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Signal

We’ve improved private group video calls in Signal with new features, incl. call links.

Create a link that anyone on Signal can use to join a group call *without* having to join a Signal group chat first

+ raise hand, emoji reactions, calls tab, & more
signal.org/blog/call-links

63 comments
always tired

@signalapp Secondary profiles when? (So I can have a pseudonym profile where people I contact from there or vice versa for example don't see my other name or profile picture)

AudraTran :debian:

Don't hold your breath. It took them like 12 years to figure out how to get usernames.

@simplex has figured this out.

Jacob | Five Eye Tea

@AudraTran SimpleX also has dreadfully slow speeds if you're in more than a couple groups, it's developed by a for-profit company and like 95% of the servers are run by them.

It's tech to watch and does a lot of cool stuff, but I firmly believe it's far (as in VERY far) from being a viable alternative. I'd go for Session before I'd go for SimpleX, at least for now.

AudraTran :debian:

Yeah I mean they both have pros and cons. The point is SimpleX understands anonymity is as important as privacy, and serves as a good example of how to do it. Signal clearly does not think it's important.

happyborg

@signalapp
Please can you allow each nag message to be disabled permanently.

#DarkPatterns #Signal

DanieruOtakuBoy

@signalapp No sabía que Signal tenía cuenta en Mastodon, ¡qué frescura!

Karma

@signalapp UnifiedPush when? :blobcathearthug:

Marc

@karma
It's already possible to use Signal with UnifiedPush. You can use @mollyim along with a mollysocket github.com/mollyim/mollysocket instance.

Derek Morr

@karma @signalapp what's the use case for this? It's likely a lot of work that an extremely small number of users would use.

If you use Google Play Services with Signal no message data is sent via push. You can also use the app without Play Services, albeit with a battery drain

Karma

@derekmorr @signalapp I understand that messages are not delivered through notifications. Instead, Signal servers send a message to the application saying, "Hey, wake up, you have something to do."

why UnifiedPush should be implemented?
1. Signal promotes itself as a privacy-focused app. messages may not be sent directly but metadata is still generated so it can and will be utilized
2. The existence of mollysocket, which has over 62,700 container downloads on ghcr.io only, indicates that there is a demand for this
3. Implementing UnifiedPush is not complicated. There are libraries for this protocol (implementing both client and server functionality)

@derekmorr @signalapp I understand that messages are not delivered through notifications. Instead, Signal servers send a message to the application saying, "Hey, wake up, you have something to do."

why UnifiedPush should be implemented?
1. Signal promotes itself as a privacy-focused app. messages may not be sent directly but metadata is still generated so it can and will be utilized
2. The existence of mollysocket, which has over 62,700 container downloads on ghcr.io only, indicates that there is a demand for this

Derek Morr

@signalapp @karma 1 is just paranoia, 2 that's a tiny fraction of Signal's estimated userbase, 3 integrating a different notification system in a production app is not trivial

Raph

@signalapp blur background please 🙏🙏🙏🙏

Baffling7384

@signalapp I don't know since when you guys have this new purple-ish color palette for your brand but I like it! Is a color redesign coming? If so I'm looking forward to these changes across all your platforms.

Levka

@signalapp

Anybody who believes that the Five Eyes don't read Signal is deluding themselves. If you're being investigated they plant a Trojan on your device that intercepts your typing before it gets encrypted. Encryption can be circumvented. Codes cannot.

Justin Koh

@signalapp it'd be great to get better Android tablet app support so it can be a linked device in order to make full use of this feature!

Luna Lactea

@signalapp When can I either make an account without a phone number or have something like a pseudonym that I can share attached to something like a fake profile so people I don't trust won't see all of the LGBT & furry stuff on my real profile?

Baffling7384

@jackemled @signalapp You mean your profile picture or things like that? That is shared with every contact of which you accepted their first message.

Luna Lactea

@Baffling7384 @signalapp Yes. I would like to be able to have a second username attached to a second profile picture & a second bio that I can access either with a second account that I created without a phone number or from within my primary account. That would allow me to separate my professional identity, which unfortunately can't just be the real me due to the political environment in my country, & the real me. That way if I didn't trust someone but needed to talk to them I could give them the username to my professional account & they would not be able to see my real profile. Almost every other instant messenger has a feature for having separate profiles or allows you to create a second account. Signal is one of the few that doesn't have this, but it is the one that would benefit the most from having it.

