Yeah, just use the Beta, it's extremely stable. Don't get it from the Play Store though, as you've seen it hasn't been updated in years. Just get it from their GitHub.

I've tried quite a few after leaving Nova a few years ago and have settled on Lawnchair. It seems to be the most stable and is under active development.

I'm staying sceptical about these rumours for now until something more substantial comes to light, as currently it is just the Telegram CEO throwing shade at Signal, and the Signal CEO throwing shade back at Telegram

Thanks llandar, I'll have a listen

Thanks, I do run my own server so this is a possibility

Thanks. Yeah I found Barinsta but saw it hadn't been updated in years. I'll have a look around and report back.

Thanks MrSoup, do you have any suggestions on a good frontend for Instagram?

Good to know, thanks

Thanks, yeah I'm always on a VPN, but as you suggested, maybe nowadays it's not about trying to live without an account, but having the account with generic/fake profile data.

Oh I hadn't heard of Beeper. Thanks I'll look in to that.

Thanks, yeah I had thought about using separate SIMs to sign up but then, like you said, would still need to sync contacts.

Although I hadn't really though about only using the desktop apps.

I do run ProtonVPN on all of my devices, daily drive Linux on my PC and laptop, and have GrapheneOS as my ROM. So device privacy is not really the issue. This is more about not wanting to have accounts with the likes of Meta who have time and time again shown that they are completely against user privacy, but I feel it is more and more difficult to live without as most people don't know/don't care about personal privacy.

Thanks for your comment Deckweiss. To reply to your assumptions I'm not American and am definitely not young.

I'd be interested to hear about how your and your friends learn about local events without any access to the main channels that seem to be used by most venues, i.e. Facebook and Instagram, as I'd happily take some advice on this.

Also, as per my original post, it is not about meeting new people, that I have no problem with, it is about the inevitable conversation when they exclusively use WhatsApp to stay in contact.

Best alternative for WhatsApp would be Signal

I just used a throwaway email to initially sign up to get the Key, then deleted the app. Was very easy.

I'd recommend checking out Gadgetbridge. It is an open source app, with no network permission requirements, that replaces the OEM app for a large number of watches. I'm running an Amazfit GTS 4 with it and it has been almost flawless.

I'd second the recommendation for Gadgetbridge and would add most of the Amazfit watches to the list. I have the Amazfit GTS 4 and it has run flawlessly with Gadgetbridge.

I see Garmins are being recommended but if you are looking for something cheaper, I've been extremely happy with my Amazfit watch. It has pretty much all the same functions as the Garmins but at a fraction of the cost, and is fully compatible with Gadgetbridge, so all your data is stored locally.

That's fair. There are just quite a few that you've posted that I'd have loved to know who they were by so I could check out their other stuff.

It would be great if you could credit the OC when you post these.