If you're interested in setting up a secure chat service for you and your friends, you might want to try @snikket_im
🌱 snikket.org
It's really cheap to run and easy to set up, it's managed hosting so you don't need to do techy stuff.
Technical details: it runs on XMPP with OMEMO end-to-end encryption, but this is hidden behind non-technical branding so it doesn't scare people.
Instances are federated, Snikket and other types of XMPP instance can communicate.
