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

Removing SMS support from Signal Android (soon)

signal.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

331–340 of 649 posts

Re: Removing SMS support from Signal Android (soon)

#331

Post by alerighi »

chungy wrote: post #4

I completely disagree and am disappointed in this decision. One app on my phone to handle all my messages is easier than making a context switch per-contact. I also think it'll hurt the value proposition when getting people to join signal. Not overcomplicating the messaging scenario was a big winner to do that.

> all my messages is easier than making a context switch per-contact

A user already has:

- WhatsApp

- Telegram

- Facebook Messanger

- Instagram that has direct messages

- the good old email, or better, many of them

- Microsoft Teams for company communications

- Discord for communications with group of friends

- the old SMS (that I didn't even know that in some parts of the world were still used, since I receive them only for 2 factor codes, notifications about my card transactions, and spam)

Adding another app is that a big deal? By the way I don't use Signal, but not for the reason of not having another app on the phone, just because I don't know anyone that has it and actively use it.

Re: Removing SMS support from Signal Android (soon)

#332

Post by codethief »

throw10920 wrote: post #171

> The most important reason for us to remove SMS support from Android is that plaintext SMS messages are inherently insecure. This is an incredibly bad reason to remove SMS support. Sure, the fact "plaintext SMS messages are inherently insecure" is true, but the implication is not "remove SMS support". Most people are motivated strongly by convenience. Signal is convenient because of its use as a drop-in replacement…

> Wikipedia says that Moxie is still on the Signal Board of Directors, but I find it hard to believe that he would let something this crazy go through.

IIRC I read (some years ago) that Moxie wasn't really convinced that SMS support should stay in Signal-Android, either.

Re: Removing SMS support from Signal Android (soon)

#333

Post by dheera »

garciansmith wrote: post #277
dheera wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> gas company, electric company, Mine don't need SMS > internet provider, Also doesn't need SMS for me > my bank, F them, I use a throwaway Twilio number for this > my elderly neighbor who can barely use a phone and I taught how to text, I tell them to either e-mail me or stick a handwritten note on my door. E-mail is WAY easier to use for elderly people in my experience. You get nice big keyboards, big fonts, big sc…

> gas company, electric company, Especially when there are issues that's how mine send updates. To say nothing about companies that require 2FA through text! > bank I can't use VOIP numbers with them, not sure about Twilio. > my elderly neighbor who can barely use a phone and I taught how to text You make the assumption that they even have a computer: they do not. They do normally just knock on my door, but they want…

> where you need SMS

Honestly not really, in the US. You can usually find ways around it if you tell the business that you don't have SMS. With governments I don't think they can legally require you to have SMS.

When they find out it's incredibly difficult to deal with you because of the design choices they made, it helps dethrone SMS, one business at a time. Vote with your behavior. Make them realize they made a bad choice by picking SMS.

Re: Removing SMS support from Signal Android (soon)

#334

Post by NayamAmarshe »

jacooper wrote: post #77
KerryJones wrote: post #24

... and there's the reason I will likely stop using Signal? Signal was always one of those "win-win" apps, get more security when it's available and I don't have to worry about adding to the giant bucket of messaging apps. They were a paragon of putting the user first and I was a strong supporter... but now... Why not Telegram? Or anything else? I don't need the security, it was nice-to-have. Having to switch between…

Correction, you dont need the privacy* Telegram is absolutely the worst when it comes to privacy, it has access to everything you do and say. If you want a master app, have a lot at matrix.org with bridges.

> Telegram is absolutely the worst when it comes to privacy

Really? Telegram never said that they don't store your messages on cloud, they said that they do not sell your data or share it with third parties for profit.

Telegram has received a very good score on PrivacySpy (https://privacyspy.org), in fact better than any other messaging app. Telegram is good from a regular privacy perspective unless your threat model involves fearing cloud convenience.

Even FBI's leaked documents confirmed that Telegram does not ever share user data easily. [Source](https://www.securitynewspaper.com/2021/11/30/leaked-fbi-docu...)

