Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Signal WhatsApp Chats Import

github.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 283 posts

Re: Signal WhatsApp Chats Import

#61

Post by jstummbillig »

madeofpalk wrote: post #59
izacus wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> However I really, really hope they can work on a good backup and restore process as losing my message history because I have to reinstall the app on my desktop[1] or have to reset my phone is a horrible experience. I've tried to report bugs and talk to developers about this but there's one fundamental problem here - the Signal team fundamentally does not value chat history the same way a lot of people do. They thin…

I doubt they think you are wrong - they just don't value it themselves personally, and lack empathy for their users who have different values.

This right here is the definition of a technicality -- so much so, that (on second thought) I wonder if this was meant to be tongue in cheek. If so, bravo.

Re: Signal WhatsApp Chats Import

#62

Post by xrisk »

izacus wrote: post #46
_l4jh wrote: post #19

I have been using Signal for two years now and I love it. However I really, really hope they can work on a good backup and restore process as losing my message history because I have to reinstall the app on my desktop[1] or have to reset my phone is a horrible experience. Just build an encrypted blob and zip it up and pop it on my iCloud or Google Drive or leave it local and let me deal with it but I need something .…

> However I really, really hope they can work on a good backup and restore process as losing my message history because I have to reinstall the app on my desktop[1] or have to reset my phone is a horrible experience. I've tried to report bugs and talk to developers about this but there's one fundamental problem here - the Signal team fundamentally does not value chat history the same way a lot of people do. They thin…

Off-topic but does Signal support independent multi-device yet? Sorry I can’t find reliable information about it online!

Re: Signal WhatsApp Chats Import

#63

Post by saurik »

bertmuthalaly wrote: post #27
FreakyT wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly! The lack of this feature is completely baffling.

On iOS now, if you’re setting up a new device, Signal will prompt you to transfer your messages from your old device. Not exactly a backup feature but it covers one use case (I don’t want to lose my chat history when I switch devices).

Putting aside the complaints people have that this feature was flakey and didn't really work, this one use case isn't sufficient, as I usually switch to a new phone because my old one was destroyed... and I imagine this is the only reason people poorer than me get a new phone. Users need the ability to do non-transfer backups (which it sounds like this feature doesn't support).

The reality is that my iTunes (encrypted) backup should include my chat message history. That the Signal client on iOS (and maybe even on Android, as while it has backup I think it is a bespoke backup) has decided that somehow Signal chat message history isn't something one can backup at all (much less do using the user's standard backup and restore process) is kind of ridiculous.

Re: Signal WhatsApp Chats Import

#64

Post by actuator »

This is blowing up quite big now and I have managed to shift a lot of my friends to Signal now, I wonder if WhatsApp will go back on its decision.

As we stand now even Signal is not safe because of the business model.

I wonder what's the model on messaging apps that will work. I don't want the OS creators to own the messaging platforms as well by virtue of subsidising it through OS/hardware.

Re: Signal WhatsApp Chats Import

#65

Post by saurik »

gaius_baltar wrote: post #41
FreakyT wrote: post #5

The issue with Signal that annoys me most is the complete lack of any meaningful backup/export on iOS. I lost my entire chat history when I got a new phone because their bizarre "proximity based" solution failed.

I'm just curious why this feature exists in Android, but not iOS. Maybe due to some stupid Apple Store rule?

There definitely isn't an App Store rule against making your content backup-able: almost all other apps--and notably WhatsApp--have support for this in some way (if not the standard way). (If anything, I am surprised that Apple doesn't make "backup and restore via at least an iTunes encrypted backup correctly replicates your data" a requirement, given how it hurts their ability to sell new phones and undermines their own work making this seamless.)

