Removing SMS support from Signal Android (soon)

Post by dugite-code » Wed, Oct 12, 2022, 11:05 PM UTC

betwixthewires wrote: post #443

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 don't want another app" thing is senseless to me. Why? What does it hurt having more than one communication channel? In my experience people that say this generally have no space on their phone, usually because of an unfettered willingness to install the taco bell app and the Starbucks app and whatever else. Their underlying reasoning is correct. SMS sucks, really really bad. They're a secure communications c…

Post by brational » Wed, Oct 12, 2022, 11:12 PM UTC

ghastmaster wrote: post #282

> After much discussion, we determined that we can no longer continue to invest in accommodating SMS in the Android app while also dedicating the resources we need to make Signal the best messenger out there. I did not need emoji's, groups, gifs and all the other neat stuff that signal has introduced throughout the years(to varying degrees of success). I had been using it, while none of my friends were. What I did ne…

Post by brational » Wed, Oct 12, 2022, 11:19 PM UTC

monetus wrote: post #264

dodgerdan wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a big pie, they’re also fairly different. And to be honest it’s only a matter of time before Telegram has a (public) security incident that drives much more people to E2EE messaging.

I'm curious how long it will be before that public incident - they rolled their own cryptography right? With that, I would imagine that if it hasn't been pwned yet, then there would be a disproportionate amount of people trying to break it.

Post by rlpb » Wed, Oct 12, 2022, 11:31 PM UTC

lucideer wrote: post #434

rlpb wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Definitely the end of my Signal usage anyway. It's my main SMS app: my primary motivator is SMS UX, the ability to securely message a tiny subset of my friends is a very nice but ultimately non-vital bonus. I think this is the crux of it. Your primary motivator may be for a better SMS UX. But Signal's primary motivator is to provide universal secure messaging, but your typical use of Signal doesn't do that. So it's…

> your typical use of Signal doesn't do that All centralised & protocol-locked messaging apps are subject to network effect. People moving away from Signal doesn't help the goal of universal secure messaging, regardless of whether those people are you or I. That said, it seems they're between a rock & a hard place here since Google are defacto deprecating support for 3rd-party SMS apps.

Post by daedalus_j » Wed, Oct 12, 2022, 11:36 PM UTC

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #477

anigbrowl wrote: post #414

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can you be confused? 'I'd take a decent "export my chats" option' is a very simple statement. There is no way within Signal to just export a whole conversation to a file.

GP also said they want to be able to search their chat, however, which I believe is the source of the confusion.