But still tries to catch up.
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Top
Pro
Translate
Translate feature for other languages.
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Top
Pro
Many different variants
Install only the arch you need, along with needed proxies.
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25
1
Chatwee
All
6
Experiences
Pros
6
Top
Pro
Has a free-forever option
A bit less options available but works nonetheless.
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Top
Pro
Real-time media and file sharing
Including YouTube videos and pictures preview in the chat window.
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Top
Pro
Plenty of customization options
Chat size, color, fonts, language, log in methods, notifications, emojis, privacy, powerful moderation and many more.
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Top
Pro
Single Sign-on
Users, who log in to the site, are automatically logged in to the chat.
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Top
Pro
Integrated with 25+ most popular CMS
Developers provide easy to follow, clear plugin installation instructions.
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Top
Pro
Clean design
Chatwee has a clean and easy to use UI. On the left there's a clean and defined user list, each name has a flag next to it. It's also very easy to move from one side of the screen to the other. There's only the most useful information on the screen at any time and the design never feel overwhelming or cluttered.
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6
0
Telegram F-Droid
All
6
Experiences
Pros
3
Cons
3
Top
Pro
Fully open source
More trust worthy than the official.
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Top
Con
Slower updates
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Top
Pro
Matching UI
No differences between the official and FOSS UI and settings.
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Top
Con
Emoji is ugly
Using FOSS emoji but this one is not good as IOS emoji -_-
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Top
Pro
Dont need Google Play Service
Telegram FOSS have Notification Services, they can running in the background without GPlay Services or another services.
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Top
Con
Not on Google Play
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133
5
Contus Fly
All
5
Experiences
Pros
4
Cons
1
Top
Pro
Scalability
Contus Fly has quick scalability applications from few users to lakhs of users. It performs simultaneously to communicate with the user with online presence.
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Top
Con
Group video conferencing
Communicating with a group using video calls on the chat app is an extra feature. You need an upgrade in group video conferencing.
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Top
Pro
On Cloud
Host data on a cloud server or on your own premises servers to scale up your instant messaging mobile app's accessibility and scalability.
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Top
Pro
High Profile Technology Stack
Build your chat app with solution powered by Ejabbered, Erlang, Amazon Web Services, MySQL, and much more under the hood.
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Top
Pro
Customization
Hyper-accommodative for quick customizations, scalability, technology updates and integrations.
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10
1
Plus Messenger
All
20
Experiences
Pros
15
Cons
5
Top
Pro
Let's you forward messages without quoting
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Top
Con
New features on Telegram take time to roll out
Sometimes rolling out the new features takes time.
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Top
Pro
More tabs
Plus Messenger sorts all your conversations into multiple tabs for easier navigation.
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Top
Con
Not privacy friendly
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Top
Pro
Tabbed view
Lets you have multiple tabs for personal chats, groups, channels, bots etc
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Top
Con
Old API
Telegram doesn't use the latest API.
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Top
Pro
Go to first message supported
The feature to go with one click to the very first message of the chat instead of having to scroll up a lot is supported.
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Top
Con
Buggy
There might be more bugs on this version on particular devices - there is no concrete proof of this.
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Top
Pro
Themeable
Different themes to choose from in order to personalize how the app looks.
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Top
Con
No option to ignore messages from blocked contacts in group chats
For example, nekogram has this useful feature.
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Top
Pro
Message details
For example - see the exact size of the message - be it a file like a video or a simple text message. Or see the exact timestamp with the year and milliseconds included.
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Top
Pro
Schedule message for when online
Ability to schedule the message to send when the receiver is online
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Top
Pro
Select all chats option
You can select all chats by pressing one button.
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Top
Pro
More icons showing as options
There is less of a need to press on the 3 dots to reach more features because more of them are already shown.
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Top
Pro
Delete from cache directly from the file (video/voice/PDF)
Choose which files to delete from the cache directly from the file, for example, if you have one specific big video you want to delete from the cache this is possible.
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Top
Pro
Private links to messages
Generate private links to messages, these links only work if you have access to the chat.
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Top
Pro
Can apply saved themes
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Top
Pro
Save original filenames
Able to download and save filenames with their original mame
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Top
Pro
Presence icon in chat list
Shows presence based on last seen directly from the chat list with an icon. (green, light grey, dark grey, black).
