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Comment by Arathorn | Hacker News Reader

When did you try it? Both Matrix the protocol and implementations like Element X have improved immeasurably over the last year or so.

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It's been more than a year, and Element X does honestly look a lot better. But it's been mobile-only for years. And if I'm correct, the desktop/web clients still require you to use embedded Jitsi. And what about non-Element clients?

As a user, I just need stuff like this to be standard, and work for every participant regardless of what client they use.

Element Desktop/Web (and Element X) use Element Call for proper encrypted group VoIP/Video these days rather than Jitsi - since Sept 2024. Meanwhile we're busy upgrading Element Web to use the same rust-sdk engine as Element X (although this will take a year or so).

In terms of non-Element clients... I can't really speak for them, but I hear really good things about Cinny for folks who want a more Discord-like experience on desktop, and we livecoded an Element Call integration for it at the Matrix Conference in October (hopefully it merged). I think FluffyChat also may support the new MatrixRTC calling too.

Element X is in some cases still a downgrade from Element. For instance there doesn't seem to be a way to create local key backups anymore. Also, that calls between Element and Element X are incompatible means both apps need to be installed in order to receive calls from all contacts.

Still, I love Matrix and hope that these issues will be resolved in time.

Manually importing/exporting keybackups is on the todo list (albeit towards the bottom). Supporting legacy calls is not (unless someone contributes it); the intention is to converge asap on native Matrix group calls.

This cannot be overstated. It used to be a pile of trash, now it's quite decent (but with lots of room for improvement).

You will always say that.

Probably, but much like the sitar player's sitar in Moulin Rouge, I aim to only speak the truth :)

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