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Signal is experiencing technical difficulties

status.signal.org

221–230 of 262 posts

Re: Signal is experiencing technical difficulties

#221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If people are going back to Whatsapp after that, then let them. Signal has been working really well for me for years now. I don't like it from a privacy standpoint, I'd much rather see wide adoption of Briar or Matrix. But to say Signal isn't working well for a free app is crazy. Who's paying for all their infrastructure anyways? What's the plan Moxie?

> then let them. That means that _you_ are going back to WhatsApp, then, since when you want to talk to them - that's what you'll use too.

I only ever installed WhatsApp to talk to dates. The sad part about being privacy conscious and using the "right apps" is that you still want to communicate with people outside of your bubble.

The best thing is definitely having two devices, one you can trust and one you can abuse.

Re: Signal is experiencing technical difficulties

#222
post #40

What's a good alternative to Signal on Android for casual messaging? I don't think Element is a good fit since it's not easy to ask a friend or family member to sign up for Element whereas it's simple to install Signal.

SMS. It's on every phone. Beyond that, there are free XMPP servers, and you can even run you own. Clients like Conversations, blabber.im are all wonderful. I've been using it with friends and my wife for years without issues, albeit I have my own server.

I, too, thouht that, until I realised that the iOS clients are terrible in comparison with Android. :-(

Re: Signal is experiencing technical difficulties

#223
post #183

Fwiw I've been using Signal as my primary communications channel along with email for the past few years. There's an outage once a year or so, but I can live with that. It just works--for voice calls, video calls, chat, groups, etc. The real question here isn't about which system is technologically superior (though HN gravitates to that question), it's which one is technologically superior taking into account network…

I'm seeing usage fall off among my network, because it doesn't replace WhatsApp: * it can't save photos to the camera roll * notifications are hit and miss

used signal for years before it became trendy recently, it had always problems with delivering messages when switching between mobile data and wifi, whatsapp will choose best connection almost instantly, it took Signal minutes or didn't choose it at all

heck for years you could not even select multiple photos to share at once from file picker

I vivily remember how Signal didn't work for like 8 hours because it was during night in US and the responsible person was sleeping, so these 3 hours outage is nothing with this profesionally managed client/network

that last drop was when they started to nag me with mandatory PIN code through half screen, then we just left with extended family, F that

Re: Signal is experiencing technical difficulties

#224
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>There's no excuse for not making Signal an open, federated protocol. This is just false. You can disagree with moxie all you like and make your case but he has been very clear on the reasons why he hasn't gone that way and the success of his project among non-technical users where so many others have failed suggests he's doing something right. I will applaud and cheer if you show his concerns on federation aren't re…

Sorry, I was not aware that you were not permitted to criticize anyone unless you invested tens of thousands of hours into building a competing product to demonstrate your point. Something to remember for next time.

[deleted]

Re: Signal is experiencing technical difficulties

#225
post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is such a loaded and unthoughtful comment. It assumes you have to make a choice. You don't, at least per technical reasoning. When Signal provides these features, please feel free to ping me back here but until then, the proof is in the pudding and the Signal pudding doesn't taste like the Telegram pudding. As Signal's client is open source and its server is whenever they feel like it, I'm sure they'd also val…

So to return to your original post: >"Actual multi-session clients across devices." Not available with E2EE >"No Electron." Sure, because you need all 32GB of RAM but not your human right to privacy. Also, this is an argument against Signal's client, not excuse why you can't have E2EE on non-electron native client. >"Truck loads of features and thoughtful touches everywhere." So, eye candy. Not very strong argument.…

Actually, I value a non-electron client way higher than E2EE. In fact, the incredible desktop client is one of the main reasons I am a huge Telegram proponent.

Re: Signal is experiencing technical difficulties

#226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For TLS we've had to drag everybody along, kicking and screaming. You call this "widespread and unprecedented success" but the reality is that later this week you're going to see even more outrage and despair from people who didn't like being centralized and so, of course, they're screwed because the price of their "freedom" is the eternal vigilance they couldn't be bothered with. draft-moriarty-tls-oldversions-diedi…

It's not without drawbacks, but TLS gives almost everyone good security/privacy by default. And for those who really need it, anyone who does even a basic amount of research can gain very good levels of confidence in the privacy of their TLS setup. Also, there are degrees of federation. It doesn't have to be a wild wild west of the sort we see with projects like Mastodon. A closed federation can have strict rules on…

> In fact, we see some of this in TLS - not everyone can participate, but there are dozens of independent organizations working within an internal governance models

I think what's happened here is that you don't understand the difference between TLS, a network protocol, and the Web PKI, a Public Key Infrastructure and so you've sort of muddled both together, which is revealing on its own.

You've also imagined a fairytale outcome that doesn't match reality.

Moxie's strategy works and yours didn't, and you're here telling everybody you don't agree but reality doesn't care whether you agree with it or not.

Re: Signal is experiencing technical difficulties

#227

Fwiw I've been using Signal as my primary communications channel along with email for the past few years. There's an outage once a year or so, but I can live with that. It just works--for voice calls, video calls, chat, groups, etc. The real question here isn't about which system is technologically superior (though HN gravitates to that question), it's which one is technologically superior taking into account network…

I think Matrix is a very hot candidate here - federation (while P2P might be interesting for some, it definitely isn't something for everyone - yet, see below) - scalable from private messaging up to thousands of users ((soon) with Spaces and threading) - unlimited multi device with synchronization - prospectively P2P with offline usage (Pinecones) - open standard enabling competition

Don't forget the bridges!

beeperhq is doing this for I believe $10/month (even iMessage). Free, reliable bridges would be the special sauce for Matrix IMHO.

Re: Signal is experiencing technical difficulties

#228
post #183

Fwiw I've been using Signal as my primary communications channel along with email for the past few years. There's an outage once a year or so, but I can live with that. It just works--for voice calls, video calls, chat, groups, etc. The real question here isn't about which system is technologically superior (though HN gravitates to that question), it's which one is technologically superior taking into account network…

I'm seeing usage fall off among my network, because it doesn't replace WhatsApp: * it can't save photos to the camera roll * notifications are hit and miss

I can save photos just fine, and notifications aren't a problem. iOS?

Re: Signal is experiencing technical difficulties

#229
post #188

Fwiw I've been using Signal as my primary communications channel along with email for the past few years. There's an outage once a year or so, but I can live with that. It just works--for voice calls, video calls, chat, groups, etc. The real question here isn't about which system is technologically superior (though HN gravitates to that question), it's which one is technologically superior taking into account network…

I have used Signal for many years as well, I am now trying to move away from it because while the security is nice, it lacks a good backup/restore mechanism. All the critical data I recieved or sent on it is encrypted and even with the same number and pin it can't "merge" or import specific backups! The thick log that broke the camel's back for me was having to keep an android phone specifically for Signal usage beca…

Would you be willing to create tickets for these items if they don't exist already?

What does one need to actually contribute code to Signal?

Re: Signal is experiencing technical difficulties

#230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there any good paid alternatives to Signal? Looking for: Good UI, E2E, shared source native phone and desktop apps, group support, reliable push, easy setup. It seems to me that all the alternatives are either free and suffer from some of the same issues Signal does, or don't have all these features.

Element on the Matrix protocol. Not perfect UX but keeps improving. Free but it has a solid business model servicing business cases with the open source set stack that suits corporate needs.

Last time I tried Matrix the message delivery was unreliable and E2E was a second class citizen with some big compromises. Has it gotten any better?
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