Ask HN: Recommendations on Chat Application

8 points by FreeKill 12y ago ↗ HN

Basically pretty much what the title says. The news on WhatsApp today got me thinking (I've never used it) that I need to replace my existing chat solution (GoogleTalk). There are many different ones out there like WhatsApp, Telegram, Silent Circle, Line, ChatSecure, Cryptocat, WeChat, Kik, Hangouts, etc.

I'm curious about anyone's experience with any of these and I think I'd ultimately like one that's more secure if the options are there. Also, I really need it to be compatible both with mobile devices and on the desktop in some form.

11 comments

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sekm 12y ago ↗

Hipchat* - Mobile + Desktop support, along with a simple API and lots of integration points out of the box for Jira/Bamboo etc etc

*Disclaimer: I work for Atlassian

FreeKill 12y ago ↗

Thanks, that's definitely one that wasn't on my radar thus far :)

jxn 12y ago ↗

HipChat's fatal flaw, IMHO, is publicly-accessible file downloads, even in private conversation, with no ostensible lifespan (that I've seen). While the URL for shared files might be extremely hard to guess, I can never feel comfortable not being able to predict what files someone might openly share.

curiousphil 12y ago ↗

Agreed. Also, coming from iChat before Hipchat, sending files on the same network was so fast. I hate that Hipchat requires me to upload the file to an external server... It's handy for members of our team that are out of office though. I'd rather everyone's files ended up on our internal server, even if it was a little slower for outsiders.

jordsmi 12y ago ↗

I would say it depends who are you using it to talk with.

If you want secure chat I like jabber + otr

gesman 12y ago ↗

That's a good setup for ...

(If you have to ask you're not authorized to know)

valevk 12y ago ↗

Threema - https://threema.ch/en/

FreeKill 12y ago ↗

Unfortunately, it's a total non-starter for me if there is no desktop app.

rbnio 12y ago ↗

I just discovered Telegram and it looks great so far. The iPhone app looks pretty much exactly like WhatsApp. The source code is released under GPL, developers can use their API, and the protocol is documented on their website.

They have official apps for Android and iOS, and there are several unofficial Desktop/Web/CLI clients.

https://telegram.org

spurton 12y ago ↗

I helped build Chat Simply: https://www.chatsimply.com it is XMPP backed, has Windows and Mac OS client as well as iOS. It is also web-based so you can use it in your browser if you would like. It is free but has some "Pro" features for a reasonable yearly fee.

BTW we officially launched it today, so this is good timing :)

floppa 12y ago ↗

Slack.com seems quite nice, built on top of irc.