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A good XMPP solution for non-techs is quicksy.im (which is based on the very solid Android Client 'Conversations'). However, while I use XMPP on a daily basis,

A good XMPP solution for non-techs is quicksy.im (which is based on the very solid Android Client 'Conversations'). However, while I use XMPP on a daily basis, we have one big issue: There is no good iOS client. So far I have tested ChatSecure, Monal and Siskin, which all support OMEMO end-2-end encryption, but none comes even close to the quality you would expect. ChatSecure seems to be the most mature, but its development seems to have stalled and it has issues like not resuming the connection when the server changes the certificate (pretty often with letsencrypt) until the user confirms the new certificate (if the certificate is valid doesn't matter). So I think XMPP is the right solution to the problem (being federated and an IETF standard), but the eco system is in need of developers who are willing to bring quality to the clients for all platforms.

defanor 6y ago
I ended up setting a web interface (converse.js) primarily for use with iOS. No push notifications with it, but also heard that iOS native clients tend to crash and lose messages, and apparently can't run in the background.
- MattJ100 6y ago
  iOS doesn't let any apps run in the background. That's "fine" though, because the app can receive push notifications via Apple's push service, and that wakes up the app when you receive a message. That's supported by practically all public XMPP servers these days.
  - arendtio 6y ago
    Well, what is not fine though, is the fact, that Apple neither allows other browsers on iOS nor implements the 'Push API' for Safari. This combination makes it impossible to build a chat apps using web technologies (which would lower the effort for building a client quite a lot).
    - MattJ100 6y ago
      Yeah, I agree that there are many things not fine about mobile push notifications in general. Hence the "" quotes in my previous comment :)
- aidenn0 6y ago
  I tried setting up a web-interface and I think converse.js was the least bad. It was still not great; had some issues with group chat bookmarks (I guess there are two standards?) chat-secure and monal both were very marginally better IMO.
MattJ100 6y ago
We're working on it! Keep tabs on Monal and Siskin. Both are making frequent releases and fixing issues. Please provide feedback about any issues you encounter. > So I think XMPP is the right solution to the problem (being federated and an IETF standard), but the eco system is in need of developers who are willing to bring quality to the clients for all platforms. See https://snikket.org/about/goals/ https://snikket.org/about/goals/ :)

defanor 6y ago

I ended up setting a web interface (converse.js) primarily for use with iOS. No push notifications with it, but also heard that iOS native clients tend to crash and lose messages, and apparently can't run in the background.

MattJ100 6y ago
iOS doesn't let any apps run in the background. That's "fine" though, because the app can receive push notifications via Apple's push service, and that wakes up the app when you receive a message. That's supported by practically all public XMPP servers these days.
- arendtio 6y ago
  Well, what is not fine though, is the fact, that Apple neither allows other browsers on iOS nor implements the 'Push API' for Safari. This combination makes it impossible to build a chat apps using web technologies (which would lower the effort for building a client quite a lot).
  - MattJ100 6y ago
    Yeah, I agree that there are many things not fine about mobile push notifications in general. Hence the "" quotes in my previous comment :)
aidenn0 6y ago
I tried setting up a web-interface and I think converse.js was the least bad. It was still not great; had some issues with group chat bookmarks (I guess there are two standards?) chat-secure and monal both were very marginally better IMO.

MattJ100 6y ago

We're working on it! Keep tabs on Monal and Siskin. Both are making frequent releases and fixing issues. Please provide feedback about any issues you encounter. > So I think XMPP is the right solution to the problem (being federated and an IETF standard), but the eco system is in need of developers who are willing to bring quality to the clients for all platforms. See https://snikket.org/about/goals/ https://snikket.org/about/goals/ :)