A lot of us privacy folks struggle to get our friends and family to use privacy-preserving instant messaging apps (like Signal) to contact us. One of the main problems I see is that most people have already many messaging apps (Messenger, Whatsapp, iMessage, Telegram, etc.) and they don’t want to install another one just to contact 1 person.
My solution to this specific problem is to propose that they install Beeper, instead of telling them to install Signal. The selling point is that they no longer have to install 5 chat apps on their phones. Beeper will allow them to communicate with their contacts on Messenger, Whatsapp, Telegram and contact me on Signal. It seems to me like a good middle ground when I struggle to have them install Signal.
Beeper privacy policy isn’t great tbh. It seems like a lot of data is being collected. But, it’s unclear if they’re sharing it with third parties.
However, the current situation is that these people already have apps like Messenger and Whatsapp installed on their devices, which is IMO worse than having only Beeper installed (privacy-wise but also when considering convenience).
So my question is: what do you think about recommending Beeper to my contacts that are unwilling to install Signal? What are the pros and the cons that I should keep in mind?