21–30 of 57 posts
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…
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…
Be aware that if your Mozilla account password is not a fully-secure, unmemorable, random string then it is possible to break into Sync: unlike previously, the only thing securing your Sync data is your password.
Also be aware that at any time Mozilla can push a piece of targeted JavaScript to you alone, which would reveal your password to them.
The first issue is solvable by using an appropriately-secure password, e.g. apQzICxawJKkU0t7SNqnPd; the second issue is unsolvable unless you fully trust Mozilla the organisation, all its employees and every government which is able to compel its actions.
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…
That battery life sure is impressive
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.
It's a usability problem. Can you think of anything easier? I can't.
I think signal:wtbob works just as well as tel:+15551212, if we want to continue to rely on OWS as a central identity provider.
I think that 'mom's dad's sister June' also works, if we want decentralised identity.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
I'm not convinced that "just put my phone number 0394859489 in" is so much easier than "I don't have my phone number in there, just type in horse-battery-staple" that not having the second option is a large usability win. Or "give me your phone number and i'll add you" ;)
It's very laudable that Signal tries to be perfectly easy, with as few options as possible, but on the other hand I feel the overdo it in many cases where a slightly more manual, hidden way would help to mitigate issues. If it works for you it's fine, if it doesn't (either through convention or actual bugs, the latter ones are a bigger issue for me) you are out of luck. That's not great for adoption either.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a usability problem. Can you think of anything easier? I can't.
> Can you think of anything easier? I think signal:wtbob works just as well as tel:+15551212, if we want to continue to rely on OWS as a central identity provider. I think that 'mom's dad's sister June' also works, if we want decentralised identity.
That doesn't work as well for auto-discovery of other Signal users, though. The latter enables auto-discovery based on people whose phone numbers are already in one's contact books. With the former, one needs to collect other people's usernames. It's not a tough thing to do, but it does make auto-discovery difficult.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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…
What about maps and transportation? That battery life sure is impressive
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.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What about maps and transportation? That battery life sure is impressive
I can't speak for the above poster, but I will say that some GPS apps, such as OsMand, are quite good. The catch is that you have to download the map for your region to local storage and you totally lose search queries like "Find the nearest Wafflehouse". In addition, OsMand specifically has a bit of a learning curve to it where GMaps, among others, are search and go.