Just another data point: I am a millenial and none of my non-tech friends care about reactions; my parents and other relatives of their generation have no idea about how to use them, even in WhatsApp (which in my country has a near-monopoly on instant messaging). The only category of people I know IRL who care about the "outdated look" of XMPP clients is made of my "I think I know a lot about computers because I'm a gamer and I use SuperOptimisator 3000 to get 500 FPS in my games" friends. 🤷

Your experience is different, fine. Matrix has other strenghts, fine. But I don't understand the need for matrix users to come shit on every remotely popular XMPP online post everywhere, with what's basically FUD. In another comment, you said there is neither "emoji" or "reaction" support on iOS. WTF. While reactions are not (yet) implemented in Siskin or Monal, there is absolutely nothing preventing you from sending and receiving emojis in those iOS clients. Some people enjoy DeltaChat. I don't see them coming and shitting on every popular XMPP or Matrix post. Why is this like this with Matrix?

FWIW, I would be happy if everyone moved to Matrix instead of the privacy nightmare of walled gardens that are the de facto norm. I've started hosting my XMPP server on the cheapest VPS I could find about 10 years ago, and I have been happy with it. My parents use it. I am probably not going to retire that VPS anytime soon.