If you're someone who requires spy-level opsec, you should be using Threema, Session or Speek. Maybe even a self-hosted XMPP instance.

Telegram is good at what it does and it states it very clearly. It does not lie about the things it does and it is open source. All while not selling user data, not manipulating user behavior through algorithms or censoring media by calculating hashes and providing what's arguably the most feature rich messaging app on the planet for free with a verifiable source code.

Also, be careful with what you're suggesting. Not only have Matrix servers been hacked twice but matrix also leaks metadata. If you're seriously suggesting true anonymity (not consenting privacy) then Matrix is not a good option.

Re: Removing SMS support from Signal Android (soon)

#335

Post by greysonp »

agloeregrets wrote: post #157
lucideer wrote: post #153

This is bizarre. If this were an in-depth announcement with a long and well-structured technical justification attached, I could understand. Though I suspect I'd likely disagree with the decision, I could probably accept it as a simple different of opinion if the arguments were evidently well-thought-through and considered. This blog-post is so lightweight. There's no technical analysis. There's barely any justificat…

The answer is this: They dont want to add RCS support or spend the time to do it. It's all bullshit top to bottom.

There are no public RCS API's. No one (besides an OEM) can make an RCS app.

Re: Removing SMS support from Signal Android (soon)

#336

Post by ajvs »

agloeregrets wrote: post #157
lucideer wrote: post #153

This is bizarre. If this were an in-depth announcement with a long and well-structured technical justification attached, I could understand. Though I suspect I'd likely disagree with the decision, I could probably accept it as a simple different of opinion if the arguments were evidently well-thought-through and considered. This blog-post is so lightweight. There's no technical analysis. There's barely any justificat…

The answer is this: They dont want to add RCS support or spend the time to do it. It's all bullshit top to bottom.

Google doesn't allow 3rd-party apps to access the RCS API.

Re: Removing SMS support from Signal Android (soon)

#337

Post by neogodless »

lucideer wrote: post #153

This is bizarre. If this were an in-depth announcement with a long and well-structured technical justification attached, I could understand. Though I suspect I'd likely disagree with the decision, I could probably accept it as a simple different of opinion if the arguments were evidently well-thought-through and considered. This blog-post is so lightweight. There's no technical analysis. There's barely any justificat…

Here's a (partially?) non-technical justification they shared on the Community forums.

https://community.signalusers.org/t/signal-blog-removing-sms...

Re: Removing SMS support from Signal Android (soon)

#338

Post by mercacona »

Signal developer giving some extra context to the news:

https://community.signalusers.org/t/signal-blog-removing-sms...

> So I guess the TL;DR is: SMS is on it’s way out in general, and in a world where Signal supports SMS, all of SMS’s shortcomings are often attributed to Signal itself, all while confusing people into thinking their SMS’s are secure.

Re: Removing SMS support from Signal Android (soon)

#339

Post by dontlaugh »

grammers wrote: post #233
daedalus_j wrote: post #149

I've been using Signal for a long time. I have repeatedly been unable to convince iOS users to use Signal because "I don't want another app". Android users have been much more willing to give it a shot. As an android user myself, I much prefer having SMS built in because I use the search feature often to look back through all my SMS/Signal chats. I also regularly forward an SMS message to a Signal user, or vice versa…

This. I've switched to iOS recently and I hate that I need two apps now. Already longing to go back to Android.

You need WhatsApp anyway, you’ll have several apps whatever you do.

Re: Removing SMS support from Signal Android (soon)

#340

Post by whoibrar »

rtcoms wrote: post #255
CommitSyn wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, this is an idiotic decision that makes me question the decisions being made as a whole by Signal. Does anyone have recommendations for a good default SMS app on Android?

SMS Organizer by Microsoft https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft....

Been using this for years, I really like the Updates and finances tab.

https://i.imgur.com/hUABKGr.jpg

Post reply on HN