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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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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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Top
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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Top
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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Experiences
Free
687
181
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
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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Top
Con
Proprietary software
Discord is closed-source, meaning their code isn't available for inspection or reproduction
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Top
Pro
Free for unlimited users
Unlimited amount of users.
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Top
Con
Based on Electron = eats a lot of ram
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Top
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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Top
Con
Some functions cut out and available only with "Nitro" subscription
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Top
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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Top
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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Top
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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Top
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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Top
Pro
Has low-latency VoIP support
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Top
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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Top
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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Top
Con
Very unstable on Linux
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Top
Pro
Numerous controls for setting member roles.
Deny access, Deny write message, Allow read messages etc.
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Top
Con
Anti-privacy license terms
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Top
Pro
Ability to create bots
Discord provides an API for creating custom bots.
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Top
Con
Can change "Now Playing" status to something inappropriate
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Top
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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Top
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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Top
Pro
Dark theme out of the box
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Top
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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Top
Pro
Low effort invite mechanics
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Top
Pro
Android app has push notifications
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Top
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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Top
Pro
DDoS mitigation
Discord prevents users from being DDoSed out of games.
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Top
Pro
Targeting of roles
Targeting roles allows for quickly requesting someone from a group e.g. artist, moderator, etc.
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Top
Pro
Ability to thread channels
Ability to create channel categories for channels to sit inside of.
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Top
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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Top
Pro
Language localization
Have localization for many language, including Russian.
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Top
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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Experiences
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474
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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328
46
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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Top
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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Top
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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Top
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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Top
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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Top
Con
Proprietary
Not open source.
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Top
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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Top
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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Top
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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Top
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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Experiences
Free
228
192
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
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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Top
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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Top
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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Top
Pro
Completely free
Viber uses data connection and the app is free.
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Top
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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Top
Pro
Clean interface
The interface is simple, functional and intuitive.
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Top
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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Top
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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Top
Con
Doesn't sync well
Sync awfully between Phone and PC clients.
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Top
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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Top
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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Top
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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Top
Pro
Supports video calling over WiFi and data.
Can call friends using voice or video options.
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Top
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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Top
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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Top
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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Top
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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129
56
Zulip
All
9
Experiences
Pros
6
Cons
2
Specs
Top
Pro
Helps keep track of different conversations
Instead of rooms or channels Zulip is built around topics. This allows you to have multiple conversations at the same time without conversations interfering with each another. It also allows you to reference conversations without clutter.
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Top
Con
No End-to-End Encryption
Not even for private one-to-one messages, let along group chats.
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Top
Pro
Free and open source software
Zulip is free and open source under the Apache 2.0 license.
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Top
Con
Takes some getting used to
As most chat software uses the concept of channels or rooms, getting in the habit of splitting each topic off in a separate category can require some getting used to and discipline.
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Top
Pro
Easy asynchronous conversations
Its threaded model helps people working in different timezone's communicate effectively.
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Pro
Apps for every platform
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Top
Pro
Hosted or on-premise
With data export tools so you can migrate.
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Top
Pro
Intuitive interface
I struggled with Slack, never finding the settings I like to adjust. With Zulip never had such issues.
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Specs
Platforms:
Web, iOS, Android, Windows, MacOS, Linux, terminal
License:
Apache 2
Hosting options:
Hosted and Self-hosted
Service integrations:
Yes
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Free/Paid
33
5
Threema
All
13
Experiences
Pros
9
Cons
3
Specs
Top
Pro
Registration without phone number
Registration is handled by random generated IDs. No phone number needed.
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Top
Con
Not free
Unlike many other options Threema is not free as it costs $1.99 for the app.
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Top
Pro
Encrypted communication
Provides complete end-to-end encryption.
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Top
Con
Single device only
You cannot use multiple devices to send messages. However, it does have message mirroring on a web client.
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Top
Pro
Company behind Threema is based in Switzerland
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Top
Con
No cloud sync
E2E encryption means no cloud syncing of messages.
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Top
Pro
Servers in Switzerland
Privacy laws protect the data Threema has.
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Top
Pro
Supports encrypted group chats
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Top
Pro
Provides a web client
You can control and message with friends via Threema Web, the official web client for Threema.
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Top
Pro
Ability to send pics and videos
Threema supports sending media messages such as video, pics and even voice messages.