Re: Signal WhatsApp Chats Import

#66

Post by carderne »

_l4jh wrote: post #19

I have been using Signal for two years now and I love it. However I really, really hope they can work on a good backup and restore process as losing my message history because I have to reinstall the app on my desktop[1] or have to reset my phone is a horrible experience. Just build an encrypted blob and zip it up and pop it on my iCloud or Google Drive or leave it local and let me deal with it but I need something .…

It's super hacky but this [0] bit of code I adapted from some other hacky code will let you export to MarkDown/HTML. No hope of getting the messages back on my phone, but at least I have an archive of messages and media.

[0] https://github.com/carderne/signal-export

Re: Signal WhatsApp Chats Import

#68

Post by solstice »

karakanb wrote: post #14
sjaak wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is keeping a chat history important? I don't take notes of IRL conversation I have, they're ephemeral. Not trolling, honestly curious :-)

For me, they literally mean "history". Some conversation with a friend who passed away, chats with an ex-lover, remembering school years, tons of memories. I believe at this point those messages are an important part of my past. In other words, if I had a chance to record, search and navigate through real life conversations, I would have done that too; it is way better to have records than to try to remember things.

I totally understand what you mean and I also frequently look up older conversations to enjoy again the in-jokes, banter and actually useful information of my chats.

However to avoid 1) having to manually delete things and 2) accumulating hundreds of megabytes of messages and 3) to not be swamped by months and years of "can you call?", "alright, see you later" and other ultimately meaningless stuff, I have conversations in Signal with my frequent interlocutors set to expire after a month.

To save things, I currently simply screenshot the relevant parts of the conversation or forward them to my "Notes to myself" thingy for later. It's a bit manual, but at least it's simple to remember: what I don't actively save disappears. Screenshots leave out audio messages and gifs (to a certain extend) but it is at least something. (And I just realised that with Signal it's actually possible to download individual audio messages and video so that a later reconstitution is possible if tedious.)

However, what would be great is to indeed have a way to backup messages including stickers, audio, videos etc. in a more high-fidelity way to relive important converations.

Re: Signal WhatsApp Chats Import

#69

Post by jariel »

actuator wrote: post #64

This is blowing up quite big now and I have managed to shift a lot of my friends to Signal now, I wonder if WhatsApp will go back on its decision. As we stand now even Signal is not safe because of the business model. I wonder what's the model on messaging apps that will work. I don't want the OS creators to own the messaging platforms as well by virtue of subsidising it through OS/hardware.

"As we stand now even Signal is not safe because of the business model."

?

Ok, good, but you do realize that this is the most existential concern of them all?

Why does FB so aggressively pursue personal data?

For advertising. Because 'that's the business model'.

Do you think that any entity would be in that position if say, people were willing to actually pay $3/month for what seems to be very obviously a highly useful service?

Maybe, but probably not.

If people would pay for value, there at least would be considerably less incentive to have personal data.

People seem to be willing to pay Apple and AT&T through the nose, oddly, not for those creating the services themselves.

"We get what we pay for".

Re: Signal WhatsApp Chats Import

#70

Post by j1elo »

izacus wrote: post #46
_l4jh wrote: post #19

I have been using Signal for two years now and I love it. However I really, really hope they can work on a good backup and restore process as losing my message history because I have to reinstall the app on my desktop[1] or have to reset my phone is a horrible experience. Just build an encrypted blob and zip it up and pop it on my iCloud or Google Drive or leave it local and let me deal with it but I need something .…

> However I really, really hope they can work on a good backup and restore process as losing my message history because I have to reinstall the app on my desktop[1] or have to reset my phone is a horrible experience. I've tried to report bugs and talk to developers about this but there's one fundamental problem here - the Signal team fundamentally does not value chat history the same way a lot of people do. They thin…

I might see why they think that way, but I'll have a harder time sympathizing when the parent's use case starts being more prominent: what happens when your app grows in usage, gets out of the "niche curiosity" category for the mass public, and people start wanting to use it for "serious" matters?

Not being able to back some conversations up is not an option. It would be very ironic if the answer to this was "well, then don't use Signal, because we don't care", and people who cared about the WhatsApp stuff ended up being pushed into Telegram (which seems to be the only other popular alternative, by a wide margin).

Post reply on HN