signal VS SmsMatrix

On-device bridging works like this https://blog.beeper.com/p/how-beeper-mini-works. We'll put together a full technical deep dive for the real launch, this is just an open beta. Our signal bridge code is open source: https://github.com/mautrix/signal

You don't have to use our hosted bridges, we've made it ridiculously easy to self host: https://github.com/beeper/bridge-manager

Exactly yeah, I used this bridge with this playbook

I personally recommend going with a Matrix client and building a bridge to your Signal account.

OWS has historically been hostile to third party implementations outside of their clients. There are multiple unofficial options but the only one I've been looking at is the bridge with matrix, though setting up a matrix server just for this is likely overkill.

However, looking at the Matrix docs for the mautrix-signal bridge, it seems to be open-source and end-to-end encrypted. You'll have to look through the source code to figure out how they did that, I guess, because I couldn't find any details.

Once you have the home server set up and configured (not covered here because it's a process), clone the bridge repo (for instance mautrix-signal and follow the instructions.

the signal matrix bridge currently listed on matrix.org (https://github.com/tulir/mautrix-signal) uses 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.