BBM Replacement? ISO Text, Voice & Video app

[jgb@etree]

Blackberry Messenger is finally dying on 5/31. At this point it probably doesn't affect that many people, but I've been using it for nearly 15 years. It used to be very popular & useful before Blackberry died, but I held on because it is one of the primary ways my wife & I communicate during the day. Now that our son is a bit older, we also use it to communicate with him when needed. It's also nice to be able to segregate & easily identify family comms from the deluge of SMS messages that people get these days.

I know there are tons of 'chat' apps out there, but I'm hoping to find something similar to what BBM is/was.

Requirements:

Text chats easily show when a message has been delivered, as well as read (very useful for when you are busy - even if I don't respond, my wife will know I saw the message so really no need to respond for a lot of stuff)

Ability to make voice & video calls to other users (son uses an itouch which has no phone, and is 9, so it's often easier to talk to him that to decipher his spelling)

Works on both android & IOS

If possible, I'd prefer a direct peer to peer service

Anyone aware of a decent app that fits the bill? Free would be nice, but I'd probably be willing to pay for an app that checks all the boxes.

[Gcooker]

Signal

No bullshit, easy to use and well encrypted.

[abraham]

Blackberry Messenger is finally dying on 5/31. At this point it probably doesn't affect that many people, but I've been using it for nearly 15 years. It used to be very popular & useful before Blackberry died, but I held on because it is one of the primary ways my wife & I communicate during the day. Now that our son is a bit older, we also use it to communicate with him when needed. It's also nice to be able to segregate & easily identify family comms from the deluge of SMS messages that people get these days.

I know there are tons of 'chat' apps out there, but I'm hoping to find something similar to what BBM is/was.

Requirements:

Text chats easily show when a message has been delivered, as well as read (very useful for when you are busy - even if I don't respond, my wife will know I saw the message so really no need to respond for a lot of stuff)

Ability to make voice & video calls to other users (son uses an itouch which has no phone, and is 9, so it's often easier to talk to him that to decipher his spelling)

Works on both android & IOS

If possible, I'd prefer a direct peer to peer service

Anyone aware of a decent app that fits the bill? Free would be nice, but I'd probably be willing to pay for an app that checks all the boxes.

Not sure about video but I use Threema for communication with a small group, then signal for standard texting with almost everyone else.

[AdironRider]

You all have to play in Apple world, but the iphone does most of this if I am not mistaken.

[jgb@etree]

Signal

No bullshit, easy to use and well encrypted.

Not sure about video but I use Threema for communication with a small group, then signal for standard texting with almost everyone else.

Signal looks very promising. Going to definitely check this one out further.

What are the pros/cons for threema vs signal, abraham? Seems to be very similar to signal, just a little less feature rich? Any particular reasons I should look at it instead of signal?

You all have to play in Apple world, but the iphone does most of this if I am not mistaken.

I'm not sure if imessage has visual delivery & read confirmations, but yeah, it would otherwise fit the bill if we were all using crapple products. Fortunately, we are not

[Buke]

Signal is good but has fairly low adoption rates compared to WhatsApp. From a privacy/security stanpoint I think Signal is the clear winner but the adoption rate of WhatsApp makes it a pretty compelling choice.

[RShea]

First I would have thought of also is WhatsApp. Not sure if it hits on all the points and features you want or not (don't use it much at all) but it is a go to for messaging with others especially anyone outside of USA that does not want to deal with fees texting internationally.

[jgb@etree]

Signal is good but has fairly low adoption rates compared to WhatsApp. From a privacy/security stanpoint I think Signal is the clear winner but the adoption rate of WhatsApp makes it a pretty compelling choice.

Good info, thanks. Leaning towards signal at this point. Since we're just looking to communicate within the family, I only really care about the adoption rate so far as it impacts the continued availability of the platform. Sounds like signal is popular enough where I wouldn't have to worry about it becoming abandoned like I am facing with BBM

First I would have thought of also is WhatsApp. Not sure if it hits on all the points and features you want or not (don't use it much at all) but it is a go to for messaging with others especially anyone outside of USA that does not want to deal with fees texting internationally.

The one thing that soured me most against WhatsApp is that it adds all of your contacts onto their platform, which is no bueno, imo.

I'm going to hijack my sons itouch and bring it to work tomorrow so I can test out signal.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

[abraham]

I'm pretty sure the only reason I started using Threema is because it can be anonymous. You aren't connected with a phone number or anything. Really though, I started using it because of some friends in Berlin who are far more focused on privacy and security than I am. We drifted apart but I trust their recommendations and I ended up using it.

At this point I like having a separate set of contacts in the app, vs having all my contacts in signal. For me Threema is for a small circle of people, signal is a complete SMS replacement. I know my girlfriend uses the web app but I just have it on my phone.

Signal is convenient in that you can use it for talking to others with signal, or for general texting. I don't think it has read receipts though, just one for delivery. I've found a few issues but they can be intermittent and could be carrier related, not signal's fault.

I had two friends who wouldn't receive my messages something like 75% of the time. That was solved by getting them on to signal. WiFi performance is variable, especially with group messages to a combination of Signal and non signal users. Sometimes I have to turn off WiFi to get a message out.


I'm happy with both, but I use them differently.