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I mistakenly thought Signal was an app on your phone that encrypted/decrypted text messages. What part of that has to be online, other than getting updated pub

by dimino 10y ago

I mistakenly thought Signal was an app on your phone that encrypted/decrypted text messages. What part of that has to be online, other than getting updated public keys, or is that the part that was blocked?

detaro 10y ago
Signal does not include the text message encryption feature anymore. It's an internet-based messenger.
avhon1 10y ago
Signal is really an XMPP client with a custom protocol extension. All of its encrypted messaging functionality relies on being able to communicate with the official Signal server(s). The Android version can, or at least used to, send and receive text messages, but these were unencrypted. I believe that it was just to make Signal useful as an all-in-one short messaging app.
- distances 10y ago
  There was also an encrypted SMS/MMS feature, but that was removed in 2015: https://whispersystems.org/blog/goodbye-encrypted-sms https://whispersystems.org/blog/goodbye-encrypted-sms
- moosingin3space 10y ago
  Signal does not use XMPP, it uses its own Internet-based protocol.
- h4waii 10y ago
  The Android client does support regular SMS handling, which is what makes it great. Regular unencrypted SMS for users without Signal, and end-to-end for users who have it, all in the same application. It used to support encryption over SMS, unfortunately it was removed and is now the primary focus of Silence[0], while Noise[1] is now for Signal without the requirement of GCM for signaling. 0. https://silence.im https://silence.im 1. https://copperhead.co/android/docs/usage_guide https://copperhead.co/android/docs/usage_guide
  - dTal 10y ago
    Upvote for Silence. It's the only solution for people who don't or won't have a data connection open permanently. It also requires no signup and depends on no external service. I'd not heard of Noise. I'm glad that all the interesting crypto work that Open Whisper Systems is doing is being forked and diversified - it's too valuable to be only available through one centralized provider.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]

by dimino 10y ago

detaro 10y ago

Signal does not include the text message encryption feature anymore. It's an internet-based messenger.

avhon1 10y ago

Signal is really an XMPP client with a custom protocol extension. All of its encrypted messaging functionality relies on being able to communicate with the official Signal server(s). The Android version can, or at least used to, send and receive text messages, but these were unencrypted. I believe that it was just to make Signal useful as an all-in-one short messaging app.

distances 10y ago
There was also an encrypted SMS/MMS feature, but that was removed in 2015: https://whispersystems.org/blog/goodbye-encrypted-sms https://whispersystems.org/blog/goodbye-encrypted-sms
moosingin3space 10y ago
Signal does not use XMPP, it uses its own Internet-based protocol.
h4waii 10y ago
The Android client does support regular SMS handling, which is what makes it great. Regular unencrypted SMS for users without Signal, and end-to-end for users who have it, all in the same application. It used to support encryption over SMS, unfortunately it was removed and is now the primary focus of Silence[0], while Noise[1] is now for Signal without the requirement of GCM for signaling. 0. https://silence.im https://silence.im 1. https://copperhead.co/android/docs/usage_guide https://copperhead.co/android/docs/usage_guide
- dTal 10y ago
  Upvote for Silence. It's the only solution for people who don't or won't have a data connection open permanently. It also requires no signup and depends on no external service. I'd not heard of Noise. I'm glad that all the interesting crypto work that Open Whisper Systems is doing is being forked and diversified - it's too valuable to be only available through one centralized provider.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]