Email is the messenger you should migrate to

Today I have heard again a discussion about WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal and Threema and there was the question to which messenger one would switch from WhatsApp.

While I find Telegram very pleasant as an everyday messenger, since it offers me the best user experience and also has some features (bots, channels) that other messengers don’t have, Delta Chat came to mind again.

Everyone has an email address, email is decentralized and Delta Chat encrypts messages automatically.

What I really like about this is, that using the existing email infrastructure enables everyone to communicate with each other without the restriction to use the same messenger or client. Anyone can choose any client and can still be connected. Just login with your usual email account. You don’t even need to use one of those messaging optimized clients and stay with your regular email client.

– Jan-Lukas Else (2019)

I installed Delta Chat on my smartphone again today. While the app wasn’t quite mature 2 years ago, I have to say it’s pretty decent now. The Android app seems to be based on the Signal interface. But Delta Chat is also available for desktops (Windows, macOS and Linux) and iOS. And the best part - something Signal, Threema and WhatsApp have problems with - Delta Chat can be used from multiple devices without any problems.

But the most important thing: Delta Chat allows you to communicate even with people who don’t use Delta Chat at all, all you need is an email address! If you write to someone without Delta Chat, they will just get a normal email. I would argue that even beats Matrix or XMPP.

Conclusion: If you are concerned about security when chatting and would rather use a decentralized messenger (no silo), you are in good hands with email and Delta Chat.

However, it would be advisable not to use Gmail, Outlook or GMX as email service, but a reasonable email service. I use mailcow for example, where just today there was an announcement about Delta Chat.

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