An open source and private chat app that everybody wants to use
Signal works. The adoption is fairly slow, but I’ve had friends slowly begin to use it.
Signal gets some things right, but others wrong, such as phone numbers and centralized architecture. As such, it doesn’t fit the “everybody wants to use” part.
WhatsApp uses phone numbers and a centralized architecture. Remind me how many people use it?
I’ve been using Signal since like 2016 and have not seen any appreciable adoption rate whatsoever within my social network.
I used to actively try to get people to use it but I got enough ambivalent or negative responses that I just stopped asking.
My biggest problem with Signal is how much battery it uses when you don’t have Google services on your phone.
It easily uses 30-40% of my battery compared to the rest.
My problem is that it does not work on multiple devices at the same time, so I have personally given up on it. Maybe it has changed, did not check for a long time.
It works everywhere except Android tablets, and you can just use Molly for that.
Signal is great. I miss when it worked with SMS. There are 2 E2EE SMS apps that I’m aware of, bit one is not well supported and the other needs quite a bit of UI work before it’s usable by the general public. Also, neither can be used as the default SMS app on Apple phones,but that’s not the app’s fault.
I don’t think they’re in trouble, they’re just talking about long term funding because it’s relevant. Can’t expand and get more funding without mentioning that you need it
Of the articles I saw about funding
- one was by Signal, estimating future costs
- one was by that Grayzone guy, misrepresenting where funds were from (said it was CIA lol), how much was being changed (title implied it was entirely CIA funded but it was a past, publicly documented investment by a government program)
I love it and have gotten everyone to want to use it?
Signal feels the closest, it’s basically equivalent to other messaging apps. Somewhat cleaner and easier to use IMO
The only downside is chat backups for people coming from Messenger, in particular those on iOS devices. Streamlining that process might get me to go “contact me on signal, I don’t check messenger often”, but right now I get why there’s a last bit of friction with my friends
WhatsApp has a similar limitation but they walk you through the backups process. Even then, they limit backups to google drive iirc. Signal could do something similar, but much better by explaining the process and opening up backup locations
Some of the hurtles I’ve encountered using privacy focused chat apps with friends and family is the lack of smooth group chats and adding people remotely.
Some apps have a QR code feature but also allow you to enter a code. It can be a challenge to setup with older family members.
boomers will always complain and cry.
in their minds, they should be able to buy a device and when they open it up, it should already come pre-installed with their granddaughter’s name and contact ready to go through a mind reading technology that knows that knows who bought the device and knows who exactly they want to talk to and when.
Star Trek on steroids or something idk.