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Top
Pro
Group chat polls
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Top
Pro
Allows verification of contacts identity via QR Code
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Specs
Platforms:
Android / iOS / WP
Publisher:
Threema GmbH
File Size:
15M
Required Android Version:
4.0 and up
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Experiences
$1.99
62
20
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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Top
Pro
Group chat with archive / records
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Top
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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119
161
Messenger
All
7
Experiences
Pros
4
Cons
2
Specs
Top
Con
Lack of privacy
Messenger is owned by Facebook. Based on their privacy policy, this means that any information you provide (including messages sent) are used by Facebook to profile you and sell access to your data to advertisers.
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Top
Pro
Uses Facebook friends to create a contacts list
Allows communicating with anyone who's a friend on Facebook.
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Top
Con
Lack of end-to-end encryption
Secret (end-to-end encrypted) chats are only supported in one-to-one messages, and are not enabled by default, and the encryption has not been verified independently.
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Top
Pro
Read receipts
Can see who has seen each message in group messages.
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Top
Pro
Easy to share posts from Facebook
Integration with Facebook makes it easy to share any interesting posts from the Facebook timeline.
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Top
Pro
Great UI
User interface of the application is clean, intuitive and easy to overview.
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Specs
Platforms:
Android / iOS / WP
Publisher:
Facebook
File Size:
Varies with device
Required Android Version:
Varies with device
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74
64
Tox
All
4
Experiences
Pros
3
Cons
1
Top
Pro
Privacy focused
Tox uses military grade encryption and works completely peer-to-peer.
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Con
Early stages of development
Since Tox is relatively new, it has important features missing (like group video) and requires a proper code review before it can be deemed reliable and ready for everyday use.
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Top
Pro
Free and open source
The code is licensed under GPL (may change in the future) and is available on GitHub.
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Top
Pro
Multiple front-ends for multiple platforms available
At the moment there is no official Tox client, but a selection of 32 and 64 clients for Windows, OS X, Linux and Android is available.
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178
28
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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Top
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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Top
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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Top
Con
Not recommended for long sessions
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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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Top
Pro
Google Voice integration
Allows for a fixed phone number, receiving and making calls. Calling US or Canada is free.
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Top
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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Top
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
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
GroupMe
All
8
Experiences
Pros
6
Cons
1
Specs
Top
Pro
Reads receipts
GroupMe has a built in function to read receipts.
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Top
Con
Drains battery fast
GroupMe, in order to have a constant connection which allows for notifications drains the battery of a device quickly, which is not ideal for a messaging app that one needs on time notifications from.
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Top
Pro
Great web client
GroupMe has an excellent web client that can be used to send and receive messages and manage groups from the desktop.
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Top
Pro
IFTTT Integration
Allows sending messages from web services via IFTTT.
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Top
Pro
Integrated calendar
It's possible to add location and time with reminders directly in the GroupMe app.
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Top
Pro
Makes it easy to silence 1 or all groups
GroupMe has settings that allow muting a single group or turn off all GroupMe notifications from within the app.
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Top
Pro
Does not require everyone in the group to have a smartphone
GroupMe can set up a custom phone number which allows people without the App to send and receive messages. This makes it easy to add anyone to messaging.
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Specs
Platforms:
Android iOS WP
Publisher:
groupme
File Size:
Varies with device
Required Android Version:
Varies with device
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7
1
iMessage
All
15
Experiences
Pros
10
Cons
5
Top
Con
Not cross-platform
iMessage is not available on anything but Apple devices.
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Top
Pro
Secure end-to-end encryption
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Top
Con
Can't send separate texts to individuals who share a Contact record
iMessage is an utter disaster. It can't send separate texts to anyone who is on a shared Contact record but with separate mobile phone numbers (e.g., "Paul and Angie Smith"). It merges ALL threads that ever went to ANYONE on that shared Contact record. Want to text just the husband to set up a surprise party for the wife? Not possible. iMessage will ONLY add that new text to the EXISTING thread you had with the wife. Duh! iMessage is pitifully incompetent.
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Top
Pro
Cross-platform within Apple ecosystem
iMessage is available on iPhone, iPod, iPad, and Mac.
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Top
Con
Blocking Spam Messages takes 3 steps more than is needed
You have to open the message, select the sender, open info on the sender, then block sender. The default Android message app, select the message, block sender. it automatically deletes the message and blocks the sender.
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Top
Pro
Supports voice messages
Short voice recordings/messages can be quickly sent, and messages can be easily dictated into written messages as well.
