**Vicky Steeves** @vickysteeves · Jun 21, 2018, 20:49

**Vicky Steeves** @vickysteeves · Jun 21, 2018, 20:49

Vicky Steeves @vickysteeves

It's 2018 and there's no single messaging/chat/instant messaging app that is/has:

* FOSS
* encrypted/security-aware
* plain-text export of all messages for all time
* search across all messages

**gwenn** @gwenn@mstdn.io · Jun 21, 2018, 20:52

**gwenn** @gwenn@mstdn.io · Jun 21, 2018, 20:52

@vickysteeves What about #xmpp? Or maybe #signal?

**Vicky Steeves** @vickysteeves · Jun 21, 2018, 20:54

**Vicky Steeves** @vickysteeves · Jun 21, 2018, 20:54

@gwenn no plain text export or searching on signal, unfortunately (I use it currently for texting).

I tried xmpp and found it a bit difficult. I can take another look though I suppose, if you like it?

**Zash** @zash@social.umeahackerspace.se · Jun 22, 2018, 09:47

**Zash** @zash@social.umeahackerspace.se · Jun 22, 2018, 09:47

@vickysteeves What about XMPP did you find difficult?

**Vicky Steeves** @vickysteeves · 2018-06-22T15:53:21Z

Vicky Steeves @vickysteeves

@zash there are a lot of moving parts for me/the threshold of tech knowledge is high

it's also more for 1-1 chats right?

Jun 22, 2018, 15:53 · Web · 0 · 0

**Zash** @zash@social.umeahackerspace.se · Jun 22, 2018, 17:37

**Zash** @zash@social.umeahackerspace.se · Jun 22, 2018, 17:37

@vickysteeves I wouldn't say that it's more for 1-1 chats, but that part has been pretty solid for a long time IMO. Well, until "encryption" became a hip feature recently and everything became impossibly hard again.
What do you mean by moving parts? Like in many FOSS projects, it is easy to get behind non-coding parts. The XMPP community is becoming more aware of this and there are some efforts towards making onboarding and such easier.