I'm desperate: What is a Skype alternative that doesn't suck and isn't iMessage?

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Yaoshi

Yaoshi

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  • #1
    I was shocked to learn that Skype is shutting down in two months: I have been using it as my main chat app since it was acquired by MS and it replaced MSN/Windows/Live Messenger almost 30 years ago.

    The real issue is do not know what I am going to move to:
    • Anything Meta related is not an option. Fuck Zuckerberg and anything he touches
    • Teams and Slack have godawful clients, with so much feature bloat that I do not want, and use insane amount of system resources to be dog slow. I tolerate Slack on my work pc only because I get paid for it
    • Telegram and signal want to use a phone number for login. I move around countries and have lost phone numbers because I could no longer upkeep the relevant SIM card before. I need something not bound to a phone number as the user identifier.
    • I am the only Apple user in the family
    What do I move to? I use Skype every week to talk to my parents half way across the world.
     
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    ajk48n

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  • #4
    Yaoshi said:
    Telegram and signal want to use a phone number for login. I move around countries and have lost phone numbers because I could no longer upkeep the relevant SIM card before.
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    I believe that once you sign up the first time to these services with a phone number, it doesn't matter if you no longer have that number on your phone. I have Whatsapp and Signal registered with one country's phone number. And when I go to a different country, and get a local sim, I can continue using the original phone number as the contact even if that sim is not active on my phone
     
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    koala

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  • #5
    Chiming it with Discord; we used that for a while at work, and I was actually very impressed by it.

    You could also try out Zoom.

    If you only want no fuss videoconference, don't laugh but I'd try out a Jitsi free instance. Basically you can get a link for a room, send it, and use it in many cases without even an app nor an account.
     
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    gregorerlich

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  • #7
    ajk48n said:
    I believe that once you sign up the first time to these services with a phone number, it doesn't matter if you no longer have that number on your phone. I have Whatsapp and Signal registered with one country's phone number. And when I go to a different country, and get a local sim, I can continue using the original phone number as the contact even if that sim is not active on my phone
    Click to expand...
    What happens when that phone number gets recycled and the new owner signs up for Telegram/Signal? I suspect that's not going to work out great for the old owner of the phone number.

    I just checked in Signal>Settings>Account, however, and there's a very clear and simple option called "Change phone number". So, should be fine if and when you have to change your phone number.
     
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    ajk48n

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  • #8
    gregorerlich said:
    What happens when that phone number gets recycled and the new owner signs up for Telegram/Signal?
    Click to expand...
    I have no idea. I still have the number that I signed up for it on, I just know that once you're signed up if you change sim cards it still works.

    And yes, both Signal and WhatsApp have the ability to change which phone number they reference
     
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    gregorerlich

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  • #9
    ajk48n said:
    I have no idea. I still have the number that I signed up for it on, I just know that once you're signed up if you change sim cards it still works.

    And yes, both Signal and WhatsApp have the ability to change which phone number they reference
    Click to expand...
    OP was concerned about losing access to the original phone number, I believe. Which shouldn't be a problem or a reason to discount Signal, which is what I would recommend.

    Telegram, I get way way way too much spam on to be able to recommend it.
     
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    Son of a Beach

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  • #13
    Yaoshi said:
    I'm going to try to get the family onboard with Matrix. Tried Element as client and I like it quite a bit, and I love how there are multiple clients since the spec is documented and public.
    Click to expand...
    Yeah... and you can choose your server instance too... or even set up and control your own server. I set up my own Matrix server once (and a Mastodon server too). Played around with it for a while, then decommissioned it (not because there was anything wrong with it, but I'm just not into social media or messaging much, so it wasn't worth the trouble for me... I just wanted to see what it was like).
     
    Yaoshi

    Yaoshi

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  • #15
    LoneGumMan said:
    The Japanese/Korean LINE messenger?

    Pretty much WhatsApp like, chat client with video call, stickers, emoji, that sort of thing. Fairly popular all over Asia.

    Been using it for 10+ years.
    Click to expand...
    It has the same issue of needing a phone number. I actually have to use it daily myself since I live in Japan, and think it is a bad app (plus it has a lot of useless feature bloat).

    Some of the stickers are nice though

    1741406705800.jpeg
     
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    LoneGumMan

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  • #16
    Yaoshi said:
    It has the same issue of needing a phone number. I actually have to use it daily myself since I live in Japan, and think it is a bad app (plus it has a lot of useless feature bloat).

    Some of the stickers are nice though

    View attachment 104617
    Click to expand...
    l have swapped and reinstalled on many phones. I only need to use email address and PW to sign in.
     
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    Echohead2

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  • #19
    Yaoshi said:
    I was shocked to learn that Skype is shutting down in two months: I have been using it as my main chat app since it was acquired by MS and it replaced MSN/Windows/Live Messenger almost 30 years ago.
    Click to expand...
    Hasn't Skype only been around like 20 years?

    As someone said, it depends on what the other people are willing to use. I have to use WhatsApp for a few people because that is what they use and wouldn't dream of switching.
     
    LordDaMan

    LordDaMan

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  • #24
    s@nDOk@n said:
    mIRC is still alive and kicking. Another viable option IMO.
    Click to expand...
    That brings back memories of the highly dangerous /raw command, /beep 2000, alt-f4 twice really quick to get ops and flooding bots offline to do a channel takeover. This was all from a channel for IRC newbies!

    Anyhow, if going the IRC route go with a IRC network with chanserv and nickserv which saves you form a lot of headaches.

    Also for a client, Hexchat is nice or BitchX is you want to punish yourself
     
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