Matrix v1.15

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Discord-style features & permissions

  • Several commenters want Discord-like detailed permissions and voice channels; disappointment each release when these don’t appear.
  • Matrix’s “power level” (0–100) model is viewed by many as too simplistic and hard to reason about compared to role-based access control (Discord roles).
  • People want arbitrary roles (admin, mod, group tags) and group-based permissions; today this is partly possible via “spaces” but UX is considered poor and not protocol-level.
  • Voice/video: some use Matrix + Jitsi, but say it’s nowhere near Discord in usability. Others note Discord-inspired clients (e.g., Cinny) are starting to add voice rooms.

UX, clients, and protocol churn

  • A recurring theme: “Matrix as a protocol is fine, Element is the problem.”
  • Complaints: Element Web is slow, RAM-heavy, and clunky; large rooms are sluggish; features regress (notification center, room directory behavior).
  • Mobile: Element X (new Rust-core clients) is praised for performance but lacks full feature parity (threads, spaces, widgets), so many still need old clients.
  • Fragmentation: non-Element clients exist (Qt/Gtk/KDE, etc.), but often miss features or have outdated crypto libraries; users feel “stuck” with Element to see everything.

Funding model, focus, and target audience

  • Element focuses on being a self-hosted, encrypted Teams/WhatsApp replacement for governments and enterprises, not a Discord clone; this is framed as “following the money” to stay sustainable.
  • Some see this as neglecting grassroots/community needs; others accept it as necessary, comparing it to Linux gaining traction via servers/governments first.

Security, encryption, and usability

  • Libolm deprecation and timing-channel concerns are noted; Rust-based crypto is encouraged but not universal across clients.
  • Matrix’s E2EE is seen as both a strength and a UX burden: device verification, key backups, UTD errors, and multi-device setup confuse non-technical users.
  • Room membership is still server-controlled; there’s ongoing work to improve cryptographic guarantees and history sharing without leaking keys.

Onboarding, discovery, and identity

  • Lack of easy phone-number-based discovery is seen as a major blocker to mainstream use; matrix.org disabled this due to SMS fraud and privacy concerns.
  • Some users argue this privacy-first stance is correct; others stress that mass adoption currently depends on this type of convenience.

Servers, bridges, and ecosystem

  • Synapse is called heavy; alternatives (Dendrite, Conduit) lag in feature support (e.g., sliding sync).
  • IRC bridging, especially to Libera, is described as having regressed badly.
  • Element Server Suite is criticized as over-complex (Kubernetes) and not offering strong admin tools yet.

Overall sentiment

  • Thread is sharply split: some say Matrix/Element has improved steadily and works great for their communities; others see repeated rewrites, missing features, and UX issues as blocking it from competing with Discord/Slack/WhatsApp.