7 ms·

Hopefully a popularity surge will translate into the app getting better. It's notably less pleasant to use than Telegram, which I'd think of as its closest comp

by kemayo 7y ago

Hopefully a popularity surge will translate into the app getting better. It's notably less pleasant to use than Telegram, which I'd think of as its closest competitor.

FabHK 7y ago
Given that Telegram uses an entirely different encryption scheme, and does not e2e encrypt by default, I'd consider Wire (using some variation of the Signal protocol) the closest competitor. And Wire is rather pleasant to use, with clients on many platforms, sign-up with phone number or email, encrypted voice chat, encrypted group chats, etc.
- Marsymars 7y ago
  See, I'd consider WhatsApp the closest competitor - it's the most similar feature-wise, and the Signal Foundation is primarily funded by one of the WhatsApp founders.
- feanaro 7y ago
  Wire is pretty good these days, but I'd go for Matrix due to it being federated.
feanaro 7y ago
What features of Telegram are more pleasant? I don't use Telegram much due to its makeshift encryption scheme and bad defaults (no E2E by default), but I've found Signal extremely usable in the last year or two.
- kemayo 7y ago
  Opening up the picker for sending a picture was notably slow. Approximately a three second count from pressing the button to having the pictures available to choose from. Then similar occasional lags throughout the process (e.g. hitting "back" from a picture to return to the library and select a second picture). By contrast, Telegram has a quick selection of the last few pictures available immediately, and the general picker opens quicker if you request it -- maybe because it's using the stock iOS picker rather than the custom one Signal implements? Since sending a picture to a contact was a super common action of mine, this was incredibly frustrating. Signal also had notification issues if I was running the desktop client at the same time. It'd sometimes clear notifications from my phone before I'd actually read them in either location.
  - saagarjha 7y ago
    Telegram does not use the system iOS photo picker, since it asks for permission to access all photos on the system.
    - kemayo 7y ago
      Might need that just for the initial recent-pictures bit?
  - feanaro 7y ago
    Thanks. I've never encountered either of those issues, possibly because I'm on Android. Specifically, the photo quick selection is instant for me.

by kemayo 7y ago

Hopefully a popularity surge will translate into the app getting better. It's notably less pleasant to use than Telegram, which I'd think of as its closest competitor.

FabHK 7y ago

Given that Telegram uses an entirely different encryption scheme, and does not e2e encrypt by default, I'd consider Wire (using some variation of the Signal protocol) the closest competitor. And Wire is rather pleasant to use, with clients on many platforms, sign-up with phone number or email, encrypted voice chat, encrypted group chats, etc.

Marsymars 7y ago
See, I'd consider WhatsApp the closest competitor - it's the most similar feature-wise, and the Signal Foundation is primarily funded by one of the WhatsApp founders.
feanaro 7y ago
Wire is pretty good these days, but I'd go for Matrix due to it being federated.

feanaro 7y ago

What features of Telegram are more pleasant? I don't use Telegram much due to its makeshift encryption scheme and bad defaults (no E2E by default), but I've found Signal extremely usable in the last year or two.

kemayo 7y ago
Opening up the picker for sending a picture was notably slow. Approximately a three second count from pressing the button to having the pictures available to choose from. Then similar occasional lags throughout the process (e.g. hitting "back" from a picture to return to the library and select a second picture). By contrast, Telegram has a quick selection of the last few pictures available immediately, and the general picker opens quicker if you request it -- maybe because it's using the stock iOS picker rather than the custom one Signal implements? Since sending a picture to a contact was a super common action of mine, this was incredibly frustrating. Signal also had notification issues if I was running the desktop client at the same time. It'd sometimes clear notifications from my phone before I'd actually read them in either location.
- saagarjha 7y ago
  Telegram does not use the system iOS photo picker, since it asks for permission to access all photos on the system.
  - kemayo 7y ago
    Might need that just for the initial recent-pictures bit?
- feanaro 7y ago
  Thanks. I've never encountered either of those issues, possibly because I'm on Android. Specifically, the photo quick selection is instant for me.