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Signal for Beginners

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Re: Signal for Beginners

#11

Post by lorenzhs »

saycheese wrote: post #9
lorenzhs wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Signal-Desktop does NOT require your phone to be on! After initial setup, it can be used completely independently of the phone (it only talks to the phone for contact sync, not messages). The opposite is often claimed on here and seems to be self-perpetuating, but it's wrong. (edited for clarification)

Per the offical docs, you are required to create an account on a phone to use the desktop version: http://support.whispersystems.org/hc/en-us/articles/21507785... __________________ What do I need? 1. Register and set up Signal Android or Signal iOS 2. Download and install Google Chrome or use Chromium +++++++ EDIT: Having to buy and throw away a phone to use a service that's intent is to provide privacy is what it i…

Sorry if I wasn't clear enough - you need a phone for initial setup. After that, you can throw away the phone (or put it in airplane mode for a less permanent solution) and the Desktop client will keep working. In contrast, WhatsApp Web sends messages via your phone, so your phone needs to be on and connected to use it. Not so with Signal.

That said, registration independent of a phone number comes up a lot here. Signal is primarily a mobile messenger, so the assumption that its users have a smart phone running Android or iOS is a valid one imho. It would be nice if people without a smart phone could use it, too, but implementing this in a way that maintains Signal's ease of use for all participants isn't exactly trivial (contact discovery is a big one). I'd appreciate it, but I can also understand why it's not #1 on OWS' list of priorities.

Re: Signal for Beginners

#12

Post by morganvachon »

mvdwoord wrote: post #2

I have used Signal for a while, alongside Telegram and Whatsapp. I find the fact that they are chrome apps / require your phone to be online very annoying. Also I find signal regularly messes with the order of messages. Right now I am testing with Wire, and waiting for proper pasting from clipboard. Although I am concerned with privacy, and I applaud the efforts from OWS, usability is more important to me. It will al…

> I find the fact that they are chrome apps...very annoying

That's my biggest issue with Signal as well. I very recently (as in, over the past two days) completely dropped Google from my life[1]. I switched from Gmail to FastMail for email, calendar, and contacts, and FastMail also offers 10GB of file storage at their middle tier, which is about five times as much space as I was using in Google Drive. I switched from Chrome/Chromium to Firefox, and I'm currently trying to decide which photo backup service to use to replace Google Photos. I'll probably run CollaboraOnline via a local Nextcloud server for a good Google Docs replacement. I'm using StartPage for search, as I find its results to be more relevant than DDG.

All of that said to say this: It's absolutely refreshing to break out of the Google tar pit, and I'm very interested in a secure messaging app that doesn't depend on them at all. Being free from 24/7/365 tracking, no matter if it's "just for advertising purposes", is a breath of fresh air, as is knowing that all my eggs are spread out among several baskets now.

[1] I do still have an Android phone (Nexus 6) but I switched from the official Google ROM to the latest stable Cyanogenmod, and opted to not install the Google apps bundle. My battery life has gone from about 30 hours between charges to nearly 70 hours (as predicted by the battery meter; I haven't had to charge it since I installed CM on Monday night and I'm at 81% as of Wednesday morning). I've been using F-Droid for some great replacements for many of my everyday apps, and the Amazon App Store for a few necessities like Paypal and Fing. As on the desktop, I'm using Firefox on the phone mostly for the syncing capability, though I will say the built-in browser on CM is fantastic. Of course, I'm actively seeking a non-Android, non-Apple alternative for a mobile phone, and right now the DragonBox Pyra is a front-runner, with the Neo900 a close second.

Re: Signal for Beginners

#13

Post by [deleted] »

lorenzhs wrote: post #11
saycheese wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Per the offical docs, you are required to create an account on a phone to use the desktop version: http://support.whispersystems.org/hc/en-us/articles/21507785... __________________ What do I need? 1. Register and set up Signal Android or Signal iOS 2. Download and install Google Chrome or use Chromium +++++++ EDIT: Having to buy and throw away a phone to use a service that's intent is to provide privacy is what it i…

Sorry if I wasn't clear enough - you need a phone for initial setup. After that, you can throw away the phone (or put it in airplane mode for a less permanent solution) and the Desktop client will keep working. In contrast, WhatsApp Web sends messages via your phone, so your phone needs to be on and connected to use it. Not so with Signal. That said, registration independent of a phone number comes up a lot here. Sig…

[deleted]

Re: Signal for Beginners

#14

Post by johnchristopher »

mvdwoord wrote: post #2

I have used Signal for a while, alongside Telegram and Whatsapp. I find the fact that they are chrome apps / require your phone to be online very annoying. Also I find signal regularly messes with the order of messages. Right now I am testing with Wire, and waiting for proper pasting from clipboard. Although I am concerned with privacy, and I applaud the efforts from OWS, usability is more important to me. It will al…

Telegram doesn't require your phone to be online. I have a telegram account the number of which has never been used with the smartphone application.