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Top
Pro
Add to home screen
Add chats to home screen from, even a few in go (batch adding).
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Experiences
FREE
645
30
Challegram / Telegram X
All
11
Experiences
Pros
8
Cons
3
Top
Pro
More fluid than the official client
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Top
Con
Not integrated with assistants like Google, Bixby etc
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Top
Pro
Quick settings and preview by long pressing chatw
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Top
Con
Still no chat groupings
Folders have been in the code for a while, but still not built in by default.
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Top
Pro
Nicer UI
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Top
Con
Annoying vpn options aren't necessary for us users but still get pushed on you
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Top
Pro
Easy to search media on group or channel
Everything grouped based on its type.
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Top
Pro
Music player plays even if tgx is closed
The music still played even if tgx closed (not minimized).
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Top
Pro
No mute
No big annoying mute button in channel wall.
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Top
Pro
More cusomizability
You can modify colors of everything, switching to use system font and most importantly changing the emoji set.
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Top
Pro
Bubbleless chat
More space on the screen.
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Experiences
FREE
164
13
Matrix
All
14
Experiences
Pros
12
Cons
1
Specs
Top
Pro
Built on an open standard
Matrix is an open standard, defining simple HTTP APIs so that devs can easily write their own clients, bots, bridges or servers. You're not locked into a specific set of implementations.
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Top
Con
Keys cannot be checked automatically
You cannot automatically check keys of your recipients. Only manually.
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Top
Pro
Bridges other networks into a single decentralised network
Matrix has bridges to IRC (freenode, moznet, oftc, snoonet etc), Slack, Gitter, Rocket.Chat, XMPP, SMS, SIP and others. The point is to 'matrix' all the different networks out there into one single decentralised network.
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Top
Pro
Has an easy to use client called Riot
Riot.im is the easiest way to use Matrix, with great clients for Web, iOS and Android (and Fdroid).
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Top
Pro
Does not require a centralized server to establish a connection between two users
Matrix is decentralized, there's no one central point that the information goes through and so no once central point of failure or control.
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Top
Pro
Matrix prioritizes direct messaging with people the same as Slack-style groups
Matrix aims to "provide an analogous ecosystem to email - one where you can communicate with pretty much anyone, without caring what app or server they are using" using a neutral identity system.
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Top
Pro
Supports different kinds of communication
Matrix is designed to support Instant Messaging, VoIP/WebRTC signalling (voice and video) and Internet of Things communication.
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Top
Pro
Has an app store for 3rd party integrations & bots
Riot.im includes an app store with integrations for Github, JIRA, Jenkins, Giphy etc - and anyone can add more via Matrix.
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Top
Pro
Offers choice of clients
Which can be found here.
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Top
Pro
Maintains full conversation history
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Top
Pro
Has an active community behind it
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Top
Pro
Can be integrated with existing communication services
Matrix is designed to support Instant Messaging, VoIP/WebRTC signalling and Internet of Things communication and allows cross-communication between those services. Meaning one person could be using IRC and another Slack for IMs, or one person could be using Skype and another Google Hangouts for videoconferencing.
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Top
Pro
End-to-end encryption
Matrix features end-to-end encrypted chats which are syncronized accross all your devices. E2E is implemented in the matrix-js-sdk library and Riot.im client.
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Specs
Platforms:
Mac/Windows/Linux/Android/Browser/iOS/and more
Price:
FREE
VoIP:
Yes
Open source:
Yes
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Experiences
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328
46
Element (formerly Riot)
All
16
Experiences
Pros
15
Specs
Top
Pro
Bridges to other networks
You're not confined within Element's or even Matrix garden, and you don't have to make users of other networks switch to Matrix.
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Top
Pro
Markdown support
Code snippets in chats can be highlighted with Markdown.
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Top
Pro
Simple interface
Element has a very simple interface, adding the ability for more inexperienced users to use it.
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Top
Pro
VOIP and Videoconferencing
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Top
Pro
Supports encryption
Element allows for fully encrypted text, voice, and video chatting.
