Whenever we talk about web encryption, people make the (valid) point that needing to trust the server to deliver the encryption mechanism greatly reduces the be

Whenever we talk about web encryption, people make the (valid) point that needing to trust the server to deliver the encryption mechanism greatly reduces the benefits of clientside encryption. I agree with that analysis, but it's not clear to me why we don't have similar levels of skepticism about auto-updating desktop apps. Signal in particular uses a third-party software repository, so if it wanted to push a malicious update, it wouldn't even need to sneak it past package maintainers. Package signing protects you against developers with bad personal security practices, because it makes it harder for a third-party to MITM their apps. But it doesn't do anything I can see to protect you from a developer that turns malicious in the future.