Session (https://getsession.org/) would be a good alternative for someone like the author. No captcha, no SIM/phone no. needed, decentralized protocol.
I'd been using Signal for a few years when I discovered Session. Yes, it doesn't have all the nice-to-have features that Signal seems to be adding recently, but it does secure messaging well.
> Something like Signal, with this amazingly sad paragraph opening in TFA:
> "Signal asked for my phone number..."
> simply cannot compete with Sessions' tagline.
Plus: you can have the same Session conversations on as many Android devices as you want - something that's impossible with Signal, due to its reliance on a SIM.
I'd been using Signal for a few years when I discovered Session. Yes, it doesn't have all the nice-to-have features that Signal seems to be adding recently, but it does secure messaging well.