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Signal for Android: RedPhone and TextSecure in one app

whispersystems.org

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Re: Signal for Android: RedPhone and TextSecure in one app

#21

Post by acqq »

furyg3 wrote: post #3

Great! I've been using Signal for iOS and while it's not yet comparable to WhatsApp feature-wise, it's for sure good enough to use. I find it very difficult to get people to switch from the walled gardens of iOS messaging and WhatsApp (WhatsApp dominates the Dutch market for interesting historical reasons). I've been able to get a handful of privacy conscious friends to switch to Signal/TextSecure, hopefully the cros…

> switch from the walled gardens of iOS messaging and WhatsAp

Doesn't Signal require my phone number? Isn't it dependent on the Whisper servers? Why isn't it a walled garden then?

Re: Signal for Android: RedPhone and TextSecure in one app

#23

Post by newjersey »

artichokeheart wrote: post #17

As long as it still requires Google Play I'll still consider it snake oil.

It uses Google Cloud Messaging. There needs to be a server in between and I believe GCM is free. Consider a situation where Bobs phone is switched off. Alice sends a message and turns off their phone. Now, Bob turns in their phone. How do we get the message Alice sent to Bob?

Re: Signal for Android: RedPhone and TextSecure in one app

#26

Post by lsaferite »

acqq wrote: post #21
furyg3 wrote: post #3

Great! I've been using Signal for iOS and while it's not yet comparable to WhatsApp feature-wise, it's for sure good enough to use. I find it very difficult to get people to switch from the walled gardens of iOS messaging and WhatsApp (WhatsApp dominates the Dutch market for interesting historical reasons). I've been able to get a handful of privacy conscious friends to switch to Signal/TextSecure, hopefully the cros…

> switch from the walled gardens of iOS messaging and WhatsAp Doesn't Signal require my phone number? Isn't it dependent on the Whisper servers? Why isn't it a walled garden then?

>Why isn't it a walled garden then?

Because the client and server are both OSS?

https://github.com/WhisperSystems/TextSecure

https://github.com/WhisperSystems/TextSecure-Server

Re: Signal for Android: RedPhone and TextSecure in one app

#27

Post by sbt »

lorenzhs wrote: post #13
sbt wrote: post #10

I have been using Signal (and TextSecure before that) for a while. The two features that would make me use it more would be: 1. Web client. (I send most of my texts from my laptop, which means I use Hangouts) 2. Search messages on the client. Thanks for a great product and keep up the good work.

A browser extension for Chrome/Chromium is being worked on! You can track it at https://github.com/WhisperSystems/TextSecure-Browser

Looking forward to it!

Why is a browser extension needed in this case? Does not the browser expose a source of randomness that would be enough to write the rest of the crypto in JS and use that?

Re: Signal for Android: RedPhone and TextSecure in one app

#28

Post by acqq »

lsaferite wrote: post #26
acqq wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> switch from the walled gardens of iOS messaging and WhatsAp Doesn't Signal require my phone number? Isn't it dependent on the Whisper servers? Why isn't it a walled garden then?

>Why isn't it a walled garden then? Because the client and server are both OSS? https://github.com/WhisperSystems/TextSecure https://github.com/WhisperSystems/TextSecure-Server

Can I download the the Signal client from any store and then point it to my own server instead of Whisper's?

Did anybody try to run his own server? Can such setup really work?

Re: Signal for Android: RedPhone and TextSecure in one app

#29

Post by bad_user »

artichokeheart wrote: post #17

As long as it still requires Google Play I'll still consider it snake oil.

In addition to what @newjersey said, you also need to handle push notifications, which in the context of a mobile phone aren't cheap at all. This is because you need infrastructure and because keeping connections open drains your battery and making it work well is wasted developer effort. This is why it is better to use whatever is available, like GCM on Android, APNS on iOS, or maybe Pushy (see pushy.me) or whatever Amazon does if you want distribution on alternative stores.

Re: Signal for Android: RedPhone and TextSecure in one app

#30

Post by faded_rights »

corney91 wrote: post #2

I really want to start using TextSecure (or Signal now I guess), but the only thing holding me back is it depends on Google Play Services. I love what they're doing and can understand the decision, but still thinks it sucks a bit that the best option for secure communications is so tied into Google.

See here for a version that uses websockets instead of Google services. It's usable on Blackberry OS 10 so should be usable on other non-google devices.

http://forums.crackberry.com/android-apps-amazon-store-apk-f...

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