@Baffling7384 @signalapp Yes. I would like to be able to have a second username attached to a second profile picture & a second bio that I can access either with a second account that I created without a phone number or from within my primary account. That would allow me to separate my professional identity, which unfortunately can't just be the real me due to the political environment in my country, & the real me. That way if I didn't trust someone but needed to talk to them I could give them the...

Baffling7384

@jackemled @signalapp I think the main reason why this is not already a thing is the same with no phone number registration, that is: anti-abuse and anti-spam verification.

Nevertheless I think this is a very good idea and should be added, with up to let's say 5 aliases per phone number. You should go to community.signalusers.org and suggest it there if it hasn't been suggested before.

Luna Lactea

@Baffling7384 @signalapp It doesn't stop spam at all, it just makes it inaccessible to real people. Scammers that run spam campaigns can afford to purchase phone numbers in bulk from service providers that target businesses by using the same skeleton companies they use for their money laundering. This is why SMS spam is still so common. This is why WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, Instagram, & Discord, which all require a phone number now, still have a spam issue. The only way to stop scams is active moderation, because no preventative measure works since they can rent a click farm for three minutes to verify all of their accounts.

I can't afford another phone subscription & that's why I can't make a Signal account, I'm not rich like scamming organizations are. I want a Signal account so I can communicate safely & securely with my friends & my family. Every other instant messenger has no encryption or has poorly implemented & vulnerable encryption or is underdeveloped.

@Baffling7384 @signalapp It doesn't stop spam at all, it just makes it inaccessible to real people. Scammers that run spam campaigns can afford to purchase phone numbers in bulk from service providers that target businesses by using the same skeleton companies they use for their money laundering. This is why SMS spam is still so common. This is why WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, Instagram, & Discord, which all require a phone number now, still have a spam issue. The only way to stop scams is active...

Baffling7384

@jackemled @signalapp As I said you should suggest the alias idea in the forum.

Luna Lactea

@Baffling7384 @signalapp What's the point of an alias feature if I can't afford the phone number I need to make an account in the first place?

Baffling7384

@jackemled @signalapp Wait don't you have a Signal account already? The point of the alias feature would be that you would use that same phone number you already have for multiple aliases. You wouldn't need another subscription.

Luna Lactea

@Baffling7384 @signalapp No, I don't have one. I can't make one. It needs a phone number

Baffling7384

@jackemled @signalapp I see. Well that's another issue. I just assumed you already had one because you complained about your profile data sharing.

Luna Lactea replied to Baffling7384

@Baffling7384 @signalapp I think you're misunderstanding what I said.

Baffling7384 replied to Luna

@jackemled @signalapp I agree. Here (furry.engineer/@jackemled/1134) you say you need a second profile (an alias) for your main Signal account. Because of this I assumed you already had an account so using a phone number wouldn't have been an issue to begin with. That is not the case it seems. So you would want to use your furry persona in a secure way preferably via Signal without phone number because using your phone number would expose you right?

Luna Lactea replied to Baffling7384

@Baffling7384 @signalapp I mean I need to be able to have two to have one at all. I'm already a minority & people also have something against furries too so that makes it even worse. I can't make a Signal account & have the real me on it because then I won't be able to make one where I pretend to be normal. I can't make a Signal account & pretend to be normal on it because then I won't be able to use it to talk to the people I want to talk to because "that's not normal". I need to have two completely separate identities for safety reasons.

@Baffling7384 @signalapp I mean I need to be able to have two to have one at all. I'm already a minority & people also have something against furries too so that makes it even worse. I can't make a Signal account & have the real me on it because then I won't be able to make one where I pretend to be normal. I can't make a Signal account & pretend to be normal on it because then I won't be able to use it to talk to the people I want to talk to because "that's not normal". I need to have two completely...

Baffling7384 replied to Luna

@jackemled You must be already using some platform to communicate with "normal" people and furries right? If the fact that you have to use a phone number to register is not a non starter, then all you have to do is decide which persona you want to have better privacy, and use the number you already have with that persona's Signal. Just because you can't use it on both doesn't mean you can't use it on at least one. Keep using the platform you are already using with the lower privacy persona.

