[pndy]

If they aim at tech enthusiasts and privacy conscious people then that won't be a problem. But I doubt this messenger will gain any attention among wider regular audience because exactly of lack of user ID system. Majority of people needs an easy way to get in touch with family, friends and everyone else and that's done with IDs. Scanning qr codes is easy nowadays but to build a messenger around this it just feels like a missed idea.

Somehow I'm also amused by this clip where woman points qr code at webcam.

Btw. there's Session - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28715627

[astrobe_]

There are three types of people who seek strong anonymity: whistle blowers, criminals, and tech-nerd posers. For this reason any viable, strong anonymous comms solution is doomed to be misused 2/3 of the time.

[peschu]

Nice and easy life in your little world... :)

But in reality there is not an equal distribution between these 3 groups. And there is a high probability that the user base is not as limited as in your pseudo factual simplification. (journalists come to mind for example etc. pp)