I sure hope so. This is the single biggest problem I have with Signal. Phone numbers really should not be treated as primary IDs. They are under the control of a third party and can be reassigned or fairly easily hijacked. Ideally you shouldn’t need a phone number to sign up, either, especially for a privacy-focused service.
I mean, username vs phone number kinda doesn’t matter anymore since it doesn’t even do SMS anymore. This is probably the most popular change they could do and which has the least consequences on bloat.
https://jami.net perhaps ? I’ve just heard about it and didn’t try it myself, but it’s kind of appealing to see a new decentralized messaging app (I wish tox succeeded in this field, but hey…).
I wish I could be excited for this but after no longer being able to use it for SMS and shoving crypto in it… Well, I just don’t wanna use Signal anymore :(
@TheEntity@bbbhltz@Lionir To have all communications in a single place/app, and be able to back up / restore in a single place, instead of messing with multiple applications.
SMS support got more people to use it, its easy to convince friends/family to swap if they can do all their regular texting in there. I understand why they removed it, but I think they did it way too early, they still needed a larger userbase.
Because if the username is a phone number, it is just very convenient. If someone I know switches then I keep the entire conversation with them and just continue. If I want to encourage someone I know, I can just tell them about the features they’ll get with Signal rather than trying to sell them a platform which kind of sucks on desktop.
If you’re trying to move from using only one messaging platform (SMS) to two (SMS+Signal), then I understand the friction. If you’re like me and you have five other messaging platforms anyway, then a sixth makes no difference. This has never bothered me, but it’s one of the reasons I have not moved my mother onto Signal — it’s added complexity that she’s not really going to understand.
That said, I never enabled SMS in the Signal app and I wouldn’t even if it came back. RCS is available now, and until Android provides third-party app developers the ability to make RCS clients, it’s a dead end.
That makes a lot of sense, thank you for the explanation.
Would you mind summarizing to me the state of RCS on Android right now? You seem to be knowledgeable on the matter and I’m very behind the times on it.
In theory, RCS is something cell phone carriers should support directly, like SMS and MMS. In practice, carriers just didn’t care, so Google built their own RCS relay with blackjack! and hookers!, integrating it into their own Messages app. This works because RCS is designed to run over the internet, and does not strictly need a phone network. Unfortunately, it means you need to use Google’s Messages app.
While Android allows third-party developers to hook into SMS and make their own texting apps, Google has not built RCS support into Android itself — it’s an application-level feature. Currently third-party RCS clients are not possible. I think Google has partnered with Samsung (and maybe others?) to include support in their messaging apps as well, but fans of third-party apps like Textra are out of luck.
I’m not totally sure what the situation is on carriers who directly support RCS. Some of them have simply partnered with Google rather than building their own support. Some of them only support it within their own network (an early-2000s throwback nobody wanted). It’s been a mess and I’m not up on all the latest developments myself.
yeah, they were supposed to ship around the end of 2021 at first. I was hoping that once usernames and phone number privacy landed, I could encourage some internet friends to move from Snapchat and its garbage experience, but in the end I just ended up not using Snapchat and falling apart with them over time.
I’ll believe it when I see it. It’s been “soon to come” for about 2 years now.
Edit: that said, the Signal team had done an excellent job with the app and overall UX. So much so, that my technologically inept friends are no longer asking me"how do I" and are, instead, showing me “look at this”.
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I sure hope so. This is the single biggest problem I have with Signal. Phone numbers really should not be treated as primary IDs. They are under the control of a third party and can be reassigned or fairly easily hijacked. Ideally you shouldn’t need a phone number to sign up, either, especially for a privacy-focused service.
Thanks fornusing the nitter url!
I don’t want it to turn into Telegram, just give me a lightweight, secure and privacy focused messaging app.
I mean, username vs phone number kinda doesn’t matter anymore since it doesn’t even do SMS anymore. This is probably the most popular change they could do and which has the least consequences on bloat.
Matrix is what you’re looking for.
