It wouldn't surprise me if Signal was working on something like this already.
Signal Fork with WhatsApp Migration
91–100 of 158 posts
Re: Signal Fork with WhatsApp Migration
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are a few areas which are harder to use like backups. I suspect one of the most difficult to address is getting it to successfully evade the random vendor-built aggressive battery saving settings in Android. WhatsApp is usually whitelisted from those so "just works". If you don't do similar things for Signal, it will stop picking messages up/notifying you after a day or two of inactivity.
The backup issue makes Signal infeasible for me to suggest to family/friends as a serious alternative. It's just not up for discussion. People care about preserving their chat histories and I'm not about to put myself in a position where I'm at fault when that stuff goes lost because something or other. There's a lot of sentimental value there that is non-negotiable. Unfortunately, that leaves me with ... nothing to…
I have the exact same issue with Signal, which is sad, because it's perfect except for the lack automatic and encrypted cloud backup.
Re: Signal Fork with WhatsApp Migration
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
Does it matter? People care. People don't want to lose years worth of chat histories with friends, family and their significant other(s). That's just how it is. I'm not sure why it's so hotly debated around here. People want to preserve their chats and their media. There's sentimental/emotional value to these things and they don't want to lose these things. That's all that should matter. I feel like these discussions…
It matters because people don't always realize that it means making trade-off's. And people often don't know what the consequences can be of those trade-offs because they didn't realise it was a trade-off to begin with. In case of whatsapp and keeping chat history it can mean years of chat history becoming public if for example your Apple / Google account (where whatsapp automatically stores your conversation backups…
> In case of whatsapp and keeping chat history it can mean years of chat history becoming public if for example your Apple / Google account (where whatsapp automatically stores your conversation backups) gets hacked.
IIRC the backups aren't stored in plaintext. They are encrypted with a key known to the device and whatsapp. The key is restored to a new device by whatsapp after SMS authentication.
Hence only a Google Drive compromise will not lead to full chat history compromise. That also requires something like a Sim Swap attack.
Re: Signal Fork with WhatsApp Migration
#94Doesn't it make more sense to have a WhatsApp backup file to Signal backup file converter rather than forking the whole app. This fork would end up being a significant maintenance overhead for something that could be done more simply.
Presumably once the kinks are worked out of this process, it could be merged into the main release of Signal. No second app required.
Re: Signal Fork with WhatsApp Migration
#95Can someone explain to me what use case I'm missing? Why do people care about old messages? Personally I just read incoming message and never "scroll back".
I used my whatsapp chat history to successfully contest a traffic fine. My parents wanted me to check on their house while they were away. I messaged them on whatsapp when I left my house and then again when I arrived at theirs. A month or so after my trip I was sent a fine for not displaying my car license while my car was parked on a public road. I had driven down the road where the fine was recorded during the tri…
> A month or so after my trip I was sent a fine for not displaying my car license while my car was parked on a public road. I had driven down the road where the fine was recorded during the trip.
More of an aside, but what sort of car license must be displayed for parking but not for driving down the same road? Is it some sort of parking permit or disc?
Re: Signal Fork with WhatsApp Migration
#96Doesn't it make more sense to have a WhatsApp backup file to Signal backup file converter rather than forking the whole app. This fork would end up being a significant maintenance overhead for something that could be done more simply.
Presumably once the kinks are worked out of this process, it could be merged into the main release of Signal. No second app required.
I believe the Signal devs expressed a lack of interest in doing this since it would mean embedding secret Whatsapp encryption keys in Signal.
See: https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/issues/1014
Re: Signal Fork with WhatsApp Migration
#97Anyone know how to get their elderly parents to switch? Whatsapp has us cornered and they know it.
have kids and tell them you'll send them photos via signal.
I'm not kidding - it worked amazingly well for us.
Re: Signal Fork with WhatsApp Migration
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
I used my whatsapp chat history to successfully contest a traffic fine. My parents wanted me to check on their house while they were away. I messaged them on whatsapp when I left my house and then again when I arrived at theirs. A month or so after my trip I was sent a fine for not displaying my car license while my car was parked on a public road. I had driven down the road where the fine was recorded during the tri…
> A month or so after my trip I was sent a fine for not displaying my car license while my car was parked on a public road. I had driven down the road where the fine was recorded during the trip. More of an aside, but what sort of car license must be displayed for parking but not for driving down the same road? Is it some sort of parking permit or disc?
A car license is required when driving or parked but the fine was issued to a parked car without a driver in it. I proved that I was driving the car when the ticket was issued so the claims made by the metro officer about how they issued the ticket were not true.
My car was licensed at the time and the license was displayed correctly. I was not guilty of the offense and the whatsapp messages allowed me to prove that the officer who issued the ticket was lying.
Re: Signal Fork with WhatsApp Migration
#99Is there an API/application purely to archive my entire whatsapp, including voice messages? From an iPhone
Re: Signal Fork with WhatsApp Migration
#100Anyone know how to get their elderly parents to switch? Whatsapp has us cornered and they know it.
Just ask them? My parents (and my extended family + friends) have been using signal since the Snowden leaks. All I had to do was ask :) It's not really a hard app to use either, I had a few calls from them when they introduced the PIN stuff and when I or someone else have switched phone but it's not comprehensible. My parents are closing in on 80 now.
And those are also very good questions since the PIN thing was new and new things could indicate being hacked, and people changing their public key is a thing that Signal does seem to try to de-emphasize as a strong security signal so I'm almost more impressed they noticed it and were concerned.
It sounds like your parents are very unusually observant! I have had coworkers much younger than that who cannot be bothered to read messages like that.