I really want a Facebook (the old Facebook timeline) replacement, but end-to-end encrypted, and decentralised so there’s longevity.

Edit for clarity: I’m looking for a way to share things online, end-to-end encrypted to a wide-audience that knows you but doesn’t necessarily know each other.

This is why messaging apps don’t fulfil this requirement, and chat rooms (like Matrix) also don’t fit.

I love Lemmy, I like the idea of Mastodon (twitter-like sites just aren’t my thing. ActivityPub rocks. However, none of them are encrypted.

PixelFed is neato, but I don’t plan sharing my personal photos with the whole of the internet, which seems to be the only choice with ActivityPub.

Signal and other encrypted messaging apps are great, but are for direct messaging. Where are the encrypted social media apps?

Matrix is cool and all, but it’s aimed at groups. Like discord / MS teams replacement.

Someone told me about Futo Circles, which seems to tick all the boxes and built on top of Matrix, but it’s currently abandoned.

Are there any other alternatives? My wallet is open, I would very much like to use such an app. I am no programmer, so sadly cannot take on the mantle of continuing the Futo Circles project.

  • Jupiter Rowland@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    3·
    1 day ago

    The closest you’d get would be with Hubzilla or (streams). Or Forte if it wasn’t experimental with no public instances yet. They even have file spaces with WebDAV on which you can upload files and then define who is permitted to see/access these files or the folders they’re in.

    However:

    What you want isn’t their default M.O. You’ll have to get used to and think yourself into something with a learning curve that’s even steeper than Friendica’s. You’ll have to learn and understand the permissions system, including giving nobody permission to see your connections. Ideally, all your connections would have to be smart enough to know how to to hide being connected to you from the public and to actually do so.

    Encryption is optional and “uninstalled” by default for everyone, and it isn’t even available on all server instances (it’s up to the admin to activate that add-on, and then the user has to activate it, too). Also, it uses passphrases and not automatically generated key pairs.

    Finally, if you insist in using it with a mobile app, you’re completely out of luck. It’s browser or PWA for all of them.