If they haven’t already, SimpleX registers a URI handler, you could put an ID in a vCard just like your contacts on XMPP show up in a messaging client.

They reason this happens more often with Signal is a) Signal requires a phone number (which is not good for your privacy) b) your contact is more likely to put in their phone number but many forget to add other IM protocols to their vCard & the default contact managers do not make this very discoverable.

Let me start saying that for convenience I adopted Signal. Now, this argument that it validates your contacts is actually something that isn’t the best feature of Signal since it implies that it is requesting and having access to phone numbers.

I don’t let my number available as my contact, I created the ID and I’m using it in case someone wants to connect with me but that probably isn’t something that everyone is practicing and the fact that they retain my number it doesn’t digest well.

I’m not sure how is SimpleX nowadays but features like stickers and even some emoticons or message reactions were not possible. Family members and friends would be very difficult to persuade to go back to a very simplistic communication app.

I always keep an eye in alternatives and if usability reaches a good point we may need to consider SimpleX as the messenger for the mainstream recommendation.

The age ol convenience vs privacy. But fair that is user friendly