I’d recommend Threema. It’s privacy focused, based in Switzerland. You don’t even need a phone number to create an account, they collect no data on you (claimed, but haven’t checked) and the code is open source, under A-GPL 3 license.
There’s a build for Apple and Android, for which you pay once.
I use this to talk with important family members.
I forgot to mention, it’s easy to use, as it’s similar to every other messenger app, so even not so techy members can use it.