xmpp and mumble
Table of Contents
1. Why?
This guide is designed for noobs. If you have no fucking clue about all this
you are in the right place (:
Platforms like discord, facebook messenger, slack… are full of spyware and
ads. Their apps are slow and buggy and often require you to pay to unlock basic
features. Its time we stop putting up with this! Many people are scared of
trying alterative platforms but I would like to show you some of them are quite
good once you understand them. You dont need to be a hacker or programmer to
use xmpp. Just like any other platform all you have to do is install a app,
make a account, and start chatting!
--> Skip the fluff and nerd stuff <--
2. What is xmpp?
xmpp also know as jabber is a free and opensource chat protocol. Its very
customizable, extendable, and allows people to host there own chat services
instead of using ones that spy on you like discord and facebook.
Think of it like email: not everyone needs to be on the same email service to
send mail to each other. You can send mail to your friend who uses outlook
even if you use gmail. With email you can often use the services website or a
email client like thunderbird. xmpp works a lot like that except for messaging
instead of mail. There are many different xmpp apps and many different xmpp
services and whatever ones you choose will not impact who you can chat with!
Every user has a jabber id (JID) which is just name@server kind of like
email.
A MUC (multi user chat) is bascially just what groupchats are called in
xmpp. MUCs also have jabber ids.
xmpp provides many ways to encrypt your messages including OMEMO, GPG, and
OTR. Not all xmpp clients support any/all types of encryption and MUCs tend to
not get encrypted though its often not a problem due to the fact things on MUCs
arent very private anyways.
Anyways if you are still confussed and want youtube to explain it to you watch
this strangely helpful but boring video.
3. Installing xmpp
3.1. Desktop (linux, mac, and windows)
For desktop the most user friendly xmpp app is gajim. You can install it through the microsoft store or download it here.
3.2. Andriod
For andriod the easiest xmpp app is conversations. The google play store version costs money but you can get conversations for free on f-droid. f-droid is a app store for free and open source apps.
3.3. iOS
chatsecure seems to be a decent choice for iOS.
3.4. xmpp in your web browser
xmpp services like hot-chilli and disroot provide a web app. They arent as good as desktop or mobile apps but they do allow you to use xmpp on your heavily bubble wrapped and locked down school/work computer and chromebooks.
4. Making a xmpp account
After installing a app it will ask you to make a account. Dont panic. When it asks you for a server thats just the place your account will be. Think of it like email vs outlook vs yahoo… Some good xmpp servers are hot-chilli, conversations.im, and disroot. You can find more options here.
5. Using xmpp
Now that you have xmpp installed and account made join my MUCs
(groupchats). You can find a big list of MUCs here.
My MUCs:
- jnrel@conference.shittyweb.org
- memes@conference.shittyweb.org
6. Installing and using mumble
xmpp voice chat works but mumble is better. Mumble is a very fast and reliable
voice chat app. It will even work on your slow shitty internet. You dont even
need an account to use mumble!
You can download mumble here. The setup process looks scary but it isnt too
bad.
To join my server:
- Address:
shittyweb.org - Port:
64738 - Username: whatever the fuck you want
- Label: whatever the fuck you want
