I’d like to be able to chat from an Android phone without a SIM card.

Edit: Since several people have mentioned it, I’m including this note at the top. There are security issues with using a temporary number to register even if it is not needed to maintain the account. Anyone can gain access to the number and use it for account recovery, etc. I’m not an infosec person at all, but this seems pretty obviously bad. Some services will work fine with a landline or other permanent phone number, as long as you retain private access to the number.

Edit 2: SimpleX turned out to be a good fit for me. It was fast and easy to set up, and simple for my family to use. I also like that it is self hostable if I need to set that up in the future. There are some excellent suggestions and useful discussions below, and I appreciate the help. I’ll come back to this thread in the future if I need to switch

  • ragica@lemmy.ml
    1·
    22 hours ago

    NextCloud has end-to-end encrypted voice and video chat, and of course a whole bunch else, since people are mentioning self-hosting. The corresponding Android app “nextcloud talk”.

    • gedaliyah@lemmy.worldOP
      3·
      1 day ago

      Thanks, I’m going to check this out. Seems pretty straightforward which is good for the family to use

  • Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafeEnglish
    1·
    1 day ago

    I don’t know how private/secure it really is, but Teleguard doesn’t require a phone number.

    I’d really like to see some research into them, though, to know how good/bad it is.

    I don’t know where to even start.

    Alternative: XMPP has been around for 25+ years, can be self-hosted, there’s numerous solutions available.

  • lennybird@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    1 day ago

    Side note but I was literally just thinking the other day that the accelerated rise of corruption and right-wing pivot of the globe also coincides with encrypted / anonymous communications. Mobsters and state actors must be having an absolute field day this past decade.

  • Zak@lemmy.world
    3·
    2 days ago

    It looks like Session has video calls in beta.

    Note that most services requiring a phone number for registration don’t actually require that phone number to be connected to a SIM card in the device you’re using. That may be helpful depending on your use case.

  • solrize@lemmy.ml
    3·
    2 days ago

    GNU Jami though I had trouble getting it to work reliably, and you have to install an app. YMMV.

    Jitsi is decent, especially if you don’t mind using their server meet.jit.si (may have changed by now). It uses WebRTC (i.e. you can use it with just a browser) which I think is preferable to a mobile app.

    I think there will inherently be some lag if you’re using a mobile phone at the client side, because of all the codecs, wifi latency etc.

    This shouldn’t be that hard a technical problem especially if you’re ok with audio-only. I don’t know why the existing programs all have probs in some areas. Jitsi is nice to use but a pain to self-host from what I can tell.

    I have a self-hosted nextcloud that has a video chat feature (Nextcloud Talk) but it’s not great.

    I have been wanting to spend a chunk of time looking into the situation and finding a good answer, or at least identifying the trade-offs clearly.

  • Zachariah@lemmy.world
    41·
    2 days ago

    Threema

    It’s around $5 for the app. No phone number needed. End-to-end encryption for chat and calls (audio/video). Desktop versions are in beta.

    iOS and Android

    • snowdriftissue@lemmy.world
      3·
      2 days ago

      Phreeli is overpriced and doesn’t actually grant much privacy despite their claims. Telecom providers can still have a field day with your location and sms/call data even if Phreeli isn’t collecting that themselves, which is also really just a pinky promise at this point. There are also competing services already which don’t require PII either but have more reasonable prices.

      If you want a phone number just to sign up for signal or something just use jmp.chat smspool or mysudo depending on your needs.