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Top
Pro
Widgets support
Want to watch that flick at YouTube and discuss it at the same time? Have Grafana graphs stacked above your DevOps team chat? Collaboratively edit Google Docs and chat over without switching applications? This is possible with Element.
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Top
Pro
Decentralized
An open network for secure, decentralized communication.
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Top
Pro
Self-hosting and federated network
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Top
Pro
Libre/open source
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Top
Pro
Search
Search messages in your current room, or all the rooms you're in. Not subject to a message history limit like Slack.
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Top
Pro
Cross platform
Web browser Linux OS X Windows Android iOS
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Top
Pro
Large existing community
With public rooms for many people, and you can create your own and let people from the community join.
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Top
Pro
Etherpad real-time document collaboration
An easy to activate integration that allows multiple authors to edit a document simultaneously.
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Top
Pro
File Sharing
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Top
Pro
Supports text, voice, video
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Specs
Platforms:
MacOS, Windows, Linux, Android, Browser, iOS
License:
Apache License 2.0
Publisher:
New Vector Ltd
End-to-end encryption:
Yes (optional)
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Experiences
Free
792
103
Rocket.Chat
All
20
Experiences
Pros
6
Cons
13
Specs
Top
Pro
Free and open source
Rocket.Chat is available for free. It's licensed under the MIT license with source code available on GitHub.
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Top
Con
Developer support is non-existent
Can't even create a clean Ubuntu VM with a working developer install. Unresolved dependencies; fails to build. Docs are terrible; actual devs don't respond to questions; error messages are near-opaque. DO NOT RECOMMEND.
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Top
Pro
Native apps for all major desktop and mobile platforms
Rocket.Chat has native apps for macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android.
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Top
Con
Web client loses images
In chat rooms with images, before very long, images start to become empty boxes. Useless to pass around visual information
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Top
Pro
Supports a wide variety of authentication methods
In addition to the usual email / username + password combination, Rocket.Chat supports authenticating via Facebook, Github, Gitlab, Google, Linkedin, Meteor and Twitter accounts.
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Top
Con
No theme customization
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Top
Pro
Understands markdown better than Slack does.
Links work properly, for instance, with square brackets followed by parentheses.
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Top
Con
No chat audit for enterprise
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Top
Pro
Very active and helpful community
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Top
Con
Poor security implementations / protocols
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Top
Pro
Video conferencing support
Rocket.Chat supports video calls.
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Top
Con
Centralized
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Top
Con
iOS app is poorly made
The iOS application is not native, being just a browser container. This means that the UX is quite poor, slow, buttons unresponsive. At this moment they do not provide a decent experience.
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Top
Con
Android app is poorly made
The Android application is just a badly wrapped web-view which does not perform well and has no form of offline caching whatsoever.
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Top
Con
Privacy settings are absent
Privacy settings for the server are absent, for instance, you don't have the ability to disable registrations, there's no way to control access to the chat.
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Top
Con
Features not available out of the box
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Top
Con
No web browser support
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Top
Con
Email required for registration
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Top
Con
No way to block new registrations
Without the ability to disable registrations, there's no way to control access to the chat.
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Specs
Platforms:
Web iOS Android OSX Windows Linux
License:
M.I.T.
Hosting options:
On premises & On Rocket.Chat
Videoconferencing:
Yes
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Experiences
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151
31
Mattermost
All
16
Experiences
Pros
9
Cons
6
Specs
Top
Pro
Can be self-hosted
You don't need to rely on someone else's servers, you can host Mattermost on your own server.
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Top
Con
No easy End-to-End Encryption setup
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Top
Pro
One-line Docker install
With Docker set up, you can install Mattermost with the following command: docker run --name mattermost-dev -d --publish 8065:80 mattermost/platform For other cases, installation instructions can be found here.
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Top
Con
Features not available out of the box
Difficult to setup the many features it offers. The easy docker installation is for the application only, not it's feature sets. Requires a license for full-set of features.
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Top
Pro
Similar to Slack
Almost all features of Slack are available in Mattermost.
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Top
Con
Centralized
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Top
Pro
Free - OpenSource
You can download and use it as free for self-hosted server.
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Top
Con
Poorly made iOS app
Built natively using React it suffers from unresponsiveness, input lag, and sometimes broken services. Coupled with a bad user experience.
