YMMV, but my minimum requirements were:
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Federated just like lemmy or mastodon or email, so I can choose a server or even selfhost.
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First class clients for Linux available, not only Android/iOS, no Electron bloatware.
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No phone number involved.
That rules out Signal, Whatsapp and some more. Matrix fits. However I prefer #Jabber a.k.a. #XMPP. Matter of taste, I guess 🤷
PS: "Note to yourself", incl. file upload, is supported by all servers and most clients, AFAIK.
@possiblylinux127
The #Jabber feature sets are defined in the compliance suite, e.g. here:
"XEP-0479: #XMPP Compliance Suites 2023"
https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0479.html#im
Many Jabber clients do end-to-end encryption by default. I would not care too much in the age of #surveillance directly at the source, i.e. on the device 🤷
If you want an even more coherent feature set and also be sure, all your clients encrypt by default, your best bet is #Snikket by @snikket_im. Highly recommended!