My dad won't switch from Facebook messenger so now we have to talk via unencrypted sms

If you need to send sms to someone not on signal, why not just send them an sms

I think what they really mean is "I don't want another account".

Oh yes that too

Hell I've been getting rid of accounts lately. Feels good.

Until Facebook buys them like they did with WhatsApp...?

I guess that sucks because I make a living working in cyber security. What do I know, amirite?

You can always install a release of any Android APK from a git repo using Obtainium.

Signal releases

if they need my phone number to have an account anyway, they can offer both.

i dont need more apps that do the same thing. i need less.

It's arguably a very bad idea for a secure messenger to also provide an SMS interface, since those are basically cleartext

exactly. so I'm wondering what the purpose is for its need.

(edit: apologies- the phone number. needing the phone number.)

The only thing I don't like about Session is, it runs on a underlying crypto token, incentivizing the network to keep on going. https://getsession.org/blog/migrating-from-the-oxen-network-to-session-network imo

It's super cathartic, I agree. Feels extra good when it's big tech and fascist-owned as well.

The exit plan from WhatsApp is quite simple. Start by installing Signal and setting it up – it takes only a couple of minutes. Then, resume any WhatsApp conversations on Signal if that person is already a Signal user. If they are not, then switch to regular text messaging and gently suggest to that person to switch over to Signal.

Sadly for me, this doesn't really work for some relatives as

• They live abroad and the cost of sending text messages abroad is not insignificant
• Some are so tech un-savvy that even installing a new app by themselves is too much.

All I can do for those relatives is to leave WhatsApp installed but take away basically every permission I can, including running in the background.

Yeah someone who cares enough about security to switch to Signal in the first place will be willing to go into the settings to get everything just the way they like it, but everybody else will only keep the app if it doesn't bug them.

They live abroad and the cost of sending text messages abroad is not insignificant

Signal is free just like whats app. For text, calls, and video. So that isn't a problem.

I too have friends and family in different countries, one of which is crazy about whatsapp. I simply tell them this is how we are going to do things now, and walk them through it. It is not hard. If they can't do it, well then we don't need to communicate this way. Whatsapp is not an option. It is that simple.

What? You use a secure messenger to send secure messages. It doesn't make sense for a secure messenger to offer sending insecure messages (SMS).

Edit: oh, you're probably referring to why it requires a phone number. This seems to be due to abuse/spam prevention, as otherwise creating new accounts to spam people with is basically free.

Could you explain a bit? I see main issue with Signal (though I'm not an expert, and they're not strictly related to security): it's centralized (and the server isn't even open-source).

The question is also a lot about your threat model right?

using the phone number is still a pretty unnecessary risk, imho.

there's no real need for it any longer.

Do you have a better approach to prevent spam in mind? Without a barrier of entry it becomes a serious issue.