About Matrix Matrix is an open protocol for decentralised, secure communications.
Matrix Manifesto We believe:
People should have full control over their own communication. People should not be locked into centralised communication silos, but instead be free to pick who they choose to host their communication without limiting who they can reach. The ability to converse securely and privately is a basic human right. Communication should be available to everyone as a free and open, unencumbered, standard and global network.
Where would be a good starting point to check out a list of instances with these bridges? And how safe are they?
Beeper is a paid Matrix server that neatly integrates with many other chat services using a custom GUI specifically designed for integration with third party apps.
this is why I never got into matrix. I don’t actually know how lol, the page doesn’t list servers available and i don’t really want to just spin up my own just for myself
Well, due to the nature of the Fediverse, no one can reliably list all the server in existence. They can merely list the most popular ones, much like how you can’t list all the Lemmy instances. A list I used to pick my server is https://joinmatrix.org/servers/ , though you might want to look up the server’s reputation before joining. Please do check it out! I believe that someone on Lemmy has a much higher probability of liking Matrix.
If you want to use a paid service from the developers, there’s Element One: https://element.io/element-one
hmm, I wonder if there’s a way for me to host my own matrix server and do the bridging myself, like a docker container or something.
There’s an Ansible playbook that allows you to install everything easily, but I don’t know how difficult the maintenance is. It’s definitely possible to self-host Matrix with bridges.
They actually link to a guide right on their website: https://github.com/beeper/self-host
The beeper client only works with the official beeper services, but you can use other apps like Element and FluffyChat with your own server.
By the way, if you join an instance without these bridges, you could always search for bridges on other servers