5 ms·

I'm a huge fan of Signal, but I'm disappointed that this still means that I cannot have the same account on two phones (work and personal).

nwsm 3y ago
Would signing into Signal on a work device not negate most of the security benefits of using Signal? Genuine question; I am only vaguely familiar with Signal.
- fsflover 3y ago
  You should be able to choose your own threat model.
  - growse 3y ago
    You can. There's a plethora of e2e messaging apps out there all catering to different threat models.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
    - fsflover 3y ago
      Sounds like arguments from Apple fans: You trust Apple and do everything Apple way or go away.
      - growse 3y ago
        I'm no Apple fan, but "Don't use things you don't like" seems... perfectly reasonable?
        fsflover 3y ago
        Too strongly opinionated networks are bad for the users, especially when network effects play a role.
        HumblyTossed 3y ago
        I never once said "i don't like it." Don't put words in others' mouths.
- HumblyTossed 3y ago
  I'm not a CIA operative, so, I'm willing to take that risk.
- izacus 3y ago
  No.
Vinnl 3y ago
The interesting thing is that it is possible to share the account on multiple devices, as long as only one of those is a phone. You can sign in to and chat from that account just fine on the desktop app, even if your phone is off. (I guess theoretically you could run something like PostmarketOS on a phone to run the desktop app, but you know what I mean.)
- HumblyTossed 3y ago
  My current work-around is just to use a group chat and have both work and personal accounts part of the chat. Fortunately, I only need to be able to chat with a few people (family) while off with the work phone so this isn't that big of a hassle, but it's something I wish I didn't have to do.
- sgarman 3y ago
  Yeah, this is still my top requested feature. I have two phones, one is data only sim. I just want to be able to signal from both of them just like how I can on my mac and PC.
- busymom0 3y ago
  > as long as only one of those is a phone Do you know why this limitation?
  - Vinnl 3y ago
    Unfortunately I don't. If I were to guess, I'd expect it's just a matter of the engineering hours that would need to be invested not being worth it at this time, given how few people they expect to need it.
- JoshTriplett 3y ago
  That's useful but not quite sufficient for this use case, though. The different devices currently have no way to sync chat history, so you'd lose all your old chats. What I'd love to have is the ability to connect my phone and my laptop to the same Signal account, have them automatically sync chat history between each other, and then in the future if I add a new phone (e.g. because I've upgraded) my phone can sync from my laptop and get all of my message history.
jcul 3y ago
Yeah, would like this too. Whatsapp added this recently and it is very convenient. You can link a companion device in the same manner you sign into WhatsApp web. A kind of hacky workaround (that I used to use for both signal, WhatsApp and others) is to set up a server with matrix bridges running and bridge your signal, WhatsApp etc. so then you can install the one matrix client on all your devices. But as most apps do support multiple devices these days, bar signal, it doesn't feel like it's worth the effort. And I seem to remember the signal bridge in particular being a little buggy.
imkh 3y ago
I'm sure it will become possible soon. The code is already there on iOS, as the app also work on iPad, but hidden behind the internal feature flag [0]. Same with Android [1]. If your second device in an Android, you can already use it now with [Molly](https://github.com/mollyim/mollyim-android https://github.com/mollyim/mollyim-android). Also, WhatsApp recently added this feature, so the expectations from potential new users who switched is now there. [0] https://community.signalusers.org/t/allow-android-ios-devices-e-g-tablets-but-also-phones-to-be-linked-to-the-primary-device-i-e-used-as-secondary-device-like-the-desktop-app/2884/183 https://community.signalusers.org/t/allow-android-ios-device... [1] https://community.signalusers.org/t/allow-android-ios-devices-e-g-tablets-but-also-phones-to-be-linked-to-the-primary-device-i-e-used-as-secondary-device-like-the-desktop-app/2884/193 https://community.signalusers.org/t/allow-android-ios-device...

nwsm 3y ago

Would signing into Signal on a work device not negate most of the security benefits of using Signal? Genuine question; I am only vaguely familiar with Signal.

fsflover 3y ago
You should be able to choose your own threat model.
- growse 3y ago
  You can. There's a plethora of e2e messaging apps out there all catering to different threat models.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - fsflover 3y ago
    Sounds like arguments from Apple fans: You trust Apple and do everything Apple way or go away.
    - growse 3y ago
      I'm no Apple fan, but "Don't use things you don't like" seems... perfectly reasonable?
      - fsflover 3y ago
        Too strongly opinionated networks are bad for the users, especially when network effects play a role.
      - HumblyTossed 3y ago
        I never once said "i don't like it." Don't put words in others' mouths.
HumblyTossed 3y ago
I'm not a CIA operative, so, I'm willing to take that risk.
izacus 3y ago
No.

Vinnl 3y ago

The interesting thing is that it is possible to share the account on multiple devices, as long as only one of those is a phone. You can sign in to and chat from that account just fine on the desktop app, even if your phone is off. (I guess theoretically you could run something like PostmarketOS on a phone to run the desktop app, but you know what I mean.)

HumblyTossed 3y ago
My current work-around is just to use a group chat and have both work and personal accounts part of the chat. Fortunately, I only need to be able to chat with a few people (family) while off with the work phone so this isn't that big of a hassle, but it's something I wish I didn't have to do.
sgarman 3y ago
Yeah, this is still my top requested feature. I have two phones, one is data only sim. I just want to be able to signal from both of them just like how I can on my mac and PC.
busymom0 3y ago
> as long as only one of those is a phone Do you know why this limitation?
- Vinnl 3y ago
  Unfortunately I don't. If I were to guess, I'd expect it's just a matter of the engineering hours that would need to be invested not being worth it at this time, given how few people they expect to need it.
JoshTriplett 3y ago
That's useful but not quite sufficient for this use case, though. The different devices currently have no way to sync chat history, so you'd lose all your old chats. What I'd love to have is the ability to connect my phone and my laptop to the same Signal account, have them automatically sync chat history between each other, and then in the future if I add a new phone (e.g. because I've upgraded) my phone can sync from my laptop and get all of my message history.

jcul 3y ago

Yeah, would like this too. Whatsapp added this recently and it is very convenient. You can link a companion device in the same manner you sign into WhatsApp web. A kind of hacky workaround (that I used to use for both signal, WhatsApp and others) is to set up a server with matrix bridges running and bridge your signal, WhatsApp etc. so then you can install the one matrix client on all your devices. But as most apps do support multiple devices these days, bar signal, it doesn't feel like it's worth the effort. And I seem to remember the signal bridge in particular being a little buggy.

imkh 3y ago

I'm sure it will become possible soon. The code is already there on iOS, as the app also work on iPad, but hidden behind the internal feature flag [0]. Same with Android [1]. If your second device in an Android, you can already use it now with [Molly](https://github.com/mollyim/mollyim-android https://github.com/mollyim/mollyim-android). Also, WhatsApp recently added this feature, so the expectations from potential new users who switched is now there. [0] https://community.signalusers.org/t/allow-android-ios-devices-e-g-tablets-but-also-phones-to-be-linked-to-the-primary-device-i-e-used-as-secondary-device-like-the-desktop-app/2884/183 https://community.signalusers.org/t/allow-android-ios-device... [1] https://community.signalusers.org/t/allow-android-ios-devices-e-g-tablets-but-also-phones-to-be-linked-to-the-primary-device-i-e-used-as-secondary-device-like-the-desktop-app/2884/193 https://community.signalusers.org/t/allow-android-ios-device...