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Surprisingly, the best feature of Wire has been audio quality. Security/privacy is a welcome bonus.

Is the audio quality good enough to make hundreds of millions of people switch from WhatsApp? They've been trying for a few years, and it hasn't happened. I think open sourcing the apps is probably a last gasp, and we're likely to see Wire shutting down soon. I've also heard they might be looking for a buyer.

That would be a shame. Skype sold (twice!) for billions of dollars, and the Wire investors should have access to internal growth metrics to justify a long-term investment. Like every messaging app that relies on network effects, some growth is inevitable. I've been steadily adding new contacts, each installing Wire for the first time.

I don't know what kind of internal metrics would be telling a different story than the external metrics visible to us. The app store data alone is pretty damning, any growth they've had over the past few years is very slow linear growth. People don't seem to like the app enough to switch.

You're right, they sold Skype twice, so they're not stupid. They're unlikely to keep throwing money away when the writing on the wall is this clear, and word on the street is that they're looking for an exit.

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