Agreed, but I like the extra layer.

If your vault is locked on your phone for example it needs to contact the server. But granted, most of the time it is not needed.

I do this too. On a vm hosted somewhere with an encrypted filesystem and only accessible from my home IP. If I need a password while on the way I use my VPN.

They do. Otherwise anyone can register with your phone number and start messaging as if they were you.

If you want more privacy you’d need something like Simplex.

“wE vALuE yOuR pRiVacY”