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Improving first impressions on Signal

signal.org

71–80 of 100 posts

Re: Improving first impressions on Signal

#71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's complicated and can be expensive. Also people that has you real phone number cannot contact you on Signal, so you have to have two accounts, one with your real number to chat with your contacts and another one with the fake one to share with strangers that you don't trust, and as far as I know the Signal app doesn't support two account (yes on Android there are ways to have two instances of the app, on iOS you c…

Completely agree. Telegram is far superior to any other platform out there. Balance of privacy and security, by default.

Briar is far superior. Yes, there is support for desktop as well, but it is under heavy development.

For phones: Briar

For desktop: Ricochet

Yes, I get it, Ricochet lacks a lot of goodies Telegram has, but having stickers != secure. For secure chatting only, Ricochet does the job. No one will even know that you are using it. :)

Re: Improving first impressions on Signal

#72
post #7
post #2

Signal's message requests is a major selling point for me. I recently created a Signal account after having a bad experience in which someone used my phone number to harass me with SMS/calls (every time, from a different VOIP number). It's frustrating that, even in this era, there is no good way to filter out malicious actors from SMS/call. P.S. You can sign up with Signal via a VOIP number to avoid sharing your real…

Yes, I do this. I really wish they and everyone else would stop using phone number as an ID and use an alphanumeric ID. Really, I don't want to give out a phone number to everyone.

Exactly. How hard can it be? It would make it way more secure for almost no effort. I would use Signal if it did not require a phone number or an e-mail address (whichever it requires).

Re: Improving first impressions on Signal

#73
post #56

Just got a new phone and migrating Signal was a total disaster. The first thing I did was login to the new phone which is apparently the wrong thing to do because you lose all your old messages and there's no option to import after you login. You have to logout but there is no logout . Gotta uninstall and reinstall, or clear app data. Next I tried the account migration feature which requires using both phones simulta…

I just want to add that you cannot migrate across ios and android, at all :( https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007059752-Ba...

This bit me when moving to iOS. Thankfully I didn't use Signal all that much, but I did "sign" some far away friends keys before so that was disappointing...

Re: Improving first impressions on Signal

#74

Just got a new phone and migrating Signal was a total disaster. The first thing I did was login to the new phone which is apparently the wrong thing to do because you lose all your old messages and there's no option to import after you login. You have to logout but there is no logout . Gotta uninstall and reinstall, or clear app data. Next I tried the account migration feature which requires using both phones simulta…

Try Telegram. It's easier to get seduced by tall sounding words like "cryptography", censorship, "security", anonymity etc. Those are just buzz words. Try something that works seamlessly across platforms.

This is nonsense, and borderline malicious.

Privacy used to be the default mode for human existence. You had to go out of your way to attract enough interest, positive or negative, to have that privacy curtailed, even in minor ways.

In the information age, privacy is liberty. Unless you take specific action to prevent it, all of your information is surveilled.

Encryption allows you to protect the content of your communications from intrusion. Ephemerality removes the traces of your communications to prevent future intrusion. Those two features reset human communication to the state of nature, allowing people the room to think and communicate difficult things in a context of trust.

When people are monitored, they limit themselves to thoughts and discussions that are socially acceptable. This leads to groupthink, siloing people within a collectively imagined social ideal which is readily shaped by the ones doing the surveillance. The outrage mobs, public ridicule, and notorious cancelations are communicated far and wide, and the narratives conveyed about the context of those moralistic social displays are the levers of power being moved to influence social momentum. Marketing, politics, religion, social movements, and all manner of ideologies use the violation of privacy to amplify their reach and influence without the benefit of rational discussion and tests of validity that would have prevented such memes from gaining traction in the past.

Authoritarianism seeks the destruction of privacy. Whether it's a dictatorship, a cult, an invasive workplace, or platform, they degrade privacy as much as they can in order to exploit the resulting loss of individual liberty and agency.

So no, censorship is real. Cryptography is a tool that sets people in their proper place as sovereign human beings. Privacy, security, and anonymity give people the ability to speak on equal footing with any group or organization or fellow human.

By using apps and platforms and services that don't respect privacy, you're willingly accepting a second class status, ceding your right to express ideas that don't conform.

Buzz words my ass.

