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About once a week I get a notification that random person X I haven't talked to in a decade is now on signal. About two months ago the super at my old apartment
by hadlock 4y ago
About once a week I get a notification that random person X I haven't talked to in a decade is now on signal. About two months ago the super at my old apartment building got on signal and I got a notification. My late coworker's phone number finally got recycled and the new person using it is on signal too. They appear to be reaching critical mass.
Still really mad about them dropping SMS support. I'll be deleting it when that happens.
- uoaei 4y agoI really don't understand the qualms with SMS support. SMS was never secure, and it certainly doesn't become more secure when you push it through a pass-through on one app or another. There is nothing you can do to SMS to make it more secure except to send encrypted strings: but then you have the same problem of sharing secrets, etc. that requires a separate app to manage anyway.
- hadlock 4y agoBecause I already have an encrypted messaging app. It's called Whatsapp. This bumps up to E2E encrypted if both people using "SMS" have signal installed. Now this is just an alternative to WhatsApp. I will just keep using WhatsApp.
- uoaei 4y agoWhatsApp and Signal do not provide the same level of security, despite what Meta might try to tell you.
- mr_mitm 4y agoIt means I need an extra app now. Signal replaced my SMS app. I'm not going to stop using SMS completely, so if Signal drops it I need to use one more app.
- uoaei 4y agoOne comes preinstalled with every major mobile OS...
- anigbrowl 4y agoAnd one that I have been able to happily ignore for years because Signal handled all my messages. If you are not a long-time Signal user then maybe you don't remember how they made a big song and dance out of offering this feature in the first place to make Signal more usable and accessible.
- soperj 4y agoBecause you can use it as your only messaging app if it has SMS. You can't if it doesn't.
- nimbius 4y agosame. unless Signal has public metrics to suggest its reached a real critical mass, the lack of basic SMS functionality kills the app for me.
- tablespoon 4y ago> same. unless Signal has public metrics to suggest its reached a real critical mass, the lack of basic SMS functionality kills the app for me. Did its SMS feature support encryption somehow? Because sounds like a bad idea to include unencrypted messaging in a secure app: it's a giant footgun.
- anigbrowl 4y agoBut isn't, because there's a giant icon that clearly Signals it and it pops up a warning the first time you send a message to someone new over SMS, every time. In over 5 years of using Signal, I have never sent an SMS message in the mistaken belief that it was secure, and I typically get hundreds of incoming messages per day and typically send out 100 or so. 'We're taking features away for your security' is a lowkey way of telling users that they're idiots who can't be trusted to operate their own devices. This is really pretty offensive to the people who have been evangelists for Signal for the last 6-7 years.
- godelski 4y ago> About once a week I get a notification that random person X I haven't talked to in a decade is now on signal. Settings > Notifications > Notify when... > turn off "Contact joins Signal"
- anigbrowl 4y agoThat let's me turn off annoying notifications from other people. Guess what, it doesn't help someone who would prefer not to advertise their adoption of Signal to everyone who ever had their contact details. Really, is it so hard to think about both sides of this equation?
- godelski 4y agoHey, I was just trying to help. I didn't make Signal and don't work for them.