Encryption options
Look out for ways to protect privacy.
Before you see the full potential of Matrix, the clients probably look like any old chat box. But when you discover the more intricate details, you’ll see the power of encryption and private rooms. The specification (https://spec. matrix.org) is open, clear of patent licensing and mostly uses HTTP. Importantly, it has vast support for encryption and is built for environments that anyone can join – so-called federations.
Any user should be able to create their own rooms and servers, making it vital that you know how to handle your encryption keys. Fortunately, all clients that support it have simple ways of doing this.
In this case, Mirage is disappointing because it does not support encrypted rooms or client verification. That said, Fractal and NeoChat also lack these essential features so cannot use Matrix to its full potential. You can still create private rooms but since encryption is not supported, you end up with a low-security environment. Cinny does support these vital features.
One useful feature is to have a web app available that can run in a browser. This makes it possible to have an application using standard tools. Element defaults to being a web app and can be a client for most platforms. Cinny also has such a web app, making it easy to use from a browser.
NeoChat and Fractal have no web app capability, because they are made for their respective desktop environments.
Other useful features would be to use different formatting for your messages and the overall look, which is where Mirage shines. Having a web app of Mirage would make it outshine the lot, but its real weakness is sadly encryption.