[gurgus]

> - Signal and Whatsapp, as others have pointed out, are far from being comfortable as being private (they already know too much, phone number, etc.), and don't have the convenience of a browser based app.

Whatsapp does have a browser based app. web.whatsapp.com

[marknadal]

I get a "download the app to scan QR code and login" wall / lock-out. This wouldn't count as being browser-based!

[lawl]

This is because the private key to en/decrypt messages never leaves your phone. So the 'browser based' version still routes messages to your phone first (to presumably re-encrypt them with a different key that you got from scanning that QR code).

You can argue semantics if that counts as browser based or not, but I think that's actually a pretty sane way to to things, security wise.

[gurgus]

It's in a browser. It's browser based.