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You can change your number

signal.org

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Re: You can change your number

#401

Post by hackernewds »

scotty79 wrote: post #67

Why would supposedly secure communicator use actual phone number as identifier is beyond me. And everybody does that, either phone number or email. The only software I could find for anonymous communication was old Polish communicator http://gg.pl which uses arbitrary numbers as identifiers I understand that startups are scared that they won't be able to build up userbase from scratch but come on! Discord and Slack d…

Aren't Slack and Discord also tied to your email? I think HN and Reddit are better examples (although some dark patterns do push you towards associating with your email)

Re: You can change your number

#402

Post by Vinnl »

guerrilla wrote: post #385
Vinnl wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are multiple anecdotes in this thread, on HN , that people missed that. All GP is asking for is better UX making it more obvious, because being able to check is something other than knowing to check and how to check.

It's the exact same UX as SMS, Telegram, WhatsApp Facebook and (partially) Twitter...

I don't see why that matters? (Especially given that Signal has far fewer users and presumably higher attrition than those other platforms.) If things can be better, than it would be great if they were.

Re: You can change your number

#403

Post by WallowingInShit »

vel0city wrote: post #379
WallowingInShit wrote: post #373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is bad design. Why excuse bad design? When I send a text message and it doesn't arrive, my messaging app lets me know. With Signal, this is a step backward.

> When I send a text message and it doesn't arrive, my messaging app lets me know Signal does let you know, it never gets the delivered mark.

That's not letting me know, that's something I have to check.

Re: You can change your number

#404

Post by lkxijlewlf »

sneak wrote: post #329
lkxijlewlf wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the feature I want most. I have my EDC and then I have a "if I drop it in the ocean, oops" phone.

The solution I use for this is group chats for my most important conversations, that have the other party and both of my phones in them.

This is what I currently do, also. It technically works, but I would much rather not have to use groups like this.

Re: You can change your number

#405

Post by palata »

ttybird2 wrote: post #113
palata wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Genuinely interested: can you elaborate on what metadata the matrix servers have access to? Say, don't they know who I am writing to, when and which groups I belong to? Signal does not, and that's guaranteed by the client code (i.e. no need to trust anything on the server for that).

"and that's guaranteed by the client code" This is not true. This is not guaranteed even by the "sealed sender" feature that signal has.

Can you elaborate on that?

Re: You can change your number

#406

Post by 0xdeadb00f »

wyager wrote: post #62
Vinnl wrote: post #2

> We built Change Number using the foundation of more exciting features to come. Surely this is referring to the ability to use a non-phone number ID, which they've hinted at before [1]. Looking forward to that, only because I know many others are! [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/kt91qk/comment/...

Based on the whole "mobilecoin" pump and dump scam they tried to pull, I unfortunately expect this to be tied to some kind of identity shitcoin.

I'd laugh then probably cry.

Re: You can change your number

#407

Post by rcarback »

godelski wrote: post #296
rcarback wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed that usernames aren't exactly anonymous, which is why the platform doesn't require one to use and you can share your QR Code directly instead. I think the mobile apps might force registration with user discovery (this is an active argument i've been having...) but it's not designed to be required. It's not fully baked, but my expectation is that it will work similarly to how the .eth, namecoin, and other syste…

> and you can share your QR Code directly That's a useful feature. Others (above) are telling me this is useless (I disagree). Are these identities separate? The discovery service sounds useful

Yes they are separate.

Re: You can change your number

#408

Post by legalcorrection »

BugsJustFindMe wrote: post #269
legalcorrection wrote: post #266

It's been promised for years, but you still can't use a second phone as a linked/secondary device. As a result, it is literally impossible to have the same signal account on two iPhones. Since they already support using an iPad as a linked device, this would require little more than changing a flag and a recompilation. Maybe they have their reasons, but all they keep saying is 'soon'.

> but you still can't use a second phone as a linked/secondary device. As a result, it is literally impossible to have the same signal account on two iPhones. I use my google voice number on multiple phones.

That's not how that works. If you sign up for Signal with the same number on multiple iPhones, for example, only the last one will still be connected. The iPhone app only supports being the primary device. There can only be one primary device per account.

Re: You can change your number

#409

Post by palata »

scotty79 wrote: post #144
palata wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two words: threat model.

I don't get it. I find my interlocutor knowing my phone number a severe threat to my privacy.

Maybe you do, yes. And maybe you're happy with an alternative with usernames where the server keeps the list of your contacts. Or maybe you are not, and you will want an alternative where you need to rebuild your contacts list every time you install the app.

But some people are happy messaging people based on the phone number, because everything else is too cumbersome. Different people have different threat models, and one chooses the best UX for their threat model. For millions of people (maybe not you), apparently it is Signal.

Re: You can change your number

#410

Post by sgarman »

tenuousemphasis wrote: post #128
sgarman wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally I don't have a privacy issue with it per se but I have two phones, one is data only sim and I can't use signal on that device with their current model. I guess because the device is a "phone" whatever that means. If they do away with this reliance on phone numbers hopefully we could get something more flexible that allows me to use it on "phones" without phone numbers.

Did you try this? It should let you use Signal on two phones https://signal.org/blog/ios-device-transfer/

Looks like someone already responded to you but yea this doesn't really work if you use two phones as mentioned.
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