Re: Signal for Beginners

#15

Post by arglebarnacle »

saycheese wrote: post #4

Ironic that Moxie, who doesn't go by his real name and is the founder of Signal, wants all of his users to identify themselves by providing their phone number and IMEI numbers; IMEI or 'International Mobile Equipment Identity' is a unique 15-digit number assigned to all cellular devices.

I'm sensitive to this concern, but remember that the phone number you register with Signal doesn't have to be your real phone number or identical to the phone number of your primary Signal device.

You can just get a VOIP number or burner phone somewhere in a relatively anonymous manner, register it with Signal on your android phone, and go about your business if anonymity is an important requirement for you.

Re: Signal for Beginners

#16

Post by zachlatta »

detaro wrote: post #10
zachlatta wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a usability problem. Can you think of anything easier? I can't.

I find usernames a lot easier to communicate than phone numbers, and they are cheaper to move to another phone provider. And don't require me to share my phone number, which is an extremely high priority channel, with everybody I might want to send a message to. And if it is face2face, scanning a barcode like e.g. Threema supports is even quicker.

Right, but Signal is privacy for my dad. He can't remember his email, let alone his email's password.

Different apps for different categories of users.

Re: Signal for Beginners

#17

Post by ohstopitu »

I want to add this here...very recently, my family was looking for a new chatting app to use (I tried to get them to use Slack, but they found it a bit too complicated). I really really wanted to use Signal (even with it not having a bots API), but the fact that you need a phone number to sign up is a no-go.

My question is..why do you need a phone number (which imo is way more personal, than say an email?). Being security focused...would it not make sense to have as much less info on the person as possible?

We have settled on kik for now. (although call support is lacking, i feel like it'll be added eventually)

Re: Signal for Beginners

#18

Post by notheguyouthink »

morganvachon wrote: post #12
mvdwoord wrote: post #2

I have used Signal for a while, alongside Telegram and Whatsapp. I find the fact that they are chrome apps / require your phone to be online very annoying. Also I find signal regularly messes with the order of messages. Right now I am testing with Wire, and waiting for proper pasting from clipboard. Although I am concerned with privacy, and I applaud the efforts from OWS, usability is more important to me. It will al…

> I find the fact that they are chrome apps...very annoying That's my biggest issue with Signal as well. I very recently (as in, over the past two days) completely dropped Google from my life[1]. I switched from Gmail to FastMail for email, calendar, and contacts, and FastMail also offers 10GB of file storage at their middle tier, which is about five times as much space as I was using in Google Drive. I switched from…

> as is knowing that all my eggs are spread out among several baskets now.

This is what i want (and what i'm actively working towards)! The "banned from Google" talk has really harmed them in my eyes.. at least for people like me. I hadn't really questioned Google in the past, but now i'm looking to spread out my eggs as much as possible. Very important to me.

Re: Signal for Beginners

#19

Post by tdkl »

mvdwoord wrote: post #2

I have used Signal for a while, alongside Telegram and Whatsapp. I find the fact that they are chrome apps / require your phone to be online very annoying. Also I find signal regularly messes with the order of messages. Right now I am testing with Wire, and waiting for proper pasting from clipboard. Although I am concerned with privacy, and I applaud the efforts from OWS, usability is more important to me. It will al…

What's wrong with pasting from clipboard ?

Re: Signal for Beginners

#20

Post by doubt_me »

ohstopitu wrote: post #17

I want to add this here...very recently, my family was looking for a new chatting app to use (I tried to get them to use Slack, but they found it a bit too complicated). I really really wanted to use Signal (even with it not having a bots API), but the fact that you need a phone number to sign up is a no-go. My question is..why do you need a phone number (which imo is way more personal, than say an email?). Being sec…

To make sure your connections are secure. You want to make sure the recipient is who they are. So phone Numbers. Also probably because signal isn't a chat app.

It's an sms/ MMS end to end app.

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