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Top
Pro
Mobile apps for android and iOS
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Top
Con
Poorly made Android app
The Android application is just a badly wrapped web-view which does not perform well and has no form of offline caching whatsoever.
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Top
Pro
You can change theme
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Top
Con
Self-Hosted
This doesn't work for every type of company. Mainly great for those concerned with privacy, security, compliance and control of your data/information.
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Top
Pro
Desktop app for MacOS, Linux and Windows
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Top
Pro
Browser notifications
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Top
Pro
Mark-Down support
Yes, it supports markdown.
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Specs
Platforms:
Android, iOS, Windows, MacOS, Linux
License:
MIT
Hosting options:
Self-hosted
Service integrations:
Yes - Atlassian, Webhooks, Chatbots, Extensions
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Experiences
Free / paid
113
34
Pidgin
All
8
Experiences
Pros
5
Cons
2
Specs
Top
Pro
Support for a wide range of additional chat services
Pidgin not only supports IRC, it also supports plenty of other services such as AIM, Google Talk, MSN, ICQ and plenty of others. This way, you can have all of your conversations in the same app and won't have to deal with multiple chat windows being open.
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Top
Con
Miserable IRC font controls (as of 2.13.0.17)
Does its best to avoid putting sensible default font controls in any place where you can get to it. And when it does grudgingly change it, based on system preferences (not local preferences), it does so in an inconsistent and unpredictable fashion.
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Top
Pro
Free and open source
Pidgin and its code is completely free and open source. Pidgin has no ads and no features behind a paywall.
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Top
Con
No native VoIP support
While there are plugins there is no built in support for VoIP in Pidgin which is time consuming to implement instead of being baked in from the jump.
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Top
Pro
Cross platform
The Pidgin instant messaging client is cross platform, working on Linux, Windows and OSX.
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Top
Pro
Convenient notification features
Like other quality IRC clients, Pidgin features notifications that the user can set in order to have a variety of things happen when the users is mentioned, such as an audio cue or changing the system tray icon.
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Top
Pro
Highly customisable with plugins
Pidgin not only has a large plugin library built-in, but also an array of third party plugins for a variety of functions.
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Specs
Platforms:
Windows, Linux
License:
GPL
Media:
Video send/receive, Images
Message history:
Optional
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Experiences
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297
81
Line
All
6
Experiences
Pros
4
Cons
2
Top
Pro
Large celebrity and public figure usage rate
The caveat is that they are in Japan, but the app is commonly used to 'follow' public figures.
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Top
Con
Account is locked to the Phone Number & Device
The entire account is locked to the phone number, which cannot be changed. If the application is installed on a new device with the same phone number, the previous account data will be wiped.
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Top
Pro
Enormous, constantly updated stamp collection
Since many brands use stamps for promotional purposes, everything from movies to food brands to Taylor Swift have released stamp collections.
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Top
Con
Users have been concentrated in Japan
Of the 360+ million registered users, the top country is Japan (50 million). Thailand and Indonesia are 2nd and 3rd with 33 and 30 million, respectively, with very small market penetration in the US (10 million, 11th place).
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Top
Pro
Photo filter and editing capabilities
Users have in-app editing tools, as well as Line's separate camera application, which has additional tools.
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Top
Pro
Integrated social network
Similar to Facebook's timeline.
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23
9
Signal
All
16
Experiences
Pros
10
Cons
5
Specs
Top
Pro
Provides security and privacy
Signal uses an advanced end to end encryption protocol that provides privacy for every message every time.
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Top
Con
Needs access to your phone number and contacts to work
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Top
Pro
Free and open source
Signal is free and open source software, enabling anyone to verify its security by auditing the code. It's the only private messenger that uses open source, peer-reviewed cryptographic protocols to keep your messages safe.
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Top
Con
Single device
Signal can only be registered to one mobile device at a time. But you can link Signal to Signal Desktop.
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Top
Pro
Supports encrypted group chats
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Top
Con
Servers hosted in the US
A security risk due to National Security letters, which require giving up data to the US state, and making it illegal to disclose that.
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Top
Pro
Has a desktop app
Signal Desktop can be used on multiple devices and has most features of the Android version, although it still requires you to register with your phone.
