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> It has never been possible to send an unencrypted message on Signal. Irrelevant nitpick, but hold down on the send button and select "Insecure SMS"

tptacek 7y ago
There is no button I seem to be able to long-press on iOS Signal that gives me that option. Can you be more specific?
- tialaramex 7y ago
  They're talking about the Android app. In Android the application which sends messages can be replaced, and so Signal offers to replace it, as a result it needs to be able to send old-fashioned SMS messages when the correspondent doesn't seem to have Signal. Your iPhone doesn't let anybody do that, just like it doesn't let Mozilla provide a different web browser and so on. This has upsides and downsides for security which I'm sure you've already thought about, for me it's a good reason not to own an iPhone, but the rationale for the opposite decision is sound.
tialaramex 7y ago
On Android, in the mode where Signal is replacing your SMS messaging app. Presumably (I don't have one) iPhones lack this feature as Signal can't replace Apple's messaging app inside the Walled Garden.
- iudqnolq 7y ago
  I don't know about iPhones, but the option still appears in Signal for Android even if you don't use it as the default SMS app.
Frondo 7y ago
A nitpick on that solution (that no longer applies to me, because I no longer use an Android device): It isn't persistent. Signal always defaults to secure messaging, which caused me regular headaches when I used it. More than a few people I knew installed Signal, used it briefly (or not at all), and went back to sms. Signal would always default to sending securely, and I'd always send these people a message that they'd never see, because they were no longer using Signal. After some time I'd realize they didn't get it and would have to resend as an insecure sms. Missed more than a few time-critical communications because of that. I really, really wish they'd made it a per-contact default I could have set.
- haffenloher 7y ago
  That's been fixed a few months ago. The setting now sticks until you manually change it back or your contact replies with a Signal message.

tptacek 7y ago

There is no button I seem to be able to long-press on iOS Signal that gives me that option. Can you be more specific?

tialaramex 7y ago
They're talking about the Android app. In Android the application which sends messages can be replaced, and so Signal offers to replace it, as a result it needs to be able to send old-fashioned SMS messages when the correspondent doesn't seem to have Signal. Your iPhone doesn't let anybody do that, just like it doesn't let Mozilla provide a different web browser and so on. This has upsides and downsides for security which I'm sure you've already thought about, for me it's a good reason not to own an iPhone, but the rationale for the opposite decision is sound.

tialaramex 7y ago

On Android, in the mode where Signal is replacing your SMS messaging app. Presumably (I don't have one) iPhones lack this feature as Signal can't replace Apple's messaging app inside the Walled Garden.

iudqnolq 7y ago
I don't know about iPhones, but the option still appears in Signal for Android even if you don't use it as the default SMS app.

Frondo 7y ago

A nitpick on that solution (that no longer applies to me, because I no longer use an Android device): It isn't persistent. Signal always defaults to secure messaging, which caused me regular headaches when I used it. More than a few people I knew installed Signal, used it briefly (or not at all), and went back to sms. Signal would always default to sending securely, and I'd always send these people a message that they'd never see, because they were no longer using Signal. After some time I'd realize they didn't get it and would have to resend as an insecure sms. Missed more than a few time-critical communications because of that. I really, really wish they'd made it a per-contact default I could have set.

haffenloher 7y ago
That's been fixed a few months ago. The setting now sticks until you manually change it back or your contact replies with a Signal message.