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I still wish they hadn't dropped sms on android. A few family members dropped signal as soon as they needed another app for messaging.
I still don't understand why they did that, I used to use Signal for everything and while it was clear that it couldn't encrypt basic SMS I could at least do all my messaging in one place. Now, I can't communicate with 80% of my contacts via Signal even if I wanted to, forcing two separate messaging apps.
Just let me send unsecured messages. It's fine. As it stands now I don't think I've even opened Signal in nearly six months even though I'd much rather use it than the default messenger.
Basically, it makes the whole platform less secure because you could accidentally send a non-encrypted message at any time. With SMS-free Signal, at least mistaken sent messages are still E2E encrypted.
Is their goal to become the new de-facto messaging app? Or is their goal to become the most secure messaging app for whistle blowers, etc for whom a single mistake could mean losing their life or their freedom?
Have unsecured messages be opt-in and have a warning banner on non-encrypted messages. Maybe even a confirmation dialog.
That way people who want or need to be that paranoid can be, but the rest of us can have something a bit more convenient.
By disallowing SMS messaging they've just made it so a lot of people who were being secure when their contacts allowed, aren't being secure at all.
Yeah this same thing happened to me. I rarely get messages in signal anymore and can't reliably know who still has it installed. It's great for folks you are in regular communication with though.
Yupp. Had been working for a while on getting people to Signal, and then they dropped SMS, and they moved to other things and i couldn't realy recommend it anymore.
The worst part of using Signal is to try and convince all your friends/family to use Signal. Otherwise it’s a pretty great messaging app. You can’t edit messages once they’re sent, but other than that it’s pretty great.
I used to donate to Signal, and they made the stupidest fucking decision I've ever seen.
You used to be able to use signal (at least on Android) as your default messenger app, sending encrypted Signals to other users, or SMS to non-signal users. Have a normie family member who doesn't know about computers? Easy, set it & forget it.
Now? They removed that functionality, so it only works for other signal users. Someone else had a good metaphor: imagine if http and https needed different web browsers & you couldn't see one on the other. How well do you think https uptake would have been?
So fucking stupid.
I wish they hadn't gotten rid of SMS though, that was the biggest sell for me over other options. I'm never going to get more than 2 or 3 people I regularly text to switch...
Signal is great for communicating with people you don’t mind sharing your identity with. Would love to see signal implement usernames. I’m really into simpleX chat these days —really cool project.
I have been disappointed by Signal a lot.
Tried to switch to signal. But it's useless without everyone i know switching over from Whatsapp. Which is like merged with our country at this point.
I just wasn't budging. Refused to use WhatsApp and texted people instead. Slowly a lot of my friends switched and realised signal is better in every way. Even my parents find it the best as it is the easiest for them to use.
I do not like the fact that Signal requires a phone number to be used. If I want to talk to someone on Signal, I need to give him my Signal registered phone number. I do not understand why can't the introduce User name like Telegram so we do not have to reveal our phone number to others.
I got rid of Signal after they added cryptocurrency to their app.
While I have no issues with cryptocurrency itself, it was a reminder that they have full control over the app. Now I happily use XMPP and Matrix for communication with friends and family.
they have full control over the app
Yup, this is also my problem with Signal; you're stuck with whatever boneheaded decisions the devs make and there's nothing you can do about it. Personally, my pet peeve is their refusal to add any kind of data export. As someone who likes backing up chat history, this is a dealbreaker for me.
People in the comments saying others in my network wont install so its pointless for me. All i want to say is Mate , dont be a sheep. I had 1000+ contacts and i installed signal then sent a message to everyone saying i am on signal and uninstalled whatsapp. Around 200 contacts moved to signal just because they value me Tl;DR know your worth
I stop talking to people who send me mass messages advertising apps because I actually do know my own worth.