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Top
Con
Unreliable notifications
Sometimes messages won't be received if the Signal app has been closed for a long time or hasn't been opened after booting the device.
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Top
Pro
Supports sharing of various different media types
Signal supports: emoji, pictures, videos, audio, contacts, any location and GIF.
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Top
Con
Poor support
Their E-mail adress for support are not working. They have a Community support on here. Sometimes if you need a support, you need to create an account on their forum and need to share a topic and wait for long time.
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Top
Pro
Note to Self feature
Allows you to "send: messages to yourself and sync to desktop so you can use Signal as a kind of encrypted Pushbullet alternative
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Top
Pro
You can easily view all media exchanged
You can easily view all media shared in the chat without scrolling back to when it was shared.
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Top
Pro
Annonymous Sender (Encrypted)
The sender credentials can be encrypted with the rest of the message, leaving only the recipient address readable by the Signal server. Even if Signal wanted they couldn't see who is talking with who by this mean.
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Pro
Works everywhere in every country
Unlike most messenger apps, Signal works reliably in all countries by securely circumventing internet censorship.
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Pro
Recommended by Edward Snowden
Edward Snowden uses this messenger and recommends it to everyone who is concerned about his privacy.
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Specs
Platforms:
Android, iOS, Linux, Windows, Mac OS X
Publisher:
Open Whisper Systems
End-to-end encryption:
Yes
Media:
images / audio / video / files / contacts / GIFs / location
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687
181
Discord
All
32
Experiences
Pros
22
Cons
9
Specs
Top
Pro
User friendly
Discord follows the same type of interface design popularised by Slack, which is extremely clean and attractive, and doesn't clutter the interface with unnecessary chrome and cruft.
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Con
Proprietary software
Discord is closed-source, meaning their code isn't available for inspection or reproduction
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Pro
Free for unlimited users
Unlimited amount of users.
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Con
Based on Electron = eats a lot of ram
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Pro
Can be used in browser
Users can invite others to join a Discord channel via a web link, which means no installation is required to use the software - which is one of the big typical barriers to entry for social software.
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Con
Some functions cut out and available only with "Nitro" subscription
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Pro
Good 1-click invite system
Discord allows inviting people to a specific channel with a link. Links can be set to expire. Low effort/passive invite mechanics.
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Con
Developer's previous company was sued for privacy violations, among other things
See: http://classactionlawsuitsinthenews.com/class-action-lawsuit-complaints/openfeint-green-international-privacy-class-action-lawsuit-complaint/ https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/cases-proceedings/closing-letters/openfeint-inc Discord's privacy policy also states that while they might not sell your data, a company they get sold to will quite possibly attain said data and thus may be in "more" shady hands.
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Pro
Easy setup
You can quickly send invites to people and they can join in using the web client without having to create an account or install the app.
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Con
No self-hosting avaliable
Discord is wholly hosted by Discord (the company), you cannot run private instances, and all servers are hosted on their infrastructure. For most people, this won't really impact their usage.
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Pro
Has low-latency VoIP support
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Con
Not a generic "team chat" tool
All the UI and the features are aimed specifically at communicating with your gaming team/clan.
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Pro
Supports video and text communication
Behaves and looks like Slack for regular text channels, but with the ability to create voice channels as well
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Con
Very unstable on Linux
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Pro
Numerous controls for setting member roles.
Deny access, Deny write message, Allow read messages etc.
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Con
Anti-privacy license terms
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Pro
Ability to create bots
Discord provides an API for creating custom bots.
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Con
Can change "Now Playing" status to something inappropriate
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Pro
Open source bots and management tools
Discord has a wide variety of bots for things from airhorn noises to automated server management, to leveling systems for chat. The bot API is open and there are dedicated sites for finding bots.
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Pro
Game integration
Discord shows which game each user is currently playing, which among other things helps users to form PUGs with minimal hassle.
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Pro
Dark theme out of the box
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Pro
Familiar for Slack users
For those that are used to the way Slack (a similar chat client) works, Discord will be familiar in its use, which lowers the learning curve quite a bit for those that have switched or tried Slack before.
