I still wish they hadn't dropped sms on android. A few family members dropped signal as soon as they needed another app for messaging.

First ad I've seen on Lemmy so far

The worst part of using Signal is to try and convince all your friends/family to use Signal. Otherwise it’s a pretty great messaging app. You can’t edit messages once they’re sent, but other than that it’s pretty great.

I wish they hadn't gotten rid of SMS though, that was the biggest sell for me over other options. I'm never going to get more than 2 or 3 people I regularly text to switch...

Is this an ad? It feels like an ad.

Anyway I much prefer Signal but thanks to boomer co-workers I'm still also forced to use Whatsapp.

I do not like the fact that Signal requires a phone number to be used. If I want to talk to someone on Signal, I need to give him my Signal registered phone number. I do not understand why can't they introduce User name like Telegram so we do not have to reveal our phone number to others.

I have been disappointed by Signal a lot.

• They tie themselves very closely with Google services, to the point that they refuse to be on FDroid by design
• There was a long period when they stopped publishing server side code when they were bashing others like Telegram for not open sourcing their server side code
• Their Linux desktop client is absolutely horrible.

I use Signal but it's on its own path to becoming enshittified too. Less like Reddit, more like Firefox, the people in charge are just clueless about the signal userbase.

It won't be long until there's a shift to an alternative because the current president of the signal foundation is one step away from turning it into Snapchat.

Instead of pumping money into increasing awareness or enhancing reliability of the service, the Signal team have wasted effort on features that nobody asked for, including its very own crypto shitcoin (a major red flag for any company). They also remove features people relied on, such as SMS support.

It's hard to trust the Signal team when they continually disappoint in such egregious ways.

Signal is great for communicating with people you don’t mind sharing your identity with. Would love to see signal implement usernames. I’m really into simpleX chat these days —really cool project.

Tried to switch to signal. But it's useless without everyone i know switching over from Whatsapp. Which is like merged with our country at this point.

Yeah, then they got rid of SMS capabilities.

I got rid of Signal after they added cryptocurrency to their app.

While I have no issues with cryptocurrency itself, it was a reminder that they have full control over the app. Now I happily use XMPP and Matrix for communication with friends and family.

Since we're all using Lemmy, an open source, decentralized, self hostable platform, wouldn't suggesting Matrix make much more sense?

I host a Matrix and Lemmy server. Even if Signal is completely trustworthy now, will it always be? It isn't my server and it's a single point of attack for anybody (including governments) to insert (or demand) a backdoor.

Signal is good but I just can't make the people I text regularly to switch.

I found the hardest part was convincing people to move away from the incumbents such as WhatsApp / FBM etc as all their contacts / friends / family were already using those platforms.

People in the comments saying others in my network wont install so its pointless for me. All i want to say is Mate , dont be a sheep. I had 1000+ contacts and i installed signal then sent a message to everyone saying i am on signal and uninstalled whatsapp. Around 200 contacts moved to signal just because they value me Tl;DR know your worth

Or just use Matrix/Element. No phone number needed, plus federation!

I personally prefer apps on the matrix network! Www.Matrix.org has a list of client apps, but I've found Element is great on windows, steam deck, and android! Call quality and chat stability can get weird sometimes, but overall it's very very secure and pretty feature rich! 🙂

From the little bit I researched, it's kinda similar in the way that the fediverse works! It's decentralized, and one account works everywhere. Good stuff!

Signal frustrates me, because Signal Foundation is clueless on what people actually want and it just feels like their product direction is so baffling it somehow turned into another failed Google messaging app without being a Google product(they even hired a former Google exec to run Signal!) I've never touched their crypto or stories, and I thought the SMS support removal makes zero sense and their justification is flimsy at best, it gave me Hangouts flashbacks.

The main problem with removing SMS support isn't that I can't convince my friends and family to switch any more(though very annoying), it's that since Signal has marketed itself as a highly private messaging app, it now has a certain reputation of being used for... particular things. Without SMS support, even having Signal installed on your phone looks suspicious, since you can't say that you're using it as a nicer SMS app anymore.

The issue with Signal is hardly anyone I know is on it.

I'd love to switch to Signal but the lack of sms makes it a NO from me. Everyone I know uses sms on their phone, and there's no way I'll be able to convince them to use two messaging apps when sms is already universal and convenient. 😭

I prefer matrix since no phone number is required for signup there.

Do they still require your phone number to sign up?

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Got a surprising amount of contacts to move into signal from Whatsapp, though the iMessage gang can't stop iMessaging.

As an android user, I don't see why you would want to use something that restricts your secure messaging to a single platform.

As a result of Signal's poor decision to stop SMS service, I frequently forget to check my SMS app for messages.

Been using Signal for a very long time now, with my SO, parents, brother and a few friends. But it's inevitable to also use WhatsApp side by side. Selling/Buying on the local marketplace? WhatsApp. Workplace colleagues? WhatsApp. That group of buddies where only 1 or 2 converted to Signal? WhatsApp.

I've used Signal for years. Absolutely incredible messenger that does it all, and then some. Much better UX than FB Messenger and Whatsapp.

I've used Signal from the earliest days. It has its flaws, but for the average human, it's the best fucking end to end encryption message platform around.

I absolutely LOVE signal! And I’ve even gotten my friends convinced to sign up recently and move some of our group chats! Yay no green bubble and yay privacy!

I've been trying to get my wife to use signal for ages and she won't budge. She won't budge because she doesn't want to install another app that from her perspective does the same thing as texting (she's not as privacy conscious as I am and doesn't really care that signal encrypts missages). Lately I've been trying to sell signal as mre reliable since my work office has shit cell reception and once in a while messages will git completely lost in the aether. Signal is more featurefull than sms/mms imho.

My sister, her husband, and one of my friends use signal so there's that.

Ultimately I'd probably prefer everyone use matrix but it's not as accesible as signal.

Question: in 2019 Australia passed an encryption law that requires every piece of software used in Australia to have a back door for law enforcement to access to ‘counter terrorism’, wank, wank.

Does Signal have back door access in Australia?

My problem with Signal is that nobody I know uses it, which unfortunately makes it useless.

Other than that, I genuinely think it's pretty great. But you'll have to persuade people to leave Facebook and WhatsApp en masse before it becomes ubiquitous enough to be useful.