I totally understand your point, but far from being a sheep, I live in a country where Whatsapp is the standard even for government, healthcare, college, private work. On the other hand showing people an app that only do better on privacy, which should be enough but it doesn't, but has no other appeals/features is a war lost before it's start. I'm happy many of you could do the switch. Best I could do, and I know I'll get ranted for this, was get as many people as I could to telegram. Please be gentle.
I found the hardest part was convincing people to move away from the incumbents such as WhatsApp / FBM etc as all their contacts / friends / family were already using those platforms.
Network effect 😃
Signal is good but I just can't make the people I text regularly to switch.
This is why it was so good that Signal supported SMS. It was much easier to get people to switch when they didn't have to think back who was on Signal and who was not before starting a conversation. Now people just default to text because they know everyone has that, and they don't have to waste time opening Signal, seeing yup, not on there before opening their SMS app, if they even bother.
Since we're all using Lemmy, an open source, decentralized, self hostable platform, wouldn't suggesting Matrix make much more sense?
I host a Matrix and Lemmy server. Even if Signal is completely trustworthy now, will it always be? It isn't my server and it's a single point of attack for anybody (including governments) to insert (or demand) a backdoor.
Or just use Matrix/Element. No phone number needed, plus federation!
The disadvantage of matrix is that a lot of metadata is generated. Good architecture in terms of idea, but unfortunately no privacy messaging.
I prefer matrix since no phone number is required for signup there.
Been using Signal for a very long time now, with my SO, parents, brother and a few friends. But it's inevitable to also use WhatsApp side by side. Selling/Buying on the local marketplace? WhatsApp. Workplace colleagues? WhatsApp. That group of buddies where only 1 or 2 converted to Signal? WhatsApp.
I'd love to switch to Signal but the lack of sms makes it a NO from me. Everyone I know uses sms on their phone, and there's no way I'll be able to convince them to use two messaging apps when sms is already universal and convenient. 😭
It always baffles me that apparently in some places people still use sms. I mean besides the fact that it isn't encrypted at all, sms doesn't even give you group chats, the ability to send images and videos or many other of features basically every other messenger has, right? Where I live it's about (just guessing the numbers here tbh) 90 % WhatsApp, 7% telegram and 3 % signal. Is there any reason that in some places so many people stay with SMS? I don't think I've send or received one in the last 10 years or so (besides companies sending me a TAN or whatever)
Got a surprising amount of contacts to move into signal from Whatsapp, though the iMessage gang can't stop iMessaging.
As an android user, I don't see why you would want to use something that restricts your secure messaging to a single platform.
As a result of Signal's poor decision to stop SMS service, I frequently forget to check my SMS app for messages.
I absolutely LOVE signal! And I’ve even gotten my friends convinced to sign up recently and move some of our group chats! Yay no green bubble and yay privacy!
Question: in 2019 Australia passed an encryption law that requires every piece of software used in Australia to have a back door for law enforcement to access to ‘counter terrorism’, wank, wank.
Does Signal have back door access in Australia?
Simply put, no. The signal protocol as well as the app is open source. Although I imagine signal would not be on the Australian app store for lack of compliance, which is why you can download the app directly from their website. WhatsApp actually uses the signal protocol, but they close sourced it so there's no way to tell if FB put a backdoor into it
I heard its used by media people to contact each other or their sources which is a little convincing.
I've been trying to get my wife to use signal for ages and she won't budge. She won't budge because she doesn't want to install another app that from her perspective does the same thing as texting (she's not as privacy conscious as I am and doesn't really care that signal encrypts missages). Lately I've been trying to sell signal as mre reliable since my work office has shit cell reception and once in a while messages will git completely lost in the aether. Signal is more featurefull than sms/mms imho.
My sister, her husband, and one of my friends use signal so there's that.
Ultimately I'd probably prefer everyone use matrix but it's not as accesible as signal.
I've been using Telegram primarily and it's nice being able to logon to any device and have my chat history, but it doesn't seem secure at all. I imagine the NSA has direct access to it.