It will be difficult to switch my friend groups again, now that they are finally on Signal
Definitely. Also, everybody will blame all issues they run into on you.
I wouldn’t really consider matrix lightweight
The reference client Element isn’t, but the protocol itself is quite ok.
Why would this specific change affect these things in a bad way?
https://jami.net perhaps ? I’ve just heard about it and didn’t try it myself, but it’s kind of appealing to see a new decentralized messaging app (I wish tox succeeded in this field, but hey…).
I wish I could be excited for this but after no longer being able to use it for SMS and shoving crypto in it… Well, I just don’t wanna use Signal anymore :(
Do you Matrix instead?
I do use Matrix but not for the same purpose.
Why use Signal for SMS if they are unencrypted either way?
@TheEntity @bbbhltz @Lionir To have all communications in a single place/app, and be able to back up / restore in a single place, instead of messing with multiple applications.
SMS support got more people to use it, its easy to convince friends/family to swap if they can do all their regular texting in there. I understand why they removed it, but I think they did it way too early, they still needed a larger userbase.
Because if the username is a phone number, it is just very convenient. If someone I know switches then I keep the entire conversation with them and just continue. If I want to encourage someone I know, I can just tell them about the features they’ll get with Signal rather than trying to sell them a platform which kind of sucks on desktop.
If you’re trying to move from using only one messaging platform (SMS) to two (SMS+Signal), then I understand the friction. If you’re like me and you have five other messaging platforms anyway, then a sixth makes no difference. This has never bothered me, but it’s one of the reasons I have not moved my mother onto Signal — it’s added complexity that she’s not really going to understand.
That said, I never enabled SMS in the Signal app and I wouldn’t even if it came back. RCS is available now, and until Android provides third-party app developers the ability to make RCS clients, it’s a dead end.
That makes a lot of sense, thank you for the explanation.
Would you mind summarizing to me the state of RCS on Android right now? You seem to be knowledgeable on the matter and I’m very behind the times on it.
In theory, RCS is something cell phone carriers should support directly, like SMS and MMS. In practice, carriers just didn’t care, so Google built their own RCS relay
with blackjack! and hookers!, integrating it into their own Messages app. This works because RCS is designed to run over the internet, and does not strictly need a phone network. Unfortunately, it means you need to use Google’s Messages app.While Android allows third-party developers to hook into SMS and make their own texting apps, Google has not built RCS support into Android itself — it’s an application-level feature. Currently third-party RCS clients are not possible. I think Google has partnered with Samsung (and maybe others?) to include support in their messaging apps as well, but fans of third-party apps like Textra are out of luck.
I’m not totally sure what the situation is on carriers who directly support RCS. Some of them have simply partnered with Google rather than building their own support. Some of them only support it within their own network (an early-2000s throwback nobody wanted). It’s been a mess and I’m not up on all the latest developments myself.
Fantastic _ Hopefully this can makeup for the lack of SMS support
Ironically, I started using signal because SMS wasn’t working for a contact that I had in another country. It was that or WhatsApp.
Im not holding my breath. Its been years since i heard it could “soon” get usernames.
If you want to join the Beta you can at least have the option of creating a username⬅ INCORRECTWhich beta, I’m on Signal beta and it isn’t there yet.
Ah, I was mistaken. I am not on any beta so I assumed that’s how the user had access.
yeah, they were supposed to ship around the end of 2021 at first. I was hoping that once usernames and phone number privacy landed, I could encourage some internet friends to move from Snapchat and its garbage experience, but in the end I just ended up not using Snapchat and falling apart with them over time.
Hopefully this is a step towards using the same signal account on multiple phones.
Yes, this would be a great move. I won’t hold my breath but it’d be a nice surprise.
That would be nice
Are users still required to provide a phone number?
yes.
I’ll believe it when I see it. It’s been “soon to come” for about 2 years now.
Edit: that said, the Signal team had done an excellent job with the app and overall UX. So much so, that my technologically inept friends are no longer asking me"how do I" and are, instead, showing me “look at this”.