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2022-25-12

xmpp.org

XMPP is an open source messaging protocol for real-time communication. XMPP is used for a variety of applications, including instant messaging, presence (i.e., online status), group chat, and voice and video calls. XMPP servers can be connected to each other to form a decentralized(Federated) network, allowing users on different servers to communicate with each other similar to email. XMPP is more secure then email especially when paired with E2EE.

• Federated in the same way as Email. For example someone with an XMPP account on 404.city can message someone on xmpp.jp in the same way that someone with a gmail account can email a yahoo email account
• Not dependent on big tech
• Better for privacy
• Open source
• Anyone can setup their own XMPP server
• Has the ability for end to end encryption(client side)
• Can support video calls(Though this depends on the server, most public servers don’t support this due to bandwidth issues)

There are hundreds of XMPP servers to choose from. When choosing an XMPP server to use you should pay attention to how long the server has been around for and how many active users it has. The longer the server has been around and the more users it has, the less likely its going to be shutdown.

• 404.city
• xmpp.jp
• jabberx.net

These are just a few(and the more popular)of the public XMPP servers. Here is a list of servers: https://xmpp-servers.404.city/

There are a bunch of XMPP clients for multiple platforms to choose from, including mobile devices. Setting up a client is fairly easy, you just need to enter in the XMPP server address and your username and password.

Windows,Linux & Mac

• Pidgin
• Astra Chat, cross platform, support for mobile devices

List of XMPP clients: https://xmpp.org/software/clients/

If you don’t want to use a public XMPP server, either for privacy reasons or lack of support for certain features like video calling, you can always setup your own XMPP server on a VPS or on a home server.

Prosody IM

https://prosody.im/

• Lightweight
• Supports Audio\Video calling

I have run a prosody on a Virtual Machine on my home network, and is easy and straight forward to setup.

Astra Chat.

https://astrachat.com/

• Used by police, military and governments
• Supports Audio\Video calling

List of XMPP servers: https://xmpp.org/software/servers/

ORT is an open source E2EE plug in for XMPP. In order for it to work both users need to have it installed on their clients and have to have an OTR session enabled and be online as well. It will not work with offline messages(based on my tests with my own XMPP server)

This is based on signals double ratchet system, encrypts offline messages as well. This is better then OTR, though it may have issues with legacy software.

XMPP is just one alternative to using big tech messengers, In the future I will discuss some of the peer to peer instant messengers like Jami.

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