Element Classic

Been using Element since September so my friend and I could have separate rooms to discuss creative projects we work on together. We had been using a different system for years and wanted something similar to Discord, but Discord doesn’t allow for account switching so we went for this. The encryption definitely works, and normally it’s easy to have multiple sessions on multiple devices and switch seamlessly. But lately (the last 2-3 weeks) the mobile app has given us a lot of trouble. It keeps randomly hiding the rooms that we’re not active in at that moment, and while I can just uninstall and reinstall the app (and re-verify every time) to fix this, my friend attempted to do the same and now, all messages he sent beyond some point in January can’t be decrypted on his end. 😐 Really frustrated with this, as we put a lot of trust in Element and we use messages to keep track of decisions we make, since our creative works are purely for fun. As I write this, I’m redownloading the app for what I think must be the fifth time this week. It’s a daily thing at this point. Element, PLEASE fix your mobile app, it honestly worked quite well before the last month or so. Before then, I only had issues when my phone was insanely low on storage, and that was on me.

At time of writing, this app has a 3.7 rating and that is a very fair assessment of its quality and usability. It isn’t the most user-friendly messenger on the App Store, but some of that is by design. The lower more critical ratings are not fair IMHO; some of the inconvenience of security is required for it to be secure i.e. needing to verify keys devices and users, etc. People want privacy and security without adding additional steps but those steps create more privacy and security inherently. Case in point, 2 factor authentication. Is it quicker to not enable for your internet accounts? Sure. Does taking an extra few seconds make you more secure? Absolutely. All of that said, both my tech-illiterate parents (in their 60s) and my older gen-X siblings use this app daily without any issue.

I love the concept and hope this app grows, but it is not intuitive and makes it difficult for people to setup and use—both mobile & desktop. Here are a few: 1. Favorites is unnecessary. You can add / see / modify them in Home. 2. People & Rooms can be lumped under a new category of ‘Discover’, ‘Search’, ‘Explore’, ‘Find’ or something along those lines. Rooms & Conversations subsections only need to be in Home. 3. Communities could be one of the best features in this app, but it needs significant attention. 3a. The entirety of Communities area, incl existing subsections needs an ability to edit / add. You cannot modify a community’s name, img or anything. You can’t create rooms in the room subsection, etc. Major drawback. 3b. All of the current subtabs are unnecessary. Something like the following is preferred. Communities > CommunityC > CommunityD >> Rooms >>> Room1 >>>> People >>>> Images/Videos >>>> Docs/Files >>> Room2 >>> Room3 >> Messages (Private) >> Directory (could be superfluous) + a function to cluster & arrange rooms There are more, but I’ve typed up alot already. Hope to see some improvements. Cheers.