It is, I believe, still used, but the lack of development is certainly a concern. I believe it's every bit as common to create disposable accounts on other chat

It is, I believe, still used, but the lack of development is certainly a concern. I believe it's every bit as common to create disposable accounts on other chat clients and just enable OTR[0] for whatever protocol you use. Traffic is typically still routed through Tor, and since the account is disposable, you shouldn't need to worry about it being linked to you. Only true concern is that the protocol you pick might not be running on a hidden server, so the records of that server could be subpoenaed. However, for example, you can pick hidden xmpp services, which means you only have to trust that the service itself is being run by entities who have no reason to compromise your endpoint or manipulate your chat experience. It means you have to be on the same server as the person you're looking to contact, and it means that you need a way of establishing the identity of the person you're trying to talk to. OTR does this by having secret questions and answers, which have to match at least the first time you talk to someone. I would personally combine this with PGP key verification, if the person has a known public key. It's easy to see someone type in the answer to the secret question, or even guess it if the person doesn't think far enough ahead to make that unlikely, but (hopefully) much more difficult to grab the person's private key and passphrase. [0] https://otr.cypherpunks.ca/ https://otr.cypherpunks.ca/