My niece has an old iphone with no SIM/phone number. Only wifi internet access.
Looking for an app for both of us to be able to chat
She cant chat with me over signal because no phonee number. She chats with the rest of the family over imessage, but i have an android phone
Is there an app available for both android and iphone to let me chat with her?
Thanks
Edit: willing to self-host for extra privacy. My nieces and nephews are all young children so i definitely want to encourage/educate them to get off corporate controlled communications channels
Signal v7 with username IDs is right around the corner. I’d suggest you wait a few weeks if you can.
I’d love to see data to the contrary, but I believe even with username IDs, they will still want phone number verification. I.e. like telegram does
We’ll see in a few weeks time; hence my recommendation to wait a little ;)
It has been in beta for a while now and it still does require a SIM for registration.
I’m aware of the community this is posted in, but my kid talks to her grandparents via the chat features in Google photos. Works over WiFi with specific contacts and no phone number required. It lets her show them pictures she’s drawn.
Google are involved of course, but there’s no algorithm pushing promoted posts or any of that BSSignal is no longer requiring phone numbers as of V7, so you could just wait for that to get released.
Still need a phone number to register. Then after that, you can give out your username to others without revealing your phone number
WTH dude… You can send letters. Unfortunately it’s IRL only and isn’t at all what you asked for
Briar fits the requirements.
No need for sms. Works over the internet, wifi only, or Bluetooth. As long as everyone has android it’s a great option.
That being said simplex is probably the right answer here, but no reason to antagonize the person who suggested a valid option.
jisti, nextcloud talk, element matrix …go big: IRC
“I remember my uncle, he used to force us to use some janky app to talk to him because he was afraid of the big corporations spying on him”
Except they literally do. It’s even acknowledged in the mainstream media.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/16/technology/snowden-spying-big-tech.html
What’s frightening is that people more or less agree with this, but they have apathy to the point of making up excuses for it. Humanity is remarkably adaptable, and if they can adapt to supporting slavery or genocide, they will and they still do. Never mind things that are less terrible.
Sadly, I agree.
I don’t want to assume the worst but why are you trying to privately communicate with a minor? You really should include a second adult preferably there parent.
You are just asking for trouble
why are you trying to privately communicate with a minor?
Uhm… Because my niece asked me yesterday if she could message me on her phone.
When i say “private” i mean not hosted/harvested by facebook or google or whatever.
My brother has full acess to the device and can read our messages. Also, he is well aware that she is messaging her aunts and uncles
I don’t want to assume the worst
Proceeds to assume the absolute worst
Child abuse is a serious issue in the US. I always try to encourage good practices. I didn’t mean to accuse you of doing something unethical
I would still encourage getting the parents to join the same chat just for liability reason. If the child’s parent is in the group chat the risks go way down.
You can create a new group chat in Simplex Chat and then you can turn off disappearing messages and add the child and the parent.
That is very bad advice for people knowing and trusting each other.
Abuse almost always comes from a person who is trusted by the family. Often they are a close friend.
Trust but verify
Hehehehe, how we came here, if somebody wants to message their niece that doesn’t have a sim card then that somebody is doing something bad 😆
(Sarcasm) 100% somebody isn’t using SMS or fb messanger that somebody is a terrorist, extremist, child abuser, and drug user
C’mon, somebody is asking for software advice, just mentioning that it would be cool to educate the kids how to use private services
And even if somebody might be doing something shady, you can’t really accuse or suspect somebody, this is really dark of you to suspect everyone around you and starting a witch hunt 😂😂😂
I’d say the same thing about SMS or any other communication including in person. If you always keep two adults present you are much less likely to have problems
Idk, sounds really dark, not trusing your family is really dystopian
Its just a matter of policy. It doesn’t need to be that dystopian as all your doing is closing potential opportunity.
