I think this is an instance of choosing religion over pragmatism and it will cost Signal a lot of users, possibly all of them.
Removing SMS support from Signal Android (soon)
561–570 of 649 posts
Re: Removing SMS support from Signal Android (soon)
#562I completely disagree and am disappointed in this decision. One app on my phone to handle all my messages is easier than making a context switch per-contact. I also think it'll hurt the value proposition when getting people to join signal. Not overcomplicating the messaging scenario was a big winner to do that.
> all my messages is easier than making a context switch per-contact A user already has: - WhatsApp - Telegram - Facebook Messanger - Instagram that has direct messages - the good old email, or better, many of them - Microsoft Teams for company communications - Discord for communications with group of friends - the old SMS (that I didn't even know that in some parts of the world were still used, since I receive them…
If you don't use Signal do you really have any skin in the game anyway? People obviously care that it has SMS capabilities and it is widely used for that, so naturally people will be upset.
Re: Removing SMS support from Signal Android (soon)
#563I 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.
I doubt your phone doesn't have a default sms app. Anyways e2ee and sms doesn't mix well
They actually mix quite well and I had used Signal for years to do it. It's not rocket science.
Re: Removing SMS support from Signal Android (soon)
#564Earlier quoted context omitted.
If they have to use 2 apps, they'll just end up communicating with me in the clear using their "default SMS" app on their phone. That's what this is going to result it...a reduction in overall message security due to people defaulting to what's easier...which is to _not_ have to remember which app to use for which "send a message" purpose. Fuck. Exactly right. In fact, I will be doing this too. Right now, I use Signa…
Holy crap, this 100%. I am absolutely distraught. I give monthly donations, have moved mountains to get family and friends over to Signal, and viewed it as a last bastion for security and interoperability between iOS and Android. Now we will get neither. Gutted. I will end up switching to a different provider. Absolutely don't know if I'll be able to convince family and friends to switch again.
>viewed it as a last bastion for security and interoperability between iOS and Android
>Now we will get neither
Correct me if I'm wrong, but:
- If you and your counterparty are both using Signal, nothing about the security of your communication changes.
- If your counterparty was not using Signal, your messages were over SMS/MMS and therefore not encrypted in the first place, and so once again, nothing about the security of your communication changes.
Are you seeing something I'm not?
Re: Removing SMS support from Signal Android (soon)
#565The comments here are so bizarre to me. I think this must be a USA thing. I had no idea signal even supported SMS, nor do I know anybody who uses SMS
Well over 50% of users of HN are from the USA, so what do you expect? Just because something is European doesn't naturally make it better.
Re: Removing SMS support from Signal Android (soon)
#566This was one of the core features of using Signal for me. I wish they had implemented RCS and more features for SMS instead of removing it. I'm very disappointed with this feature. As a side note, I'm on the beta, and recently got "Signal Stories". This immensely annoyed me, and had to dig through to remove it (since it wasn't obvious). After the whole crypto thing and these decisions, it might be time to find anothe…
They can't implement RCS, because there's no Android API for it.
It seems like that should be an antitrust issue (as should I message).
Re: Removing SMS support from Signal Android (soon)
#567Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because it's a carrier-owned upsell feature. It's nuts that people even consider a non-Internet protocol that applications can't implement, and users have to get permission to use — from the same carriers that charge for bytes of crappy size-limited MMS messages in the same ballpark as delivery of physical letters.
SMS is carrier owned and had an API. What you're saying doesn't surprise me, but I guess an RCS client written by Google and can't talk to iPhones isn't exactly an upsell.
That relied on carrier infrastructure though - RCS doesn't require a cell connection.
Re: Removing SMS support from Signal Android (soon)
#568IMO this is good. Blocking users from RCS, [while obviously no where near as good as signal, is still far better than SMS] has been a flaw in how signal has handled things
Re: Removing SMS support from Signal Android (soon)
#569Earlier quoted context omitted.
SMS is carrier owned and had an API. What you're saying doesn't surprise me, but I guess an RCS client written by Google and can't talk to iPhones isn't exactly an upsell.
That relied on carrier infrastructure though - RCS doesn't require a cell connection.
Yeah, I don't know what the Google/Jibe/carrier relationships are, but Google made an exception for Samsung[1], which I suppose could've been carrier approved too. Looking more at it, it seems like Google Messages is still the RCS client, and it's exposing messages to Samsung's app.
Honestly, it's kind of hard to blame Signal and/or Google if carriers are involved here. I mostly use Signal and Element, so if those two had a single client, that'd be fine. But, I think Signal probably still favors a centralized system, and they have added ongoing call transfers from and to mobile/desktop, and now Stories and the money transfer (not a fan), so I suppose it's up to the users to choose.
[1] https://www.sammobile.com/news/google-messages-rcs-integrati...
Re: Removing SMS support from Signal Android (soon)
#570This 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?")
Furthermore it will hurt your reputation as someone who knows about messaging apps altogether