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

    • 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.