My 7a cost $300 this summer. Very expensive for me but I don't regret. 8 is around $400 in that store now that 9 is out, maybe it would drop in price with time (or as 9a comes out?).

How do people who don't have smartphones do it? Is there some harder roundabout way?

You can at least swap to BTC from XMR. Although I avoid that because BTC has big fees.

Yeah, point is - just how thoroughly do they check if the info is fake? Like, you reveal a realistic name and a real address somewhere.

What about putting believable but fake info there?

Yeah, but the powerful, expensive exploits are not spent on average people - they're for the important targets.

Because your actual threat is most likely passive government surveillance rather than targeted attacks?

Interestingly, Simplex usually consumes more than Freetube (my only Electron program) as well!

My biggest hope is on a third-party client, but I guess it won't be until the project matures more.

I started using it on desktop first, in no way a mobile was involved. The closest thing I can think of is "Link a mobile" functionality, that can indeed display the profile from the phone on the computer but not vice versa... But this is not the required way of using the client.

Desktop app does not work without the phone? That is just plain untrue. You mean on the same account? Then yeah, it is weird to only have this link one-sided - but it is cumbersome anyway, so much more convenient to use two accounts.

Also the size. My "a" was already at the edge of being usable with one hand, while Pro is even bigger. Plus - the "a"s don't have glass backs, unlike the Pro and even the normal ones.

My 7a being $300 was already very expensive for me. None of those prices are acceptable for a phone of all things.