The year is 2026.
Most of the world has gone completely online. Many live their entire lives from behind their glass rectangle.
Absolutely, I’ve wanted Matrix for a long time. Technically we could go with Signal, but chances are it will soon go the same direction as WhatsApp.
We need group messaging and internet messaging where we can steer the direction.
One question, would a Kosher Matrix solution allow federation with any server? I assume so, but I also am not a Jew so I wouldn’t know.
Edit: I would be interesting to know which Kosher company you spoke with as this would bear a lot of weight for myself.
Also curious if you are looking at a community project or otherwise. Would you be planning to fork Element android?
Signal is open source, but doesn’t allow using third party clients.
Any centralized service has such a risk.
Matrix’s decentralization is the best possible safeguard against that.
It would be up to the phone company to decide that.
I don’t know the Matrix ecosystem well enough to know if there’s a big difference between servers in terms of user demographic or content.
That would be very nice, but I myself don’t plan on doing that.
Why not? Time or skill constraints? Or something else?
I’d like to do it, but would be best to have a full-stack non-AI powered dev on board. Its quite doable, I’ve been considering it for several months already.
I would envision create an application restrictions bundle that MDM’s can interface with for different levels of lockdown.
Understood, that’s why I don’t want Signal. We have no control over the future.
I’m not following the whole discussion but from a practical standpoint, I don’t think any filters (tag meshimer style, what most bachurim use) will allow any app for group messages. That’s the main issue they all have with text. Reintroducing it in an app that’s sole purpose is for group messages, I find it hard to believe that they’ll allow it.
The bochurim aren’t very important here.
They’re not the ones who were using GroupMe as a serious utility for everyday needs.
Yet they allow it.
Agreed.
Which is kinda why I’m trying to first target kosher phone companies, not filtering companies.
Valid. But just to be clear, they were the biggest consumers of this type of group messaging systems
Because it has other use cases (such as… Hmm… Maybe just texting people)
100%
But they are the ones who need it the least.
If any company is making any changes to what their phones or filters offer, it will because of what adults need for their lives, not aimed at entertaining bored bochurim.
It’s possible to block MMS while allowing SMS.
If you use a custom SMS app, then you can block group chats while still allowing MMS.
And with Matrix we could create an app that only allows connection to a specific server, and that server would possibly only allow groups up to say 10 people.
The options for control are amazing. Things could be done app side or server side.
Disclaimer: It would require work. 
It doesn’t need to be that complex.
It could use a standard server, and the kosher client could hide chats that have more than a certain amount of members.
Although what I would really like is to train ML models to tag chats as:
Practical/utilitarian, news/entertainment, or general chatting
and
family & friends, aquaintances, vetted strangers, or public group
@jbriones95 , I’m curious if you see a need for a DPad compatible Matrix client? Or is it fairly un-heard of in the dumbphone community?
phone companies work the hechshrim
@Megalife @FigKosher @GreentouchOfficial @fish what are you takes on all this?
It’s not that there is no need. It’s that why bother. Only a few people are willing to move to a new app. That’s the issue.
@Dev-in-the-BM_2.0, what are the chances Matrix would pick up users among the Jewish communities? Is there any interest among non-tech savvy users?
It could pick up if the kosher phones have it and the ones with smartphones just use whatsapp
There’s a massive interest in a successor to GroupMe.
No one knows what Matrix is, but if enough kosher phones offer it, then it would probably become widely used.
Yes, and I suspect first come first served. Whatever platform is first available is the first to be adopted.
I suspect that if no one does anything, all kosher phones will end up offering WhatsApp.
Never.