4 ms·

I am moving to Signal too. Group by Group. May not happen over night, but in few weeks

by the_arun 6y ago

happymellon 6y ago
Signal, that's another one that requires your phone number? Yeah, thanks but no thanks.
- godelski 6y ago
  Don't they all? But good news is that they have pushed code to allow for usernames (or not even that). It isn't open to the public (or beta) yet, but it looks like the feature is going to be released fairly soon.
  - chappi42 6y ago
    Threema doesn't.
  - happymellon 6y ago
    > Don't they all? That's my point. I hate systems that require a phone number, as they usually mean that I have a substandard experience when I'm not on my phone and I can't sign my children up so that we have a general chat tool. The only option ends up being massively over the top team style chats like Rocketchat, Mattermost, Discord, or Slack. So we end up back on Hangouts. A bit shit for general family conversation. [Edit] If they do allow signing up/in with a username then I'll probably be all over it. That would be awesome news.
    - godelski 6y ago
      I'm curious why you value your phone number over your data. I'm unsure if they will allow signups without phone numbers, but they don't store that information. Signal doesn't have it. [0][1] It is very possible they go around this though. [0] https://signal.org/blog/looking-back-as-the-world-moves-forward/ https://signal.org/blog/looking-back-as-the-world-moves-forw... [1] (time-stamped to only the important part) https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=894&v=Nj3YFprqAr8&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=894&v=Nj3YFprqAr8&feature=yo...
      - happymellon 6y ago
        Reasons: > they usually mean that I have a substandard experience when I'm not on my phone > I can't sign my children up so that we have a general chat tool. This isn't a privacy thing, this is a general tool that is fundimentally broken if I'm not on my phone. I'm not always on my phone, and my kids don't have phone numbers. They are unusable.
        godelski 6y ago
        I think these are fair points. I'll mention that I predominately use the desktop client and it works well since I frequently leave my phone somewhere else. But doesn't seem like a right fit for you until usernames and multiple device signup. Both are in the works though so maybe good for you in the future but not now.
        FalconSensei 6y ago
        If you don't have your phone with you, you can't sign in. Some services, like Whatsapp, will not work if your phone is turned off/broken
        Asraelite 6y ago
        > I predominately use the desktop client and it works well since I frequently leave my phone somewhere else. In my experience the desktop client is slow, buggy, and takes eons to start up. There's also no web version, making it awkward to use on computers other than your own. I would be more willing to switch over to Signal if it wasn't so lacking in this regard.
  - castorp 6y ago
    > Don't they all? No. Threema does not require a phone number (it uses one for the registration verification, but your account is not linked to that number).
    - FalconSensei 6y ago
      So can I use 1 number to create 2 users?
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
  - under3 6y ago
    https://briarproject.org/ https://briarproject.org/ https://getsession.org/ https://getsession.org/
ent 6y ago
How well do Signal groups work these days? I tried moving friend groups to signal some years ago and even managed to do that for some large ones but the group chat just didn't really work. Keys changed and somehow the group got into a state where some people got messages and others didn't and the only way to fix it seemed to be creating a new group which, for large groups, isn't really an option and everyone ended up going back to whatsapp. I'd love to use signal with more people but that, and the ux around changing phones means I can't really recommend it to anyone but the most technical of my friends.

I am moving to Signal too. Group by Group. May not happen over night, but in few weeks

happymellon 6y ago

Signal, that's another one that requires your phone number? Yeah, thanks but no thanks.

godelski 6y ago
Don't they all? But good news is that they have pushed code to allow for usernames (or not even that). It isn't open to the public (or beta) yet, but it looks like the feature is going to be released fairly soon.
- chappi42 6y ago
  Threema doesn't.
- happymellon 6y ago
  > Don't they all? That's my point. I hate systems that require a phone number, as they usually mean that I have a substandard experience when I'm not on my phone and I can't sign my children up so that we have a general chat tool. The only option ends up being massively over the top team style chats like Rocketchat, Mattermost, Discord, or Slack. So we end up back on Hangouts. A bit shit for general family conversation. [Edit] If they do allow signing up/in with a username then I'll probably be all over it. That would be awesome news.
  - godelski 6y ago
    I'm curious why you value your phone number over your data. I'm unsure if they will allow signups without phone numbers, but they don't store that information. Signal doesn't have it. [0][1] It is very possible they go around this though. [0] https://signal.org/blog/looking-back-as-the-world-moves-forward/ https://signal.org/blog/looking-back-as-the-world-moves-forw... [1] (time-stamped to only the important part) https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=894&v=Nj3YFprqAr8&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=894&v=Nj3YFprqAr8&feature=yo...
    - happymellon 6y ago
      Reasons: > they usually mean that I have a substandard experience when I'm not on my phone > I can't sign my children up so that we have a general chat tool. This isn't a privacy thing, this is a general tool that is fundimentally broken if I'm not on my phone. I'm not always on my phone, and my kids don't have phone numbers. They are unusable.
      - godelski 6y ago
        I think these are fair points. I'll mention that I predominately use the desktop client and it works well since I frequently leave my phone somewhere else. But doesn't seem like a right fit for you until usernames and multiple device signup. Both are in the works though so maybe good for you in the future but not now.
        FalconSensei 6y ago
        If you don't have your phone with you, you can't sign in. Some services, like Whatsapp, will not work if your phone is turned off/broken
        Asraelite 6y ago
        > I predominately use the desktop client and it works well since I frequently leave my phone somewhere else. In my experience the desktop client is slow, buggy, and takes eons to start up. There's also no web version, making it awkward to use on computers other than your own. I would be more willing to switch over to Signal if it wasn't so lacking in this regard.
- castorp 6y ago
  > Don't they all? No. Threema does not require a phone number (it uses one for the registration verification, but your account is not linked to that number).
  - FalconSensei 6y ago
    So can I use 1 number to create 2 users?
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
- under3 6y ago
  https://briarproject.org/ https://briarproject.org/ https://getsession.org/ https://getsession.org/

ent 6y ago

How well do Signal groups work these days? I tried moving friend groups to signal some years ago and even managed to do that for some large ones but the group chat just didn't really work. Keys changed and somehow the group got into a state where some people got messages and others didn't and the only way to fix it seemed to be creating a new group which, for large groups, isn't really an option and everyone ended up going back to whatsapp. I'd love to use signal with more people but that, and the ux around changing phones means I can't really recommend it to anyone but the most technical of my friends.