Messenger Comparison – Threema, Signal, Telegram, WhatsApp | Hacker News Reader

Messenger Comparison – Threema, Signal, Telegram, WhatsApp

threema.ch

28 pointsdunefox17 comments

Sadly, they don't list a comparison to my personal favorite: Wire. Yes, Wire requires an email address but Wire will accept a single-use/burner ProtonMail account as the linked email address. VoIP call quality with Wire is the best I've used and I can use the app on a desktop browser as well as my mobile devices (and the app is available via F-Droid). Contacts are managed in your Wire account (no attempt to connect to your phone's Contacts provider). They do make it difficult to find the signup for the free personal plan though: https://app.wire.com/auth/#setaccounttype

That link doesn’t work in Safari on iPad.

True... you'll need to sign up on a desktop browser.

> single-use/burner ProtonMail account

Except that ProtonMail requires a valid phone number for an account registration (when accessed via Tor).

https://www.reddit.com/r/ProtonMail/comments/638ykr/phone_nu...

I tried Wire and was a bit underwhelmed to be honest. It looks and feels old. I'm much more inclined to use Threema.

Threema is amazing. I love the voice chat, it's great for field work because it seems to prefer picture quality over frame rate, a great tool for remote support of physical things.

Also dedicate a browser to the web client and it's like having iMessage on Linux, Mac and Windows with notifications.

I'd still add Keybase to the mix even though they were bought by Zoom.

How does Threema make or intend to make money?

As long as they can grow their userbase they make $4 per person. That's potentially billions of dollars to burn before they have to think about charging yearly which is probably what they will eventually do.

They also have an enterprise edition which is more expensive.

They have a business version (Threema work) and also provide services to the Swiss government.

How many of you still think that company location is of any importance? After Crypto AG, Swiss based doesn't sound like a plus.

It’s hard to take seriously the review of the competition. But I guess it makes the bias clear

Care to point out any inaccuracies?

They list Telegram's jurisdiction as "n/a". According to Wikipedia, their "legal domicile" is in the UK, and their "operational center" is in the UAE. That seems an odd thing to leave out of their comparison table. This was just a cursory glance. I'm not familiar enough with Telegram or WhatsApp to make any statements about any of the features claimed. Nor do I know enough about GDPR to question the alleged non-compliance of Signal.

All of them are useless as they all demand a phone number.

Threema doesn't.

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