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Signal WhatsApp Chats Import

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Re: Signal WhatsApp Chats Import

#251

Post by Evidlo »

AshamedCaptain wrote: post #243
Evidlo wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Mastodon is decentralized, but last I heard ~50% of users were on 3 nodes I would argue that the user distribution does not matter. What's important is eliminating network effects, which you get with federation. I think most people would consider email a successful federated service, and yet far more than half of users are only on the biggest three servers. https://www.zdnet.com/article/whos-the-biggest-u-s-e-mail-…

I agree: if say the 3 nodes used different implementations, this would basically be an ideal situation. I don't know about Mastodon's case, but in Matrix the extremely low popularity of alternative servers is kind of a big roadblock.

> in Matrix the extremely low popularity of alternative servers is kind of a big roadblock.

This sounds like the opposite of the point I was making. What is this a roadblock to?

Re: Signal WhatsApp Chats Import

#252

Post by mderazon »

mandelbrotwurst wrote: post #114
verytrivial wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a bit of a cart before the horse issue, no? I mean what is the point of obsessing about the security of the messages if you don't value the messages themselves? Some people[1] clearly value message history far beyond the transfer point to chat itself, and making people choose between being spied upon and not having message history, I think many people will choose trusting that they won't lose their messages. [1]…

There is still value in being able to securely communicate in the present even if you are not able to maintain a permanently searchable log of all activity.

That's right. I actually have all my conversations on Signal self disappear after a week

Re: Signal WhatsApp Chats Import

#253

Post by dave_sid »

Not being funny, but when Signal gets enough users, what’s stopping them relenting on their promises of privacy and punting the company to Facebook just like what happened with WhatsApp? It would almost be a good business plan.

Re: Signal WhatsApp Chats Import

#254

Post by dunefox »

natenthe wrote: post #217
skrowl wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is exactly why Telegram is beating Signal. They're singularly focused on the user experience and what users want. Uninstall / reinstall / multiple-devices works flawlessly.

That's ok. I care about data hygiene. Signal cares about data hygiene. I don't want old data lying around and ready to be used by nefarious third parties at any point in the future. I'm sticking with Signal as long as they stay true to their values. I don't need it to be #1.

> I don't need it to be #1.

I don't either, but a chat app is useless if I can't use it to chat with people and almost nobody I know will consider Signal. It's either WhatsApp, Telegram, or SMS (horrible).

Re: Signal WhatsApp Chats Import

#255

Post by dunefox »

OkGoDoIt wrote: post #115
xrisk wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Nope, and that’s the biggest blocker for me. I own multiple smart phones (work and personal), iPad, and two computers (windows and Mac). So far Facebook messenger is the only reliable way to do messaging across all of them, which is a shame because I hate Facebook and I don’t particularly like messenger. But I have not found a single other solution that works cross-device and cross-platform. It also helps that basica…

I use Element (Matrix) on Ubuntu, Windows 10, and Android. It works great so far, with a few exceptions such as sharing videos from reddit, for example.

Re: Signal WhatsApp Chats Import

#256

Post by Frondo »

dundarious wrote: post #212
_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 .…

The lack of options to backup and restore from Android to iPhone was extremely frustrating. I convinced my mother to use Signal as her default SMS app on Android, and when I bought her an iPhone, all her SMSs were lost (except to open up the old device). Not the worst problem in the world, but it leaves a very nasty taste. Never mind that transitioning between iPhones (we almost bought her a new phone this year) has…

For this and a few other problems I ran into with Signal early in its lifespan -- problems that burned not just me but people I persuaded to adopt it -- I'll never put my neck out for this software again.

Reliability and a lack of surprises are the absolute most important features for the 21st century extension of the good ol' Plain Old Telephone Service, and it's sad and frustrating that anyone delivered chat software without getting that first.

Re: Signal WhatsApp Chats Import

#257

Post by codazoda »

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…

My favorite Signal feature is the setting that automatically deletes messages after a set number.

I don't want that kind of history on my phone. Messages are temporary to me. But, maybe I'm special.

Re: Signal WhatsApp Chats Import

#258

Post by freeone3000 »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #227
freeone3000 wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fundamentally distrust any program which claims E2E encryption and is capable of recovering my chat history onto a new device. This means that Telegram is technically able to recover my chat history, making the "E2E" bit of the encryption smoke-and-mirrors.

> I fundamentally distrust any program which claims E2E encryption and is capable of recovering my chat history onto a new device. I would expect a Signal implementation of this to allow recovering chat history if you restore a backup onto the new device and if you re-enter your PIN .

Your pin is not your key, even through a KDF. That would allow guessing with only 10**4 guesses. Signal exports an unencrypted backup to a formatted text file, which can then be imported by another signal instance.

Re: Signal WhatsApp Chats Import

#259

Post by Frondo »

pgalvin wrote: post #140
tony101 wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Keeping message history is a liability. There is no need to keep all old messages beyond one week. If there is something specific worth saving, there are apps for taking/pasting notes.

I can think of many reasons full message history is valuable. - a friend says something that you don’t realise is important until months later and need to reference - a friend or partner dies and you wish to revisit old times by reading your messages - a couple wish to nostalgically re-read random conversations from their early time together - a group chat for work or students shares valuable resources that you wish…

I'm sympathetic to all of these, but I do remind myself that sentimental reasoning is probably as close to diametrically opposed to Signal's goals as you could be.

Re: Signal WhatsApp Chats Import

#260

Post by crossroadsguy »

sim_card_map wrote: post #129

Signal is not an open alternative. It's not federated, but most importantly, they don't allow 3rd party clients: https://github.com/LibreSignal/LibreSignal/issues/37#issueco... So you are stuck with their Electron junk without any options. Matrix should be promoted as an open alternative instead.

That's exactly what (Matrix main client) Element desktop is - Electron/web junk.

While Matrix have other native clients they are pretty much where they started.

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