Fluxer: A chat app that puts you first
fluxer.app
Fluxer is a free and open source instant messaging and VoIP platform built for friends, groups, and communities.

Asking because I value opinions here.

Personally I don’t think anyone can influence what the general audience of chat users ultimately coalesces around. That’s going to happen, and it’s going to be out of anyone’s control as people discuss and compare and decide which they prefer of the dozens of alternatives appearing.

This however looks interesting to me. I know it’s not Matrix and thus not secure like everyone here wants. But it is fully open source and it is AGPLv3.

It feels like it’s getting some traction and interest. If it has problems that anyone here can spot (besides the full encryption which isn’t something the rest of the discord users looking to leave are going to demand), I am interested in hearing them.

  • spectre [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    13·
    8 months ago
    • matrix uses a security protocol that sometimes has an absolute meltdown, leading to people not being able to see or send certain messages once the encryption breaks. Good for secure messaging (because messages stay encrypted), but it is frustrating to deal with, and will turn people away (including me).
    • element doss not support multiple accounts and has no plan to do so. I hear that other apps may support it, but I’m not sure what the current status of that is.

    Messaging particularly benefits from a smooth UX and I think matrix has accepted certain trade offs for the aspects it’s strong in.

      • spectre [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
        5·
        8 months ago

        Right that’s the vibe I have too. I’ve heard deltachat is a decent replacement for self-hosted messaging.

        Edit: after reading more about deltachat, it seems like it is pretty well suited to being Hexbear’s main messenger instead of matrix, no? It is almost a Signal replacement where I don’t need a phone number to sign up.

        I might give it a go, but it sounds like it isn’t a replacement for a heavy duty messenger like Discord/Slack, unforuntately.

    • lapis [fae/faer, comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
      3·
      8 months ago

      Matrix’s UX has a bit of friction, but that’s the cost of an open, federated, encrypted platform where you own your own encryption keys. Every closed-source, centralized alternative is very much a “trust me bro” situation when it comes to message encryption and backdoors.

      Element sucks as a client, I always recommend FluffyChat or SchildiChat to first-timers. On desktop/web, Cinny and Commet are fantastic options for people who want a Discord-like UI.