Signal is pretty great and I use it at least a little myself, but it’s not necessarily perfect. The big elephant that’s always been in the room is its dependence on one backend and the fact they’re based in the US.
Different threat models call for different approaches, and every option has tradeoffs.
Because people stick with the default. There was a time people I know would try different messaging apps but after hangouts got canceled nobody wants to bother.
Because Signal 1) doesn’t ship as default, and 2) requires a login process.
You’ve already lost the majority of the general public with #1. The Venn diagram of people who go through with #2 and the people who already know about Signal is nearly a complete circle.
You see, the problem is that whatsapp came very early, when it released it wasn’t shit and it provided free messages which in many european countries wasn’t a thing yet, everyone hopped on it and used it as main communication platform, this created a big ass network effect that is nearly unescapeable, even today i can’t escape from it because i am the only idiot who uses Signal and Matrix and no one wants to leave whatsapp because they already have an account and all their contacts
I use Signal via Molly and as @[email protected] points out, there’s friction in getting users to on to it. But also the UX isn’t even as good as WhatsApp let alone Telegram.
Literally everyone should just use Signal. I really don’t understand why we all don’t.
Signal is pretty great and I use it at least a little myself, but it’s not necessarily perfect. The big elephant that’s always been in the room is its dependence on one backend and the fact they’re based in the US.
Different threat models call for different approaches, and every option has tradeoffs.
Because people stick with the default. There was a time people I know would try different messaging apps but after hangouts got canceled nobody wants to bother.
Because Signal requires a phone number.
Because Signal 1) doesn’t ship as default, and 2) requires a login process.
You’ve already lost the majority of the general public with #1. The Venn diagram of people who go through with #2 and the people who already know about Signal is nearly a complete circle.
Used to shill XMPP but everyone should use Tox at this point ngl.
downside: Sharing IDs is annoying (QR code if you are on mobile? idk haven’t tried)
updownsides:
But the same is true for WhatsApp…
You see, the problem is that whatsapp came very early, when it released it wasn’t shit and it provided free messages which in many european countries wasn’t a thing yet, everyone hopped on it and used it as main communication platform, this created a big ass network effect that is nearly unescapeable, even today i can’t escape from it because i am the only idiot who uses Signal and Matrix and no one wants to leave whatsapp because they already have an account and all their contacts
Was true (except for trustworthy encryption). Then network effects took over and peer pressure did the work.
It could happen again in a good way this time, but the resistance will be stiff.
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Because signal dropped SMS support.
I use Signal via Molly and as @[email protected] points out, there’s friction in getting users to on to it. But also the UX isn’t even as good as WhatsApp let alone Telegram.
what ui? there is a namelist, a call icon, a message icon. what in the hell do you need?
one thing missing is support for Android Tablets, its pissing my GF off on her Samsung Tablet and yet it works for my mother on her ipad ffs
I used signal offical app and honestly it has a good UI and UX, what does it lack? What seems bad? I don’t understand