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Pro
Low effort invite mechanics
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Pro
Android app has push notifications
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Pro
Syntax highlighting and Markdown support
The support is limited but still exists. It's a killer feature for dev teams.
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Pro
DDoS mitigation
Discord prevents users from being DDoSed out of games.
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Pro
Targeting of roles
Targeting roles allows for quickly requesting someone from a group e.g. artist, moderator, etc.
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Pro
Ability to thread channels
Ability to create channel categories for channels to sit inside of.
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Pro
Friendly payment policy
Free account have no tangible restrictions. Premium account is just a way to say "thank you" to developers. And it work for all servers of discord (not as in slack). And it can be purchased by one who wants. In contrast to Slask, where all active members of the server should be "premium".
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Pro
Language localization
Have localization for many language, including Russian.
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Pro
Does not allow NSFW related things to be posted unless in a NSFW channel
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Specs
Platforms:
Web, Windows, Linux, Mac, iOS, Android
Search:
Yes
Videoconferencing:
Yes
Audio recording:
No
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474
Viber
All
21
Experiences
Pros
14
Cons
6
Specs
Top
Con
The company evades U. S. tax
The company uses the common practice of tax haven addresses in order to avoid paying US taxes despite being registered in Delaware.
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Pro
Desktop apps allow texting, calling and enables transferring calls between devices
Viber has native apps for both Windows and Mac that allow you to send and receive messages from your desktop. You can also use the desktop to make and receive calls. Synchronizes between all devices you are using Viber on. Allows transferring calls between devices.
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Con
Proprietary Software
Not Open Source.
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Top
Pro
Supports voice calls
Viber has really well implemented voice tech. It has comparable quality to Skype and you can even tranfer calls from your phone to your desktop seamlessly.
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Top
Con
No web client
You cannot login from the web to send and receive messages.
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Pro
Completely free
Viber uses data connection and the app is free.
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Con
Constantly on
Need apps like Greenify to stop it from being constantly on and active, even if you don't use it.
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Pro
Clean interface
The interface is simple, functional and intuitive.
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Con
Constant reminders of messages
If you don't check your messages (say your in a group chat and simply don't check all of them), it will flood your notifications.
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Pro
See who of your contacts is using Viber quickly
Viber is tied to your phone number so it can quickly see who else in your contacts list is using the application.
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Con
Doesn't sync well
Sync awfully between Phone and PC clients.
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Pro
Android Wear support
Viber includes Android Wear support on Android 4.3 or higher and Viber 5.3 or higher.
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Pro
Same protocol as used in Signal
Viber's protocol uses the same concepts of the "double ratchet" protocol used in Open Whisper Systems Signal application.
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Pro
Public chats
It's possible to be a fly on the wall on other group or one-to-one chats that have been opened up to the public. These public chats are often promotional chats with celebrities.
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Pro
Supports video calling over WiFi and data.
Can call friends using voice or video options.
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Pro
Combines cellular and data messaging
This has an advantage in that if you text someone who uses Viber it will be free, if not it will just revert to SMS. This means you can replace your standard messaging app with Viber as well.
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Pro
Keys only on device
Starting with Viber 6.0 the encryption keys are stored only on the clients themselves, not even Viber itself has access to them.
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Pro
No need to create an account or add contacts
One of the best things about Viber is how it handles setup and sending messages. Viber uses your existing number as your ID, so you don't need to create a separate Viber account.
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Pro
Supports 200 person group chat
Viber allows creating groups of up to 200 people on the Android version of Viber. It also has a cool "smart notifications" feature to prevent being overwhelmed with notifications if a lot of people are active in a chat group.
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Top
Pro
Insight and well documented encryption
Viber has made a documentation available, explaining in great details their encryption system and giving good insight on how it works.
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Specs
Platforms:
Android / iOS / WP / BB / Symbian / Windows / OSX / Linux
Publisher:
Viber Media S.a r.l.
File Size:
37M
Required Android Version:
2.3 and up
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56
WhatsApp
All
15
Experiences
Pros
6
Cons
8
Specs
Top
Pro
Straightforward interface
The interface is very simple, fast and easy to use. You can start using it as soon as the app has been downloaded - it does not require setting anything up or registering. You can communicate with anyone in your contacts list that also uses WhatsApp. Includes useful features like seeing when a contact is currently available or typing.
