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Signal Fork with WhatsApp Migration

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Re: Signal Fork with WhatsApp Migration

#141

Post by Vinnl »

codys wrote: post #131
Vinnl wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're interested [1], but as usual, giving some though on how to do that in a privacy-maximising way: > Thanks, we know [backup] is a big deal and think about it a lot. We're working on ways to do it that would be privacy preserving, and in the mean time we've got the p2p device transfer you mention. We'll keep working to make it better! [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/kt91qk/signal_p...

It appears you've linked to a comment about the lack of a way to backup signal messages on iOS. That is separate(ish) from the importing of messages from WhatsApp. So, no, they're not interested in WhatsApp import (per the closed ticket liked by the parent). Additionally, the statement from signal is just PR spew. It boils down to "Nah, we won't make a way to do that.". The "privacy preserving" bit is nonsense becaus…

Oh whoops, my bad - I was under the impression it was about import/export of Signal messages in general. There's been so much news about Signal recently that I'm getting comments mixed up, it seems.

Re: Signal Fork with WhatsApp Migration

#142

Post by bentcorner »

Snuupy wrote: post #82
jl6 wrote: post #79

Is something like this possible but in reverse? Not to migrate to WhatsApp, but to export data from Signal to a neutral environment (text file, zip file, database, whatever). I can’t switch to Signal until this becomes possible.

On mobile you can do this via backups and use https://github.com/xeals/signal-back On desktop you can copy the appdata folder over to the new device. (warning: this is not officially supported) Note that you must close the app on desktop from the host computer before copying the files over, otherwise the forward secrecy stuff breaks and you'll have to reset the sessions on the migrated computer.

I've tried https://github.com/xeals/signal-back and it's 95% of the way there but could use more attention - maybe it's my backup but the xml-formatted convos were formatted differently than the ones that the sms backup/restore app emitted. I compared just to sanity check it would import correctly but currently I'm unsure if it's a good idea.

FWIW it's nice to have a plain text backup anyway, and a lot better than nothing. Maybe it works fine but I'd rather not import a backup that has "weird" results.

Re: Signal Fork with WhatsApp Migration

#143

Post by r00fus »

okanesen wrote: post #109
shilgapira wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can export your message history for every chat, I believe including photos and videos. Just need to go to the Group Info screen and then scroll all the way to the bottom.

Just as a side info: unfortunately this won't work in Germany, since that feature was disabled there.

Why?

Re: Signal Fork with WhatsApp Migration

#144

Post by cbsmith »

est31 wrote: post #53
Semaphor wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s essentially what this is. You install it to migrate, then you remove it again and install the original Signal app, as per the steps in the repo. I would guess it was easier (or even only possible) this way.

Yeah it's probably already hard enough to expect the average phone user to know how to (un)install apps. But expecting them to know which directory the file is in and is supposed to go into? Way harder.

You'd be surprised. Uninstalling apps seems to be a very common procedure broadly practiced by people with their phones.

Re: Signal Fork with WhatsApp Migration

#145

Post by userbinator »

valera_rozuvan wrote: post #134

The repository mentions [0] the Wassenaar agreement, and that I must consult with the laws of my country on whether I am allowed to import/use software which includes encryption algorithms developed in other countries. Wat? In this day and age 99% (OK, this number is exaggerated, but you get my point) of software includes some sort of encryption. For one, think about all the libs/apps which communicate over the Inter…

Just legal asscovering, most likely.

Re: Signal Fork with WhatsApp Migration

#146

Post by userbinator »

jsiepkes wrote: post #24

Can someone explain to me what use case I'm missing? Why do people care about old messages? Personally I just read incoming message and never "scroll back".

There's something called history, a lot of people like that...

More philosophically, the fact that such a doubt even exists is a little disturbing sign of society today.

Re: Signal Fork with WhatsApp Migration

#147

Post by Craighead »

benlwalker wrote: post #116

I tried to switch to Signal the other day. In the US on Android, most people use the default messaging app and that means a lot of MMS/RCS messages. All the messages between myself and my wife are RCS, for example. Signal failed to import these - it only did SMS. I'd love to see someone tackle this problem much like this WhatsApp migration. It's essentially a deal breaker for people in this situation.

... what?

Re: Signal Fork with WhatsApp Migration

#148

Post by notorandit »

pseudalopex wrote: post #68
notorandit wrote: post #30

What went wrong with XMPP and federated servers?

Nothing on Windows had voice and video for a long time but Google Talk. More and more people used Google Talk and Facebook. Facebook never federated. Good mobile support took a long time. Google defederated. Facebook and Google cut off other clients.

I wish I knew the reasons...

Re: Signal Fork with WhatsApp Migration

#150

Post by raarts »

okanesen wrote: post #109
shilgapira wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can export your message history for every chat, I believe including photos and videos. Just need to go to the Group Info screen and then scroll all the way to the bottom.

Just as a side info: unfortunately this won't work in Germany, since that feature was disabled there.

Wouldn't uninstall, switch to the US app store, and reinstall do the trick?
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