SmsMatrix VS whatsapp

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.

The best you can do now is run whatsapp apk on an emulator or spare device, then auth that with the matrix bridge, then you can avoid needing to use whatsapp clients on daily drivers. Works decently well: https://github.com/mautrix/whatsapp

For WhatsApp, there's a thing called 'bridges' that can link your WhatsApp chats to other chat services that you can access from the device. One example is this bridge that bring chats to open-sourced Matrix protocol, which you can use Hydrogen browser interface to access on the phone. Another bridges to a Discord server that might suit well with this community-made interface.

I suggest you to take a look at matrix and its bridges, like Mautrix Whatsapp. If you don't have competence / time to setup a matrix server, Element Matrix Services host it for you, and you can use WhatsApp, telegram and signal all with a client, without tracking or shitty things from fb

I use it as a one-stop-shop for messaging. I setup a Synapse server ~5 years ago and since then have convinced many of my close family and friends to join my server (or another). Now many of the folks I want to chat with are regular users of Matrix. For some of my stone-age friends that are still on WhatsApp, I run a bridge [1] so that I don't need to look beyond my Matrix client to see WhatsApp messages. For other random SMS messages, I use the dated SmsMatrix [2] to push text messages so I can see/reply from Matrix. Beyond that, I also use Matrix to connect to several open source communities (e.g. Mailu.io [3]).

1. https://github.com/mautrix/whatsapp

you might be looking for this? https://github.com/mautrix/whatsapp/blob/master/example-config.yaml

One option could be to have an old phone tuning android WhatsApp and enable the multi-device beta to use that for web access and access on that other phone, although I don't know if they support the multi device feature either. If you're somewhat technical you could also use an android VM instead of a physical phone, and if you're comfortable with self hosting docker you can use the matrix whatsapp bridge to use WhatsApp without having to install it on your device. https://github.com/mautrix/whatsapp and https://github.com/spantaleev/matrix-docker-ansible-deploy