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Con
Shares meta data with Facebook
WhatsApp shares your messaging meta data with Facebook if you do not opt-out in the settings. If you use the same phone number for WhatsApp and Facebook, the profiles can easily be linked. See https://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/general/26000016
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Pro
Widely used
WhatsApp reported 1.5 billion users in 2018. Your friends are most likely already using WhatsApp, so it's easy to get setup.
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Con
Tied to carrier phone number
WhatsApp cannot be used by people without a smart phone with an active cell plan. If your phone is lost or damaged, or if your phone number changes, you cannot get messages sent by friends without them updating your phone number. You cannot send message to them until you are able to get SMS messages at your phone number.
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Pro
Effortlessly builds your contacts by using your phone number as identification
WhatsApp will automatically find all of your contacts currently using Whatsapp and add them to your contacts. This makes it really easy to setup and given that it's the most popular messaging app it's likely that a lot of your contacts are already using it.
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Con
Proprietary
Not open source.
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Pro
Message mirroring on web app
WhatsApp can be used from the desktop via Chrome, Firefox and Opera browsers. Accessing it requires using the Android app to scan the QR code that's presented on web.whatsapp.com.
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Con
Hard to migrate history cross platform
Migrating your chat history from Android to iOS or the other way around is not so simple. In some cases it requires a 3rd party app and in some the only way is to migrate specific chats one by one.
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Top
Pro
Signal protocol
Whatsapp uses the state-of-the-art Signal protocol that ensure strong end-to-end encryption.
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Top
Con
Web interface uses message mirroring
To use your computer to send messages your phone must be on with a consistent data connection.
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Top
Pro
One-on-one texts can be encrypted
WhatsApp has implemented end to end encryption for messages sent on it's service. Even WhatsApp has no way to read a users messages.
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Con
Single device
You cannot use the same WhatsApp account on multiple devices (e.g. a tablet, a PC and a cellphone). The account is tied to the device with the specific cellphone number. Chat history is deleted when you sign in to a new account, unless you have created a backup.
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Con
No cloud sync
Messages are not stored on WhatsApp server for privacy and security reasons.
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Top
Con
Limitation on shareable file sizes
WhatsApp now allows users to share files of any type, but there is still a 16 MB size limit.
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Specs
Platforms:
Android, iOS, Web, Mac, Windows, Windows Phone
Publisher:
WhatsApp Inc.
File Size:
100 MB
Required Android Version:
2.3.3 or above
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Free
228
192
Google Hangouts
All
18
Experiences
Pros
11
Cons
6
Specs
Top
Pro
Mobile support
Hangouts offers both an Android and iOS app so users can participate from nearly any mobile device in addition to his Desktop.
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Top
Con
Poor video call quality
Only goes up to 720p30 + low bitrate.
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Top
Pro
Screen sharing
Any user can share his screen (or only a specific desktop or window) while still continuing an audio conversation.
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Top
Con
Owned by Google
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Pro
Free group video support
Hangouts works with up to 10 participants using video out of the box or up to 15 if you are a business, government or school. It determines who is the primary speaker at any given time, and the camera view automatically switches to that user.
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Top
Con
Lacking clients for older versions
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Pro
Useful for businesses
Hangouts can scale to become a videoconferencing solution for an entire company, since the software can run on nearly all platforms. In fact, Google itself uses Hangouts as its meeting room video conference software.
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Con
High hardware usage
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Pro
Easy to start using
Hangouts is integrated with Gmail & Google+, does not require you to download desktop software, and all chats can take place directly in your browser, significantly reducing the barrier to entry for a new user.
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Con
Not recommended for long sessions
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Top
Pro
Completely free
Google offers all features of Hangouts completely free. There are business, education and government solutions that increase the participant count to for video calls to 15 and offers support.
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Top
Con
Won't work on Windows 8-style UI
As Hangouts uses a browser plugin on the desktop and it doesn't work with Windows 8-style UI, it has to be used in desktop mode.
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Top
Pro
Cross platform
Hangouts work on Android, iOS, Chrome OS, web and as a Chrome extension.
