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Removing SMS support from Signal Android (soon)

signal.org

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Re: Removing SMS support from Signal Android (soon)

#141

Post by mynameisvlad »

Melatonic wrote: post #89
pavon wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I absolutely agree. Personally, I've managed to convert around 3 times as many Android users as iOS users, because of this feature. And the few people who stopped using Signal after starting using it did so because of limitations in the SMS/MMS features (fewer number of users allowed in group text, etc). I fully expect to loose 2/3 of my Signal contacts as a result of this decision, and may drop it myself if the numb…

Signal encrypts your regular texts? I thought it specifically did not do that?

They say “opportunistic” as in similar to how iMessage works. If you’re both on the platform, it’s encrypted but you still can communicate with everyone else from one app.

That’s a major boost for those that might not particularly care about encryption to look for specific messaging apps, while still helping by building out the network slowly over time.

Re: Removing SMS support from Signal Android (soon)

#142

Post by mynameisvlad »

Fiahil wrote: post #117
eatwater123 wrote: post #10

This is an awful decision. I've converted some friends and family to Signal over the past years (it took a while) and it is now their default messaging app on their phones. This is going to confuse them and is going to make it difficult for me to keep convincing them that Signal is the route to use. ("Why do I need 3 apps (Android Messages, Signal, Whatsapp) to talk to people?")

Quoted post unavailable.

Is the snark and reducing of the parent comment to a “bla bla bla” really necessary? We’re all adults here, we can make a point while treating the other person with respect.

Re: Removing SMS support from Signal Android (soon)

#143

Post by Kirby64 »

eatwater123 wrote: post #10

This is an awful decision. I've converted some friends and family to Signal over the past years (it took a while) and it is now their default messaging app on their phones. This is going to confuse them and is going to make it difficult for me to keep convincing them that Signal is the route to use. ("Why do I need 3 apps (Android Messages, Signal, Whatsapp) to talk to people?")

+1 to this. If Signal drops Android SMS support, I suspect it'll create friction within my friend group that uses it. I do not want yet another app for just text messages. No thank you.

Re: Removing SMS support from Signal Android (soon)

#144

Post by NoGravitas »

monetus wrote: post #75
dodgerdan wrote: post #66

SMS and security are simply incompatible. And either you fall into one of two groups 1. You know sms is insecure and this is a insecure method of communication 2. You think sms sent via signal is secure because it’s a “secure messenger”. It’s clear that HN users will fall into group 1, but the vast majority of people would fall into group 2. So for me this is an overall security win.

The network effect of signal not being a hub for SMS and e2ee will mean less people using e2ee, IMO.

Yeah, I think this is more likely to be the case. People who don't understand encryption but used Signal as their SMS messenger were at least getting opportunistic encryption with any of their contacts who were using Signal. Now they'll probably just uninstall it (like every iOS Signal user I've ever known).

Re: Removing SMS support from Signal Android (soon)

#146

Post by cptroot »

aabajian wrote: post #98

Alright, it's fine for a company to remove features, if they are honest about why they are doing so. It's obvious none of the reasons given are due to user complaints. The truth is, they are removing SMS because they don't own the SMS platform (e.g. it's not a walled-garden like WhatsApp). Would it kill them to just be honest? Yes, it's less secure, but no end-user is saying, "Please remove SMS as it's not secure."

I don't think that's true? There are clearly users who are annoyed at being able to send insecure and possibly expensive SMS messages in their secure messaging app.

Re: Removing SMS support from Signal Android (soon)

#148

Post by lapinot »

calvinmorrison wrote: post #21
joemazerino wrote: post #14

I do not like this decision. Using Signal as a main SMS provider makes it easier for me to collect all of my messages in one place. Now I have to, YET AGAIN, download an SMS app for use while keeping Signal active. I'm glad privacy is becoming mainstream but dislike lowering the bar for adoption to where it profoundly affects users.

It makes me yearn for the days with Pidgin where I had IRC, Google Chat (XMPP back then), AOL and whatever else chat protocols all running through the same client. That's what is nice about signals implementation is it stands. It supports acting as the SMS default app on android and defaults to signal when it can.

> That's what is nice about signals implementation is it stands.

Sure they handle SMS, but the real problem here is that Signal is just another walled garden: they have an overtly negative stance towards alternative clients, while also having very bad support for anything besides android/ios: they have a bad desktop client and they don't have a nice library. Altogether this means that Signal is overtly and willingly against things like Pidgin / multi-protocol clients or overlay, which is what the users want (ie not caring about protocols).

Signal doesn't want to deal with SMS anymore, which from an engineering and high-stakes security pov is a completely valid decision. Yet if it had clean and open local API or a simple and portable client library, or had a stable server API, then someone else could provide multi-protocol clients, tailored to each platform in a secure and stable way.

Re: Removing SMS support from Signal Android (soon)

#149

Post by daedalus_j »

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. I'm already starting to feel like those iOS users who told me "I don't want another app"...

Signal seems to be trying to move further and further from "my preferred way to chat with people" and closer to the chat equivalent of "that protonmail account I only log in to when I need secrecy".

I obviously love having security on messages in transit, but I also like being able to keep my message history around and search my conversations for something that happened a year ago. It seems like Signal is on a trajectory to turn everything into disappearing messages. Are they the "safe for activists" communication app, or the "let's try to make as many as possible safer by default" app? Feels like they don't know.

And on top of it all the messaging is just frustrating. "we've taken away an incredibly useful and heavily used feature so we have development resource to better implement shitcoins and such" is such an irritating defense of the decision that I disabled my monthly donation.

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