[Replicant] Using signal/textsecure

[Nick]

Hi all,

I was looking for a program that is very easy to use and enables 
free messaging, which I can use to talk to my friends. WhatsApp was 
recommended, but I would really rather not use proprietary software 
to interact with a glorified XMPP server run by facebook. I found 
out about Signal (previously called TextSecure), and it seems like 
just what I want.

However, at the moment it requires those horrid proprietary Google 
libraries to run [0]. There is some work being done to fix this [1], 
but it doesn't seem that the main developers are particularly 
interested so progress is not fast.

Overall, however, I think it seems like the least bad option, as the 
main program is free software, so I can feel good about recommending 
it to my friends, and it's easy enough to use that I won't have to 
hand-hold any account creation or anything like that. Does anybody 
else use Signal? Or have a better recommendation that doesn't 
require the installation of proprietary Google libraries?

I imagine installing those proprietary Google libraries on a 
replicant device might be difficult, am I correct? Also Signal is 
only officially distributed through the "play store", which I would 
rather not use, any recommendations about getting an APK?

Alternatively, there is an unofficial experimental fork that doesn't
depend on the proprietary Google libraries [1], but I can't tell if 
works fine day-to-day. Anybody have experience with it?

Thanks for any advice. I am very new to the world of android.

Nick

0. https://github.com/WhisperSystems/TextSecure/issues/127
1. https://github.com/JavaJens/TextSecure
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 801 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.osuosl.org/pipermail/replicant/attachments/20151105/0428a05a/attachment.asc>