perfect is the enemy of good, etc etc.

between signal and plain text, it is easier to convince friends to use signal if they see positive marketing about encryption on other popular apps they use. it is easier to convince them to encrypt their backups before uploading them to their google drive. hell, its just a good conversation starter to introduce encryption/online privacy to people that never really think about it. that type of thing.

those same friends are not going to use irc regardless. not really a loss if it was never even on the table.