I've been using textsecure for a long time now: so far I haven't had any issues messaging new iOS users including mixed groups. In my experience, there might be some mms edge cases when mixing with other messaging apps, but not too many and bug reports are monitored regularly on github.
Cool, thanks. So, I got it working with some friends. The start is rough when you don't have any contacts. There is no hand holding like you'd expect from other messaging apps. Especially the first message to the first contact is a tough discovery. I managed to mistakenly call instead of texting and another friend did exactly the same.
The error message when you are not registered yet is also not totally clear. One friend complained that he couldn't see when I had read the message (compared to Facebook Messenger).
On the plus side, you've come really far in usable crypto when you're being compared to that.
yeah, i gather this can't be used to completely replaces sms? The handy part of the android textsecure is that it's my sms app for everyone whether or not they use it. I just send a message the normal way and if they're using it, a little lock icon is on the message.
yeah, I've been burned a few times by photos. Luckily, never in a case where the sender couldn't try again using something else (it's only happened on non textsecure to textsecure, if both people use it, I haven't had any issues)
There was a bug a while back where photos would only download via cellular, but the app would try to use WiFi if you were connected. I think it is fixed now.