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Pro
Live broadcasting and instant recording
With Google+ “Hangouts on Air”, you can broadcast any hangout to an unlimited audience via your Goolge+ Profile or simply a generic YouTube link. Moreover, any Hangout on Air (public or private) is automatically saved as YouTube video that you can keep for private reference or use in any way that you would normally share a YouTube video. This allows you to record conversations without additional obtrusive software.
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Pro
Google Voice integration
Allows for a fixed phone number, receiving and making calls. Calling US or Canada is free.
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Pro
Integrates with Google Maps for sharing locations
When chatting with people while trying to plan a meet up, the share map button can be extremely useful.
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Pro
Android app does both sms and hangouts messaging
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Specs
Platforms:
iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux, Web
Genre:
0
Co-Op:
0
Publisher:
0
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151
129
Skype
All
21
Experiences
Pros
10
Cons
10
Specs
Top
Con
Plagued by bugs on all platforms
Crashes and other bugs are prevalent on Android, Windows and other platforms.
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Top
Pro
Easily connect with others due to how popular the service is
There's a good chance that whoever you're trying to reach has Skype already set up and familiar with it, avoiding the hassle of installing and getting to know new software.
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Top
Con
Subpar video quality with more than 5 users
Skype has significant problems with multiple users and video quality. Skype recommends that a max of 5 users group chat as video quality is severely affected. Even webcams tested with other chat services showed lower quality when used with Skype.
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Top
Pro
Screen sharing
You can show your whole desktop, a select part of the screen or a specific window over Skype.
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Top
Con
Not a feasible alternative as a professional team chat
Missing key feature such as centralized mgmt, centralized billing, data retention policies, ...
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Top
Pro
Cross-platform
There's software for Windows, Mac & Linux and apps are available on iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone.
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Top
Con
Poor quality when screensharing
It is not possible to manually set resolution or bitrate, and Skype often defaults to a resolution so low that text is unreadable. It is also not possible to transfer control over mouse and keyboard.
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Top
Pro
Group video for free
You can hold video calls with up to 10 people.
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Top
Con
Slow filesharing speed
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Top
Pro
Available on Linux
A stripped down, minimalist version of Skype is available for Linux.
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Top
Con
Owned by Microsoft
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Top
Pro
File sharing
Skype allows you to send any files (MP3s, images, text, etc.) by simply dragging and dropping then in the chat window making it simple to share things with colleagues.
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Top
Con
Obnoxiously large ads
Ads take up over 25% of the usable space.
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Top
Pro
Cheap fixed phone number
Starting at $5/mo you can get a Skype number.
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Top
Con
Poor Linux support
The version available for linux users is quite outdated, and does not support some of the newer functionality, such as the free group video calling and screen sharing.
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Top
Pro
Send SMS and make regular calls
With Skype Credit bought or a subscription, you can send SMS and make direct calls.
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Con
Requires both ends to be online (if neither end is using a cloud-enabled device)
Messages are sent and received only when both ends are online, if neither end is using a cloud-enabled device. In this case, if you are online 9-17 and your recipient is online 18-3, messages will never be delivered.
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Pro
Group chat with archive / records
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Con
MIcrosoft (Skype's owner) actively assists eavesdroppers
On the other hand, if you lose your copy of one of your conversations, you may be able to get a copy of it from your government with a little bit of luck and a public records request.
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Top
Pro
Powerful 1:1 chat and also group chat
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Specs
Platforms:
iOS, Android, WP, OSX, Windows, Linux, Web. Blackberry. Chrome OS. BSD, iPadOs
Publisher:
Skype
File Size:
Varies with device
Required Android Version:
6.0
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161
Facebook Messenger
All
6
Experiences
Pros
1
Cons
5
Top
Con
Owned by Facebook
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Top
Pro
Chat head for quick access
Only for android platform though!
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Con
Cluttered user interface
Messenger has so many features accessible from one page that it is often difficult to find what you're looking for.
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Top
Con
End-to-end encryption only in "Secret" conversations
If you want e2e encryption, you need to start a secret conversation.
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Con
Not very customizable
With so many features in one app, it's very possible you might not be a fan of at least one of them. Too bad you can't disable anything in settings.
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Con
Closed Source
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