Signal – an ethical replacement for WhatsApp
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signal not being on fdroid is a strike against them
Signal is on F-Droid.
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Why not Signal?
A few essays on communism
essays (dessalines.github.io)
Most of the alternatives mentioned have such low adoption that they aren't truly viable options yet - no matter how much we wish otherwise.
And I say that not as a critic - I actually use Matrix, XMPP, and Jitsi myself. But guess how many of my friends, family, or colleagues are on them?
Exactly.
That’s why I recommend Signal. At least there, people are likely to find folks they already know.
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I agree and it would be much better if people would use Signal instead of WhatsApp, but I think there's still one problem.
Due to how messaging platforms work, every time you switch you lose pretty much everything (messages, media, etc)
This makes switching very hard even for a nerd like me, because if Signal is not "perfect" it means that I will have to switch again at some point and lose everything again.You can save any media you care about. And Signal can backup your chats if that history is important to you.
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any proofs?
To get encryption one must start a "secret chat". It's an opt-in! Regular users will not even know the option exists, that's how well hidden it is.
Regular chats? Plainly readable on the server.
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signal requires a phone number and won't even allow you to send sms to those that aren't on signal.
its better, but still not great.
It used to function as a fallback SMS/MMS messenger (like how iMessage does) but when Google started moving to convert Android from SMS/MMS to RCS Signal made the hard decision to cut the fallback functionality rather than follow Google's new framework.
I personally hope once the dust settles Signal designs a RCS engine and restores the fallback functionality.
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You can save any media you care about. And Signal can backup your chats if that history is important to you.
Sure, but if I switch from Signal to another potentially better messaging app down the line my chat history will get fragmented
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Nah, that would be Matrix, XMPP, DeltaChat or SimpleX
Jami*
Matrix isn’t necessarily p2p
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Thats a problem with silos (where one owner hosts all the servers) in general. You will have to switch the entire ecosystem once the inevitable enshitification sets in. It's a good idea to switch to something open source and federated (where many different non profit organisations and even self hosting individuals host many different servers).
That way you can migrate your history and contacts to another server of necessary but never have to switch the ecosystem again. Think it how email works, it's the best known federated system. If you don't like you email provider anymore you can just chose another one and still keep your contacts and messages on a client like Thunderbird forever.
Xmpp and matrix are the hottest candidates in my opinion, but you can check the messenger matrix that was linked in a comment above to see what suits you best.Well said, the problem really is that Signal isn't federated. I'm keeping an eye on Matrix for now.
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Fair. There is Molly on fdroid if you like.
Can't find it though
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No. XMPP would be the best choice.
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A truly ethical replacement would not need a phone number
And it would have as much spam as email.
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It used to function as a fallback SMS/MMS messenger (like how iMessage does) but when Google started moving to convert Android from SMS/MMS to RCS Signal made the hard decision to cut the fallback functionality rather than follow Google's new framework.
I personally hope once the dust settles Signal designs a RCS engine and restores the fallback functionality.
Yeah killing the sms function was basically a deal breaker for me, no matter how much I tried I could only get three people to use Signal, the rest were all sms. When the sms feature was removed 2 of the 3 dropped Signal completely, so now the only person I know who still uses it is my mom and even she still flips back and forth between Signal and Google messages when texting me.
I still have Signal on my phone and suggest it people when they ask how to contact me, but everyone just wants to text my phone number.
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No. XMPP would be the best choice.
Tell me you don't know anything about security without telling me you don't know anything about security.
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Wish more of my contact list would switch over to Signal. It's nearly the same. I don't see why it's so hard for some people to just start using Signal instead of WhatsApp.
Oh well.
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You can download the APK once from the website, after that it updates automatically.
https://signal.org/android/apk/I know I can. But the hostility of Signal devs to open source and F-Droid makes me uncomfortable. Why use an app with such hostility?
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Wish more of my contact list would switch over to Signal. It's nearly the same. I don't see why it's so hard for some people to just start using Signal instead of WhatsApp.
Oh well.
Because people are beyond stupid. "i dont want to download another app" - while having an app for almost every other store and bullshit game and whatever
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Wish more of my contact list would switch over to Signal. It's nearly the same. I don't see why it's so hard for some people to just start using Signal instead of WhatsApp.
Oh well.
My dad won't switch from Facebook messenger so now we have to talk via unencrypted sms
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signal requires a phone number and won't even allow you to send sms to those that aren't on signal.
its better, but still not great.
If you need to send sms to someone not on signal, why not just send them an sms
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Because people are beyond stupid. "i dont want to download another app" - while having an app for almost every other store and bullshit game and whatever
I think what they really mean is "I don't want another account".
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Jami*
Matrix isn’t necessarily p2p
Oh yes that too
