Comment by pogue
8 hours ago
Sounds like it's basically dead. The issue with messenger apps is that they're a dime a dozen, there are so many of them and they offer so much variability in security, privacy, but most importantly usability and uptime. If your friends won't switch to them, there's almost no point in having them or using them.
For most IMs I agree, Briar is/was slightly different though, being P2P and E2E encrypted. There isn't many IMs out there supporting Bluetooth connections between users for example.
Being p2p, network effects are even larger: you have to convince not only your own friends to install and use, but also rely on enough density in your area?
Helene survivor here. I will be spreading the word about this project and keeping some APKs for if the shit hits the fan again. FDroid being able to sync between local devices means all you need is to get fdroid onto someones phone. Wish they had an iphone app though!
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You only need to rely on density in your area if you have no other network - it will happily use mobile data or Wifi connections if you have them.
Anyone have an idea how good https://qaul.net/ is?
I saw it shared at dweb camp and it seemed like a pretty long term serious project for P2P.
Bitchat is great, but I don't understand why it's Bluetooth only. I would think Wifi reaches further.
Because Bluetooth has a low energy mode which it uses.
Briar was unique in its ability to discover peers over local networks and Bluetooth - Very few if any other messaging apps do that.
Unfortunately the security/usability tradeoffs mean it never was going to hit Whatsapp levels of use, but it certainly fills an important niche.