. . . no shortage of alternatives. I chose one NOT tied to any cell phone or phone number at all. Open Source, cross-platform, end-to-end encrypted, etc. ymmv

[jami.net]

@FearlessFly do you know if jami provides SMS support for texting with
people who are not using their encryption?

@MarkiusMahamius . . . don't know. There certainly is 'messaging' within the encrypted connection (as well as lot of other features). There is no "phone call", so 'texting' isn't involved.

[en.wikipedia.org]

@FearlessFly yeah i read it. i use signal on my phone but i agree it would be nice to have a cross platform option. that being said, this gets to be just another app, like Kik or whatever. anyhow, we will see what happens. I know GNU will fight, but I wonder how hard and how long

@MarkiusMahamius I am. not tech savvy and looked at link but didn't see explanation except plan for model for offices/business. What is the advantage

@gigihein Think of it like Skype, but NOT proprietary, NOT Microsoft (MS actually monitors (some) Skype transmissions), works on most devices, private, secure.

Of course it only works with any/all that have it installed -- very easy to do. If you want to 'message' (from my profile) me, I will help.

@gigihein signal is an app you install on your phone. it is end to end encypted as long as you are texting or making phone calls with another signal user. you can set it as your default messaging service, so any time you text someone, it pops up. If you send a text to someone who doesnt have signal. it sends the text unencrypted, so you don't have to switch back and forth. it does it automatically. since many places use cell phone intercept technologies. its very unclear when a warrent is needed, and many govt agencies have taken advaqntge of this [aclu.org]
and also [securitynewspaper.com]

i don't want to be the subject of someones random surveillance, nor do i want my or any of my friends conversations to be accessible or record able or trackable

@MarkiusMahamius That sounds great, so if I have it and. no one I know does, it can switch or somehow interfaces with my phones messenger?

@gigihein yes, assuming you have andriod (i don't know how apple is set up), you can go to settings and change your default messenger program to whatever you want. keep it as the default, that came with your phone or use signal or Facebook or whatever else you have installed.