For: everyone
New to Matrix? Here is everything you need to know, in two minutes and without technical terms.
Matrix works like email
With email, you have an address such as marco@company.com, and you can write to anyone, whatever email provider they use. Matrix is the same idea for chat.
- Matrix is the open standard: the "language" that chat servers use to talk to each other.
- Your server is your company's own chat server, like your own post office. Its address looks like
8e43f5db6a.matrixhost.eu. Only people you create an account for can sign in to it. - Your Matrix ID is your chat address, for example
@marco:8e43f5db6a.matrixhost.eu. The part before the colon is your username; the part after it is your server. - Element is the app you use to chat, like an email program. It runs in the browser, on the computer and, as Element X, on the phone.
What you do in Element
- A room is a group chat, for example "Team" or "Sales".
- A direct message is a private chat with one person.
- A space groups several rooms together, like a folder.
What makes it different from WhatsApp
- It's yours. Your messages live on your own server, hosted in the EU (Germany), not with a big platform.
- It's private. Direct chats and private rooms are end-to-end encrypted: only the people in the chat can read the messages. Not even we can.
- It's open. You can also chat with people on other Matrix servers, and connect WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram and more, so those chats show up in Element too.
Two logins, two jobs
- The portal at matrixhost.eu is for the account owner: creating users, setting passwords, billing, backups. You sign in with your email address.
- Element is for chatting, for everyone. You sign in with your username (for example
adminormarco), not your email address.
The recovery key
Because your messages are encrypted, Element gives you a recovery key at your first sign-in. Think of it as the spare key to your messages: you need it when you sign in on a new phone or computer. Keep it safe; nobody else can recover it for you.