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I'd prefer a federated solution, but XMPP doesn't yet have decent support for group chat that doesn't depend on being connected. https://xmpp.org/extensions/attic/xep-0369-0.1.html is still experimental.

Bravo to Signal for being easy enough for my family to use!

>>rodlet+(OP)
What about Matrix?

>>rodlet+(OP)
Fwiw, I've seen users suggest hybrid approaches. Interestingly it could reduce some of the costs they list here and looks like a route one could take to slowly build towards a fully or hybrid federated system instead of jumping straight there. But I am unsure how much the community likes the idea and judging by that last post it doesn't seem like the mods do. But this one takes note as two users were willing to place a bounty on the feature request

https://community.signalusers.org/t/signal-airdrop/37402

>>rodlet+(OP)
Matrix fixes that issue (and also the issue of the server your group chat is hosted on disappearing). It has plenty of other issues, of course.

>>fsflov+Qc
I've tried a few times. It always felt... clunky?

I tried Element. UI felt slow, I was unable to find notifications in scrollback. Clicking the notification button would take me to random messages.

>>rodlet+3J1
There are very many clients lighter than Element.

>>fsflov+Qc
I remembered another issue with Matrix.

Signal and XMPP (via Quickly) have a simple phone number based signup workflow that my family have grown used to.

My family are not happy on having to remember/use passwords/keys. That's a shame, but is ultimately a constraint I have to deal with when persuading them to install/use an IM app.

>>fsflov+Hi2
I just checked https://matrix.org/ecosystem/clients/

I'll try FluffyChat, thanks!

>>rodlet+Nw2
Replying to myself... looks like some Matrix homeservers support OpenID-style login. That's probably fine for family.

>>rodlet+Qx2
I tried it. It looks nice, but audio/video calls didn't work at all between two FluffyChat clients.