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Top
Con
iCloud sync of message is not stable
Sometimes, the messages on different devices with the same ID will be different, the syncing function work poorly.
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Top
Pro
Free and unlimited messages over Wi-Fi and data
Messages clearly indicates whether messages are being sent over iMessage (blue) or SMS (green) where messaging rates apply. iMessages do not count as SMS messages with your carrier, instead they use a negligible amount of data to send over Wi-Fi and cellular data networks.
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Top
Con
Slow and unreliable
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Top
Pro
Clear indicators for message delivery and receipt
The app indicates when messages have been sent, when they have been read, and when someone is typing.
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Top
Pro
Comes pre-installed
No need to download or sign up for a new service.
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Top
Pro
Seamlesss switching between SMS messages
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Pro
Friends don't need to "sign up"
You can just message them using their existing phone number or Apple ID and they will get your message.
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Top
Pro
Clean UI
UI is minimalistic, and clear. And there is a plethora of stuff on the left of text box if you wanna use them.
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Top
Pro
Apps and games for iMessage are available
For example, you can play games like pool or you can show someone a destination to go to.
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Experiences
60
23
Hangouts
All
29
Experiences
Pros
12
Cons
16
Specs
Top
Con
Transitioning to corporate orientation
Google is turning Hangouts in to a Slack competitor. It's unclear what the future of Hangouts is, but Google has said the consumer Hangouts we now have 'isn't going anywhere.'
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Top
Pro
Save and sync your chats across multiple devices
Start chatting on your phone, then on your computer, then on your tablet seamlessly!
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Top
Con
Lack of end to end encryption
Communications are encrypted between client and Google servers but not from sending client to receiving client. This means that there is still a possibility for someone other than the receiver to read your message if they have access to internal Google servers. But it allows also lightweight chat history search, spam protection and other features.
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Top
Pro
No need to create a separate account if you use any other Google service
Hangouts uses Google account credentials. If you use any other Google service, then you already have an account set up.
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Top
Con
Is owned by Google
Google is a cooperation that earns money from collecting data and breaching privacy.
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Top
Pro
Group video support
If you have signed in your Google account, Hangouts allows making video calls with up to 10 people or one-on-one. There are business, education and government solutions that increase the participant count to for video calls to 15 as well as offers support for those accounts. Additionally, you can switch between using either the front-facing or rear-facing camera on your phone or tablet.
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Top
Con
Poor interface
The app tends to lag, the design can be confusing and considering that another app has to be installed that supplies another icon in the home screen in order to get a dialer for calls in Hangouts, overall it is very confusing and cluttered.
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Top
Pro
Free and cross-platform
Google offers all features of Hangouts completely free on iOS, Android and web with quick and reliable sync across all platforms. It's also tightly integrated in other Google services - it can be accessed from services such as Gmail, Google+, Chrome. While the standard Hangouts offering is completely free, there are business, education and government solutions that increase the participant count to for video calls to 15 and offers support that may cost money.
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Top
Con
No rich text editing
On Android you can receive messages with bold or italic text. However, you cannot bold or italicize text on Android, only on iOS devices or via the web interface.
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Top
Pro
Chrome browser extension
Use the extension on any computer you can run Chrome browser to text from your computer or tablet!
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Top
Con
No way to moderate groups
If a member of a group chat room becomes disruptive, or there's some other need, there's no way in Hangouts to remove somebody from an existing chatroom. Similarly, if somebody is no longer active, there's no way to remove that user from the chat room to make slot for new active members.
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Pro
Excellent read receipts in group chat
It's possible to know what each and every participant of the group has read. Their icons are displayed below the last message.
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Top
Con
Buggy video calls
Whether video calls work on your device is pure lottery, and there's nothing you can do to fix it.
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Top
Pro
Can share animated GIFs
If you have gifs in your mobile phone, you can share them in the conversation and your partner will be able to see it animated in the chat.
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Top
Con
Poor indication of who's online
There is no way to find out if a person in your contact's list is online or not in the Android app.
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Top
Pro
Google Voice integration
Google Voice is a service that enables making and receiving free phone calls within US. Google Voice forwards incoming calls to all connected devices and allows placing calls from any of the connected devices, but they will show as coming from the Google Voice number. Hangouts completely integrates Google Voice, allowing you to place calls and receive texts and voicemail from all of your devices. The Hangouts app for Android also includes a needed dialer for making calls with the users Google Voice number.
