Signal is a great alternative to WhatsApp. Images sent aren’t going to be full quality and will go through some compression of course, but the final sent picture is still going to be leaps and bounds over the garbage that WhatsApp sends. When going through old pictures on my camera roll, I can instantly tell what was sent/saved over WhatsApp compared to Signal due to just how pixelated it gets.

Can you expand on what you’re looking for exactly? Most consumer routers will let you customize the subnet range (192.168…).

I don’t have anything to add, but +1.

A few useful web apps I’ve found are duolingo and Uber, which have native notifications on iOS without needing to install an app.

All fair complaints. I’ve managed to switch over all of my contacts to Signal (that I care to talk to, at least).

My biggest gripe is no back up support on iOS, meaning that if I lose my phone I lose everything. People have tried hand waving it away as a privacy feature, but I think backing up messages is a bare minimum for a messaging app - especially with the released of Advanced Data Protection for iCloud.