SmsMatrix VS signald

You could try using Matrix with an SMS bridge. The only one I've used is SmsMatrix, which works okay for the most part. Only the people who use Matrix need to install that app on their phones, and then it uses a bot to send you that message. When you message the bot, it sends an SMS from your phone to that person. Idk how it works with group chats though.

Your use case is quite different from my business requirements it seems. We are looking to send and receive SMS from the providers API as opposed to a specific phone or device. I think the android SMS app integration is probably a better fit for you: https://github.com/tijder/SmsMatrix

I am running my own home server, everyone in my family has an account they use there (the domain is our surname). Non-techy people use it and like it (past the initial setup, since setting up a custom domain requires a few more clicks than :matrix.org account). I am not waiting for the day, though, when they will need to set up a new device without access to the old one.

> I personally haven't met any "real" people who are even aware of Matrix. When I broached it with a non-IT friend, they were actively uninterested in unifying messaging applications as they had "facebook friends" and "whatsapp friends" and interacted with them differently.

I tried to sell it too with the "unify your messaging apps", but this is a wrong selling point to new users. First they need to start using matrix as their messaging app, realize that it works well, including VoIP and video calls. Once trust is there, only then start thinking about using bridges. Because there will be rough edges (e.g. federated voice/video calls do not work).

Because of the way bridges integrate to third-parties, they are not bug-free. Reliability is just not great yet. Maybe except a hosted service, Beeper[1], which is run by people who know most about these bridges and can provide support.

To sum up, I am using Matrix for my family network, and some bridges personally; I am not yet planning to spread the use of bridges beyond myself. Besides the encryption setup, I like the UI a lot. I also use gomuks[2] from time to time, which is a terminal matrix application. I have not stumped into server-side problems.

I am donating monthly to Tulir[3], the most prolific Matrix bridge developer (and, to my knowledge, co-founder of beeper). Because I started using Matrix because of the bridges.

Oh, and I love the Matrix sms bridge[4]. I set it up to see if it works, and I am not going back. It's great.

[1]: https://www.beeper.com/

[2]: https://github.com/tulir/gomuks

[3]: https://github.com/tulir

[4]: https://github.com/tijder/SmsMatrix

You can use an sms bridge, if you want, I have used this one for a while, though there are some other in development. I haven't looked in to it, though.

Signald : https://gitlab.com/signald/signald/-/issues/259

This is neat.

I looked at the install instructions ("from source") and i while there were instructions, there was no download link for the tarball or even the git repository.

You have to click on the "gitlab" widget that shows the number of stars on the start page to get to the gitlab repository at https://gitlab.com/signald/signald

I've been using Signald for the last few months and then bridging it to Matrix. I think building exactly the same thing based off the Rust client is the most compelling option (and probably something I'd be interested in working on as well!). Given that a double-puppeted Signal account can be used with Matrix today, it'd be a shame to invest in Signal-specific UI. There are multiple "nearly there" Matrix clients that can work on the pinephone and others. You could even bridge libpurple to Matrix if you're into that ecosystem.

As Signal does not have a real API, it uses signald for communication with Signals server, which is also open source: https://gitlab.com/signald/signald

It looks like you just need a client that uses https://gitlab.com/signald/signald, and the matrix-signal bridge /u/anakinfredo posted is one of them.

When I wanted to use Signal on my PinePhone and realized how restrictive Signal was in a lot of ways I started looking at Matrix. Matrix feels a lot more like what chat "should" be, if it weren't for reality - there's an existing Java client (https://gitlab.com/signald/signald) that I've used for a few weeks and been impressed with. Now I bridge my Signal account to Matrix as the first step towards migrating away.