4 ms·

> But does it really do so in practice? If I'm using Element/Matrix and a colleague is using WhatsApp, or Signal, or Telegram, or Briar. Can they reliably send

> But does it really do so in practice? If I'm using Element/Matrix and a colleague is using WhatsApp, or Signal, or Telegram, or Briar. Can they reliably send me messages? Can I reliably send them messages? Matrix is not the provider. Matrix is the protocol/idea. Element is both an app and a service. What is common, reliable, and achievable in practice: I decide I no longer like New Vector (who run the matrix.org home server). I switch to Purism's matrix server. I no longer am doing business with New Vector, yet I can still chat with everybody that is using New Vector's matrix service.

ColinWright 6y ago
But you're still only talking about apps that run on top of Matrix ... your initial comment made it sound like it was possible to interact with people on WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, etc. I know that Matrix isn't the provider, that's why I mentioned Element/Matrix. I know that you can communicate between services that are all running on top of Matrix. That's why I specifically asked about other services. As I say, your comment seemed to imply it was possible, but most of the information I have suggests it isn't.
- blendergeek 6y ago
  > As I say, your comment seemed to imply it was possible, After re-reading my comment, I can see how one would think that. I apologize for the confusion. I was actually trying to draw a distinction be between messaging systems that are provider agnostic and those that aren't. SMS and Matrix both allow multiple competing providers to interoperate. WhatsApp does not. That is why, I believe that we must not consider Whatsapp "critical infrastructure". No one company should be "critical".
- thekyle 6y ago
  Matrix does have a feature called Bridges which would allow you to talk to someone on WhatsApp, Telegram, iMessage, etc. through your Matrix client. However, I suspect that they have some reliability issues. https://matrix.org/bridges/ https://matrix.org/bridges/
  - ColinWright 6y ago
    > I suspect that they have some reliability issues. I've heard that they are sufficiently unreliable as to be unusable, that was was some time ago, and things may have changed.
    - abstract_put 6y ago
      Anecdote: I've been running my own Matrix bridges for WhatsApp and Signal (for my personal accounts) and they've been nothing but rock solid. Caveat being that with the pandemic I've exclusively used them at home, they're hosted on private infrastructure. It was a bit of a thing to set up, not being familiar with Matrix at all before, but now it's a docker-compose file. To be clear, I send messages from my Matrix client to my Matrix server, software running on that server bridges it to WhatsApp/Signal as appropriate, same for incoming messages. Photos work as well. I think WhatsApp relies on a data connection to your phone, and the bridge will disconnect whenever that drops. Having set this all up, I'm a pretty big convert to Matrix - just need to get the world on board. I'd love to have an SMS bridge as well, see how far I can go.
      - dunefox 6y ago
        Do you have an article or the code somewhere for all this? I'd like to try setting it up as well.
        abstract_put 6y ago
        I haven't written anything up anywhere, but I have a rough outline of it - I can pull it together today and see if it's consumable by others. If you're at all familiar with the tools, they're deployed in their most vanilla capacities. The grief for me was the tiny amount of configuration each piece needed to fit with everything else. Components: postgres, Synapse (Matrix server), Signald (Signal client daemon), mautrix-signal (Signal-Matrix bridge), mautrix-whatsapp (WhatsApp-Matrix bridge), Element (Matrix client)
        6y ago

ColinWright 6y ago

But you're still only talking about apps that run on top of Matrix ... your initial comment made it sound like it was possible to interact with people on WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, etc. I know that Matrix isn't the provider, that's why I mentioned Element/Matrix. I know that you can communicate between services that are all running on top of Matrix. That's why I specifically asked about other services. As I say, your comment seemed to imply it was possible, but most of the information I have suggests it isn't.

blendergeek 6y ago
> As I say, your comment seemed to imply it was possible, After re-reading my comment, I can see how one would think that. I apologize for the confusion. I was actually trying to draw a distinction be between messaging systems that are provider agnostic and those that aren't. SMS and Matrix both allow multiple competing providers to interoperate. WhatsApp does not. That is why, I believe that we must not consider Whatsapp "critical infrastructure". No one company should be "critical".
thekyle 6y ago
Matrix does have a feature called Bridges which would allow you to talk to someone on WhatsApp, Telegram, iMessage, etc. through your Matrix client. However, I suspect that they have some reliability issues. https://matrix.org/bridges/ https://matrix.org/bridges/
- ColinWright 6y ago
  > I suspect that they have some reliability issues. I've heard that they are sufficiently unreliable as to be unusable, that was was some time ago, and things may have changed.
  - abstract_put 6y ago
    Anecdote: I've been running my own Matrix bridges for WhatsApp and Signal (for my personal accounts) and they've been nothing but rock solid. Caveat being that with the pandemic I've exclusively used them at home, they're hosted on private infrastructure. It was a bit of a thing to set up, not being familiar with Matrix at all before, but now it's a docker-compose file. To be clear, I send messages from my Matrix client to my Matrix server, software running on that server bridges it to WhatsApp/Signal as appropriate, same for incoming messages. Photos work as well. I think WhatsApp relies on a data connection to your phone, and the bridge will disconnect whenever that drops. Having set this all up, I'm a pretty big convert to Matrix - just need to get the world on board. I'd love to have an SMS bridge as well, see how far I can go.
    - dunefox 6y ago
      Do you have an article or the code somewhere for all this? I'd like to try setting it up as well.
      - abstract_put 6y ago
        I haven't written anything up anywhere, but I have a rough outline of it - I can pull it together today and see if it's consumable by others. If you're at all familiar with the tools, they're deployed in their most vanilla capacities. The grief for me was the tiny amount of configuration each piece needed to fit with everything else. Components: postgres, Synapse (Matrix server), Signald (Signal client daemon), mautrix-signal (Signal-Matrix bridge), mautrix-whatsapp (WhatsApp-Matrix bridge), Element (Matrix client)
        6y ago