I have been cleaning my phone - removing Google Services, Google Account and replacing it with alternatives. Strangely, I do still have many very different messaging app. If I count correctly, there is Messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram, Signal, Viber and also two local apps TakeUp and Mastadon. I am more and more returning back to SMS messages and normal encrypted e-mails.
What do you use most and is it normal, to have so many messaging apps and using them all for different people groups?
My go-to for pretty much all purposes would be to use SimpleX, it’s a really good secure and private app that is in early development. Basically it use the Signal protocol, but in an app without telemetry, blobs, etc… Or if you want to use Signal, download Molly
My other recommandation would be Matrix for large public groups or business talk.