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Sadly, Signal neglects user experience, and as a result people around me all tend to migrate to WhatsApp. They don't care that they are uploading their entire

by jwr 6y ago

Sadly, Signal neglects user experience, and as a result people around me all tend to migrate to WhatsApp. They don't care that they are uploading their entire contact list to Facebook — "death before inconvenience".

smichel17 6y ago
Honestly I don't really understand this. I'm a longtime signal user who installed whatsapp recently (family group I had to join) and.. It feels more or less the same to me. Maybe it's because I haven't allowed any unnecessary permissions, but I don't see much functionality that's different. Statuses maybe?
- berdario 6y ago
  I'm not using Signal as heavily as I was in the past (due to the fact that they dropped support for Chromeos), but issues that I personally was annoyed by: - message delivery was not very reliable when your connection is poor and intermittent (think wifi in the underground between stations) - when you need to resend a message in a group, you need to tap "retry" once for every recipient in the group Issues that my friends complained about, justifying their non-use of Signal: - you cannot create links to allow people to join groups (obviously this is a nonstarter, without first allowing people to be in groups pseudonymously)
whiskeykilo 6y ago
Signal cares so much about UX that they're starting to agitate security/privacy diehards. They've implemented features like stickers and message reactions that the diehard community calls "useless". And they recently implemented PINs with the intention of storing your encrypted profile and settings for easy recovery on a new device. I applaud the direction they've taken. These are the kinds of features that will acquire and retain a broader user base.
- marssaxman 6y ago
  I recently stopped using Signal over the PIN thing. I do not want them to store my data on their servers, but they won't let me opt out.
CultOfSkaro 6y ago
Actually WhatsApp only uploads numbers. Ironically, Signal is contemplating uploading your full address book to their cloud for “easy recovery”. Which is a nightmare if they follow through with it.

by jwr 6y ago

smichel17 6y ago

Honestly I don't really understand this. I'm a longtime signal user who installed whatsapp recently (family group I had to join) and.. It feels more or less the same to me. Maybe it's because I haven't allowed any unnecessary permissions, but I don't see much functionality that's different. Statuses maybe?

berdario 6y ago
I'm not using Signal as heavily as I was in the past (due to the fact that they dropped support for Chromeos), but issues that I personally was annoyed by: - message delivery was not very reliable when your connection is poor and intermittent (think wifi in the underground between stations) - when you need to resend a message in a group, you need to tap "retry" once for every recipient in the group Issues that my friends complained about, justifying their non-use of Signal: - you cannot create links to allow people to join groups (obviously this is a nonstarter, without first allowing people to be in groups pseudonymously)

whiskeykilo 6y ago

Signal cares so much about UX that they're starting to agitate security/privacy diehards. They've implemented features like stickers and message reactions that the diehard community calls "useless". And they recently implemented PINs with the intention of storing your encrypted profile and settings for easy recovery on a new device. I applaud the direction they've taken. These are the kinds of features that will acquire and retain a broader user base.

marssaxman 6y ago
I recently stopped using Signal over the PIN thing. I do not want them to store my data on their servers, but they won't let me opt out.

CultOfSkaro 6y ago

Actually WhatsApp only uploads numbers. Ironically, Signal is contemplating uploading your full address book to their cloud for “easy recovery”. Which is a nightmare if they follow through with it.