There are very good messengers, they are just not pushed by big money and group pressure. The problem is always, that people don't care about what they do (to others) and apply group pressure for the benefit of the company.
matrix.org
For professional usage and IRC like chatrooms. Free and open source software, with several native desktop and phone clients. Doesn't require any phone number and offers E2E encryption. You can use the central server or host your own ones and connect everyone through federation. The official app for iOS/Android is getting currently a rewrite because it is chubby. I'm using Fractal happily on Linux as IRC replacement, because it lacks E2E at the moment. Developed by a company which offers support and libraries for development. Therefore you could criticize that there are no RFCs floating around, but looking at XMPP which created a lot of RFCs this is probably quicker and better.
The germany army will use Matrix and also the french government. No joke! The germany army is here an example to follow.
signal.org
Also free and open source software, but you won't get your own server and federation. Very easy to use for everyone, hard linked to phone numbers with default E2E encryption always on. Childs can use it. No native desktop clients, only the fat Electron "Flash for the desktop" thing.
The european parliament is using it in future. Probably a wise decision in their case ;)
PS: Facebook claims that WhatsApp uses the E2E of Signal. Nobody can proof that without source code. Nobody is allowed to write own clients for other platforms than iOS and Android. Nobody ever has seen the server code. Haven't we seen enough greedy monopolies since the 80s?
There are not really any good messengers across the board.
I have most experience with Signal and though I think the security side is good and it ticks lots of boxes, I often encounter bugs; overall a much worse UX than Whatsapp or Telegram.
matrix.org For professional usage and IRC like chatrooms. Free and open source software, with several native desktop and phone clients. Doesn't require any phone number and offers E2E encryption. You can use the central server or host your own ones and connect everyone through federation. The official app for iOS/Android is getting currently a rewrite because it is chubby. I'm using Fractal happily on Linux as IRC replacement, because it lacks E2E at the moment. Developed by a company which offers support and libraries for development. Therefore you could criticize that there are no RFCs floating around, but looking at XMPP which created a lot of RFCs this is probably quicker and better.
The germany army will use Matrix and also the french government. No joke! The germany army is here an example to follow.
signal.org Also free and open source software, but you won't get your own server and federation. Very easy to use for everyone, hard linked to phone numbers with default E2E encryption always on. Childs can use it. No native desktop clients, only the fat Electron "Flash for the desktop" thing.
The european parliament is using it in future. Probably a wise decision in their case ;)
PS: Facebook claims that WhatsApp uses the E2E of Signal. Nobody can proof that without source code. Nobody is allowed to write own clients for other platforms than iOS and Android. Nobody ever has seen the server code. Haven't we seen enough greedy monopolies since the 80s?