SimpleX Chat
Chat & CommunicationPrivate messenger without any user identifiers
Replaces Signal, WhatsApp
Best Mobile App Chat & Communication for self-hosting
The 10 best Mobile App chat & communication you can self-host, ranked by community traction.
Berty
Chat & CommunicationPeer-to-peer messaging app that works offline
Replaces WhatsApp, Signal
The Lounge
Chat & CommunicationModern, self-hosted web IRC client
Replaces IRCCloud, Slack
Nextcloud Talk
Chat & CommunicationChat, video calls and webinars integrated into Nextcloud
Replaces Slack, Zoom
Delta Chat
Chat & CommunicationDecentralized messenger built on top of email
Replaces WhatsApp, Signal
Briar
Chat & CommunicationPeer-to-peer encrypted messaging that works offline
Replaces Signal, WhatsApp
Session
Chat & CommunicationOnion-routed private messenger with no phone number
Replaces Signal, WhatsApp
Linphone
Chat & CommunicationOpen-source SIP voice, video, and messaging client
Replaces Skype, Zoom
Comm
Chat & CommunicationE2E-encrypted personal-server messaging app
Replaces Discord, Slack
Jami
Chat & CommunicationFully distributed, peer-to-peer encrypted communication
Replaces Skype, Zoom
No apps match these filters.
At a glance
| App | Deploy effort | Difficulty | Min. RAM | License | ★ Stars |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SimpleX Chat | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 256 MB | AGPL-3.0 | 19,560 |
| Berty | Read-the-docs project | Hard | 256 MB | Apache-2.0 | 9,325 |
| The Lounge | Under-an-hour setup | Easy | 256 MB | MIT | 6,355 |
| Nextcloud Talk | Under-an-hour setup | Medium | 512 MB | AGPL-3.0 | 2,214 |
| Delta Chat | Read-the-docs project | Medium | 256 MB | MPL-2.0 | 937 |
| Briar | Read-the-docs project | Medium | 128 MB | GPL-3.0 | 800 |
| Session | Read-the-docs project | Medium | 256 MB | GPL-3.0 | 589 |
| Linphone | Read-the-docs project | Medium | 128 MB | GPL-3.0 | 508 |
| Comm | Under-an-hour setup | Hard | 1,024 MB | BSD-3-Clause | 330 |
| Jami | Read-the-docs project | Medium | 256 MB | GPL-3.0 | 44 |
Quick picks
- Most adopted: SimpleX Chat (19,560 GitHub stars).
- Lightest footprint: Briar (from 128 MB RAM, against 1,024 MB for the heaviest here).
- Licensing: 4 of 10 use GPL-3.0; check the rest individually if you plan to modify and redistribute.
Every option here is open-source and self-hostable, tagged Mobile App within the chat & communication category. Deploy effort is graded from published container recipes, not vendor claims — see the methodology.