I am searching for a selfhosted and secure (end to end encryption) chat platform for my family (5-20 users), possibly one i can host on a raspi.

Is matrix a good choice, or should i try something else?

  • kugmo@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    1·
    4 months ago

    I know it’s not self hosted but why not Signal? Matrix is demanding on a SBC and your family would probably get the ‘unable to decrypt message, please re-verify keys’ error that happens in encrypted matrix group chats and Element does not have the best UI especially if you want your grandma to use it.

  • oldfart@lemm.eeEnglish
    1·
    4 months ago

    XMPP. It just works, requires very little resources, is stable and has decent clients.

    I would go with Snikket instead of Prosody if I had been starting now.

    Conversations on phones, Dino or Gajim on PCs, plus a conversejs install on the xmpp server, to allow web access when needed.

    Conversations is easy for the family to figure out.

  • Decronym@lemmy.decronym.xyzBEnglish
    1·
    3 months ago

    Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I’ve seen in this thread:

    Fewer Letters More Letters
    IP Internet Protocol
    RPi Raspberry Pi brand of SBC
    SBC Single-Board Computer
    SSL Secure Sockets Layer, for transparent encryption
    TLS Transport Layer Security, supersedes SSL
    VPS Virtual Private Server (opposed to shared hosting)
    XMPP Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (‘Jabber’) for open instant messaging

    5 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has 7 acronyms.

    [Thread #809 for this sub, first seen 16th Jun 2024, 15:45] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]

  • Im_old@lemmy.worldEnglish
    21·
    4 months ago

    I’ve been using matrix for years to this purpose, but moving to xmpp/prosody now

      • Im_old@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        4 months ago

        No.

        Yeah ok. First of all, because I can 😁. I mean z what’s good being an IT nerd if I can’t change stuff when I want?

        Jokes aside, I’ve been reading more recently on matrix and looks like there are some security issues in the design of the app/protocol. I’m on mobile now, I’ll look for sources when I’m on pc. Also I don’t like that it is a server centric system (so data is primarily on the server instead of the clients). Also it takes more resources than I was expecting. For less than 10 users I can’t have less than 4gb of ram (on a dedicated debian server, running docker) or it swaps so much it kills the system.

        So basically I’m testing out if xmpp is a better system for those issues.

        • chordsphere1@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          1·
          3 months ago

          Conversations being paid on the google play store is what’s stopping me from going xmpp… I can’t just say “message me via xmpp, you can use the Conversations app”. Now I’d have to explain what F-Droid is and why would they even get another app store and enable “unknown apps”. it’s not doable. I remember telling my mom to install Signal (before I got into self hosting) because I deleted whatsapp and she got angry like she worked for the zuck, saying “what do you mean you don’t use whatsapp” with an astonished face, started lecturing me on why I was destroying my social life… That just made me realize right now they probably wouldn’t download conversations either…welp I just wanted to share

          • Im_old@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            3 months ago

            I know exactly what you mean. Just for general information, I’ve found another android client that I think it’s better than Conversations. It’s called Monocles chat (and it’s on f-droid). On matrix/xmpp I install the whatsapp bridge. I can convert a few close family members but no way everyone. For me it’s an acceptable compromise. I get the close members to use my servers/apps, everyone else through the bridge so I can at least have all the chat in one place

  • Nine@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    4 months ago

    XMPP is fantastic IMHO

    If you want to support a great project and have great uptime check out conversations.im

    I don’t recommend self hosting something you want available all the time. That being said everyone has different needs/uses 😊

  • PlutoniumAcid@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    4 months ago

    Mattermost runs as a Docker container and is excellent. You can create channels and groups which is incredibly useful.

    • philpo@feddit.deEnglish
      0·
      4 months ago

      Depends. If you use an intermediary layer like Yunohost/Cloudron/etc. or now your way around docker it’s manageable easily.

  • Possibly linux@lemmy.zipEnglish
    0·
    4 months ago

    Simplex chat would work

    However, I wouldn’t host on a Raspberry Pi or even at home for that matter. Get a VPS and host it there. Linode even has a one click app install for Simplex Chat

  • helenslunch@feddit.nlEnglish
    0·
    4 months ago

    Matrix is fine but quite slow. Has excellent clients and is feature rich.

    There’s also an app called Circles that turns your Matrix chats into a social feed.

    XMPP is fine but the available clients are outdated and ugly.

    Session is also self-hostable and anonymous.

    • philpo@feddit.deEnglish
      0·
      4 months ago

      Matrix is slow on large instances, but that’s not the case here, especially if no federation is done.

      And the issue with sluggishness is currently the main development focus with ElementX/matrixX that will become mainstream matrix soon. With that even the large instances are extremely fast.

      • helenslunch@feddit.nlEnglish
        0·
        4 months ago

        Matrix is slow everywhere. Anyone who says otherwise is lying. Element X is also super slow. Waiting 5-10 secs for messages to appear every time I open the app. I know what I’m talking about.

            • philpo@feddit.deEnglish
              0·
              4 months ago

              Thanks for confirming that you’re full of shit.

              Because there are very very few Sliding Synch (which is the part of X that makes it faster) instances at the moment and only one that has a major userbase…

  • anzo@programming.devEnglish
    0·
    4 months ago

    E2E is complicated, if you self-host for a group, having TLS and encrypting data at rest (storage) may be enough. Get a threat model. That being said, I would recommend snikket.org which is a superset of extensions over XMPP which is the open source IM that was the base of almost every app out there. Matrix and Rocket are both alright too. Depends too on your resources, synapse requires too much RAM (or so I heard)