I like the simplicity, and good job for shipping it.
“Privacy. Always. We promise”
This kind of stuff always gets me thinking. Why should I trust random app developers? I don’t even trust giant corporations with this.
I have seen Chrome extensions bought out and silently changed. And I have sold iOS apps myself!
Capitalism and Competition and Closed source Centralized software distribution just makes me always worried. Whatever promises are given (“open”AI!) can be either false already or enshittified tomorrow.
And then who is foolish for trusting it? https://www.businessinsider.com/well-these-new-zuckerberg-im...
Why not use open source?
Actually, the main reason is The Web. It doesn’t have an effective way to guarantee a file at a URL will be static, the way, say, IFPS does. And same goes for the App Store. Telegram struggles to tell you how to do verified builds.
I think we may need a “trusted app” with IPFS based distribution, and various auditing agencies publicly signing software updates. It doesn’t need to use a blockchain because code only ever accumulates, so it’s a crypto CRDT essentially. But it could be replicated across many networks including DHT based ones like IPFS, Bittorrent and Hypercore.
That at least reduces a user’s Trusted Computing Base to the OS and one app (like a crypto wallet or an authenticator or browser) that they trust. There should be a way to never update that app via the app store.
Frankly, I think privacy will never get better than that because the manufacturer can technically always exfiltrate stuff (as Windows already does and touted with Recall).
But for running TRUSTED PROGRAMS, at least, I feel there can be blockchains and other decentralized networks. Trusted programs (ie smart contracts) are valuable for communities to trust code, even if it doesn’t enforce privacy.