Re: Improving first impressions on Signal

#75

Just got a new phone and migrating Signal was a total disaster. The first thing I did was login to the new phone which is apparently the wrong thing to do because you lose all your old messages and there's no option to import after you login. You have to logout but there is no logout . Gotta uninstall and reinstall, or clear app data. Next I tried the account migration feature which requires using both phones simulta…

Recently got a new phone and the transition was super smooth. Tried to open Signal on the new phone, it somehow knew that I needed to transfer my backup, asked me to scan a QR code and keep the phones close together, a minute or so later, and done. Signal logged me out on the older device when it was finished. I've learned this lesson before though. Always keep your old phone around while transitioning to a new devic…

Much like not quitting a job without having new employment lined up, it's a good idea to get a new phone or pc while your current device is still in good enough condition that migration is easy. If you ride it to failure things get messy.

Re: Improving first impressions on Signal

#76

Just got a new phone and migrating Signal was a total disaster. The first thing I did was login to the new phone which is apparently the wrong thing to do because you lose all your old messages and there's no option to import after you login. You have to logout but there is no logout . Gotta uninstall and reinstall, or clear app data. Next I tried the account migration feature which requires using both phones simulta…

Recently got a new phone and the transition was super smooth. Tried to open Signal on the new phone, it somehow knew that I needed to transfer my backup, asked me to scan a QR code and keep the phones close together, a minute or so later, and done. Signal logged me out on the older device when it was finished. I've learned this lesson before though. Always keep your old phone around while transitioning to a new devic…

... you never had a phone break down ? Now 8'm stressed about what will happen to my signal messages when my current phone inevitably suffers from a dreadful fate

Re: Improving first impressions on Signal

#77
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

End-to-end encryption is not just some buzz word, and Telegram requires you to opt-in to encryption, making it absurdly insecure by default.

And there is no E2EE on desktop. People should really stop talking about Telegram when we are talking about secure private messaging apps. Telegram DOES NOT HAVE E2EE on desktop and it is opt-in on phones. Briar is the best choice on phones, and it is also available on desktop which is under development. For now, Ricochet is the best choice on desktop (only). I get that it would be nice to have a piece of software wo…

I see an option of secret chat in my desktop app. Is that not E2EE? Because its the same option in mobile

Re: Improving first impressions on Signal

#78

Just got a new phone and migrating Signal was a total disaster. The first thing I did was login to the new phone which is apparently the wrong thing to do because you lose all your old messages and there's no option to import after you login. You have to logout but there is no logout . Gotta uninstall and reinstall, or clear app data. Next I tried the account migration feature which requires using both phones simulta…

Sounds like you were migrating from one Android phone to another. Try the same with iOS and you wouldn't even have any backup option to try out. The loss of older messages is the worst thing that a chat app could have, but it's still marketed as a general purpose chat app.

Re: Improving first impressions on Signal

#79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's complicated and can be expensive. Also people that has you real phone number cannot contact you on Signal, so you have to have two accounts, one with your real number to chat with your contacts and another one with the fake one to share with strangers that you don't trust, and as far as I know the Signal app doesn't support two account (yes on Android there are ways to have two instances of the app, on iOS you c…

On Telegram if anyone else has your phone number in their contacts then they’d know it’s you even if you initiated the communication via username. Or that’s how it was. I am not sure if this has changed/been fixed.

This doesn't necessarily have to be the case. A couple of years ago when the large scale protests were going on in Hong Kong, authorities found people who were using Telegram, Signal, etc., by adding all phone numbers to their devices' address book/contacts list. Telegram quickly adapted and brought a new setting wherein others would only get to know you were on Telegram only if you had them in your contacts list. Telegram has been, and is, far superior in hiding your presence to others than Signal is.

Re: Improving first impressions on Signal

#80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's complicated and can be expensive. Also people that has you real phone number cannot contact you on Signal, so you have to have two accounts, one with your real number to chat with your contacts and another one with the fake one to share with strangers that you don't trust, and as far as I know the Signal app doesn't support two account (yes on Android there are ways to have two instances of the app, on iOS you c…

Completely agree. Telegram is far superior to any other platform out there. Balance of privacy and security, by default.

I guess no security and no privacy does technically constitute balance.

More seriously, it does compromise security for usability, which can be ok in some cases – as long as you don‘t make bold claims stating the exact opposite. Telegram has done just that.

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