Signal is good for normie friends, and family but for my schizo privacy junkie online friends I use SimpleX. Rarely do I use signal with people from the interwebs unless I've met them IRL already.

I just don't talk to people. That generally helps 😂 😂

Fair point 😅👍.

Signal produces lots of metadata on AWS. At least use Molly without a phone number. Just giving you best practice suggestions. Why go for a worse product when you can have the best for the same price? You are responsible for yourself, but assume that your decisions also make life easier or harder for those people that absolutely depend on havinna secure and private communication network. If only few people use it they are much more easy to single out. Conclusion: Your decions and consequent actions therefore have a marginal effect on my security and privacy and vice versa.

If SimpleX is good enough for my shizo privacy junkies it's exactly the right fit for my family.

Main pro of signal is that it's normie friendly, has a good UI, has a notable user base already, and has optional discoverability, and optional privacy. I like SimpleX a lot but it's got a high learning curve, a UX that is still early, and otherwise just isn't convenient for people you know IRL. Might do it with privacy people but I feel like signal is the winner even if simplex in theory has better opsec.