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Top
Con
Poorly manages data
Doesn't cache images well either received or sent. Often users will see the sent images re-downloading, same for conversations.
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Top
Pro
Free calls to US and Canada from anywhere in the world
Hangouts app for Android can be extended with an optional dialer for making calls. Most calls to US and Canada are free and international calls have cheap rates. A Google Voice account will be needed in order have a number that allows these calls to be made.
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Top
Con
API support was removed
This change closed options for integrations and connections between similar apps.
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Top
Pro
Advanced status sharing
Hangouts can inform about the status of other users including what device they are currently using, whether they are in the middle of a call and when were they last seen. This allows making sure that you're not disturbing someone when initiating a conversation. It's possible to granularly turn off status sharing.
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Top
Con
Not available on Windows Phones
There is no Hangouts app for the Windows Phone.
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Top
Pro
Video tools
Hangouts can add different effects and overlays to video calls that can be viewed on your device. Unfortunately, they can't be set from your phone.
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Top
Con
Doesn't support sending voice notes or video recordings
Currently there is no built in function that supports creating and sending voice notes or video recordings.
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Top
Pro
Seamless integration with OK Google for voice control and typing
Hangouts can be used completely hands free, even if the app is not open and the phone is locked: "OK Google, send a Hangouts message to Mary".
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Top
Con
No customer support
Free product, you're on your own.
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Top
Con
Won't send SMS/MMS anymore
They removed support for sms/mms. The same goes with integration to hangouts.
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Top
Con
No SMS/MMS backup
They don't have options to backup sms to cloud.
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Top
Con
SMS messages sent from the web app can't be sent outside North America
SMS messages sent from the web app can only be sent to number in America and Canada - sending to foreign numbers won't work, although you can still receive texts from anywhere.
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Specs
Platforms:
Web / iOS / Android / OSX / Chrome
Publisher:
Google Inc
File Size:
Varies with device
Required Android Version:
Varies with device
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185
87
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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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
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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Con
Centralized
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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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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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151
31
Disa
All
21
Experiences
Pros
11
Cons
9
Specs
Top
Con
Doesn't support most messaging apps
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Top
Pro
Does what it's supposed to do, without bloatware
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Top
Con
Disa doesn't follow the Google Design Guidelines
Hamburger Menu/Navigation Drawer (Side Menu): https://www.google.com/design/spec/patterns/navigation-drawer.html#navigation-drawer-content No Animations: https://www.google.com/design/spec/animation/meaningful-transitions.html https://www.google.com/design/spec/animation/delightful-details.html Empty Pages/States: https://www.google.com/design/spec/patterns/empty-states.html# Maybe a Launch screen?: https://www.google.com/design/spec/patterns/launch-screens.html#launch-screens-branded-launch
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Top
Pro
Open source plugin API
Everyone can develop their own plug-ins.
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Top
Con
Does not support Google SMS
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Top
Pro
Easy to use
Disa is very easy to use and has an open source API, so many new services will be added soon.
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Top
Con
Closed source
Disa is closed source, so the development speed is capped of their team, no external developer can help or add features that are not on the route of the team.
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Top
Pro
Customizable notifications
Ability to set different notification sound/vibration/led based on the plugin.
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Top
Con
Doesn't support WhatsApp at the moment
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Pro
Unified conversations
Ability to merge conversations from the same contact on different services.
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Top
Con
Attaching pictures suddenly failed; no working solution.
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Top
Pro
Friendly developers and generally good G+ community
Fast, decent replies to questions, even if they've been asked before.
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Top
Con
Smaller development team leading somewhat slow implementation of requested features
Though the main development (framework, etc) is moving along fine, things like quick reply and sending multiple images at once should've been in quicker.
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Pro
Many requested features
The developer team does actually listen to the community and adds requested features.
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Con
Constantly asks to re-authenticate WhatsApp
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Pro
Pushbullet support
Disa works great with Pushbullet, allowing you to answer from your PC.
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Top
Con
Doesn't let you customize notifications per conversation or contact
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Top
Pro
Many languages
Help and support in many languages.
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Pro
Disa takes privacy much more serious
Currently, the Disa team knows less about you than the website you're currently visiting.
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Top
Pro
Great material design
With color-changing design with custom colors for each service.
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Specs
Platforms:
Android
Publisher:
Disa.im
File Size:
34M
Required Android Version:
4.0 and up
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