After years of going full degoogle and privacy oriented I found that the best option regarding your criteria is not necessarily the good one.
Non-techy people will toss aside anything that’s not as easy to use as GAFAM tech.
IMO “good enough” is often the best way to go, rather than “perfect”.
In the end, Signal is a pretty good compromise (even though your objections are completely valid).
After years of going full degoogle and privacy oriented I found that the best option regarding your criteria is not necessarily the good one. Non-techy people will toss aside anything that’s not as easy to use as GAFAM tech.
IMO “good enough” is often the best way to go, rather than “perfect”.
In the end, Signal is a pretty good compromise (even though your objections are completely valid).