Luna Lactea replied to Baffling7384

@Baffling7384 @signalapp This isn't about furries. I use exclusively platforms that do not require a phone number to register, such as fediverse, but they do not provide end to end encryption or their encryption does not work properly & allows a third party to decrypt messages under certain conditions. The "normal person" persona exists only to protect me by allowing me to pretend to be normal when necessary. It is present on all platforms I have a real account on. If I can't also have that fake account on a platform it's not safe to have a real account on it because it will be exposed without the fake one present to accept people I don't trust to know who I am in its place.

@Baffling7384 @signalapp This isn't about furries. I use exclusively platforms that do not require a phone number to register, such as fediverse, but they do not provide end to end encryption or their encryption does not work properly & allows a third party to decrypt messages under certain conditions. The "normal person" persona exists only to protect me by allowing me to pretend to be normal when necessary. It is present on all platforms I have a real account on. If I can't also have that fake...

Luna Lactea replied to Luna

@Baffling7384 @signalapp For example, if I am told by my workplace to create a Signal account for communication I can't make the excuse "it won't let me, someone else registered with this phone number before". That would require me to contact Signal support to have them delete my real account & register my fake account, which loses all of the contacts I had. Then I will have the fake account to present to work, but I will no longer be able to use Signal to communicate to my friends securely.

Baffling7384 replied to Luna

@jackemled @signalapp I see. One thing I'd like to point out that you can delete and re-register your Signal account yourself in a matter of 10 minutes if necessary. But then of course you will lose your data and contacts. I don't know which company would require a Signal account though.

Luna Lactea replied to Baffling7384

@Baffling7384 @signalapp Yes, & I don't want to lose all of my contacts. Even if I do end up registering a fake account for work or something it will be noticed when it gets deleted when I replace it with my real account again. I don't know of any company that requires a Signal account, but most workplaces will tell you things like "the work groupchat is on Signal & you need to join it so we can send you messages while you're not at work". It may not be Signal, it could be another platform, but that's guaranteed to happen. That's just how the work culture is in my country & it's really shitty. You can't get away with not being in the work group chat.

@Baffling7384 @signalapp Yes, & I don't want to lose all of my contacts. Even if I do end up registering a fake account for work or something it will be noticed when it gets deleted when I replace it with my real account again. I don't know of any company that requires a Signal account, but most workplaces will tell you things like "the work groupchat is on Signal & you need to join it so we can send you messages while you're not at work". It may not be Signal, it could be another platform, but that's...

Baffling7384 replied to Luna

@jackemled @signalapp Also wouldn't having multiple aliases help your situation? You can give different profiles with usernames to different people registered to the same phone number.

Profile A to people in A situation
Profile B to people in B situation

Both A and B tied to the same phone number. They can't be connected.

Luna Lactea replied to Baffling7384

@Baffling7384 @signalapp That's exactly what I already do & what I've been explaining, but that doesn't work for Signal because you can only have one account for each phone number. Also, what about people that can't afford a phone number?

Baffling7384 replied to Luna

@jackemled @signalapp Okay now we're on the same page. The way to make things like that happen is to suggest them in places like the Signal community forum. Do you want me to check whether it has been suggested before, and if not suggest it for you? Do you want to do that yourself?

Luna Lactea replied to Baffling7384

@Baffling7384 @signalapp I'm sure it has been suggested before. I'm pretty sure I actually looked for it & found it on there & it had been asked for & denied like eight years ago or something. I would prefer not to create more accounts for more things because I have too many, not counting the "normal person" accounts I have.

Sapient

@jackemled @signalapp

If you want a signal account without having your own phone line for it, textverified provides an SMS activation service for 50 cents. I have used it to setup accounts for friends that don't otherwise have their own line.

Luna Lactea

@sapient @signalapp How much do you have to use it to keep it from expiring? How much is it every month?

Sapient

@jackemled @signalapp signal accounts dont expire AFAIK, the SMS verification just happens once and then your signal account is active, theres no monthly fee. They have other options if you need something reusable but its not necessary for signal.

Luna Lactea

@sapient @signalapp I mean the phone number. You need to keep control of a phone number linked to any account because they're an easy way to steal an account with one linked.

Sapient

@jackemled @signalapp you dont need to keep it active , but you can pay $0.50 to reactivate a number and get another text with it if you lose access to all logged in devices.

Luna Lactea

@sapient @signalapp I would rather not have the phone number out of my control at all because that's a huge security issue. Thank you anyway though.

Farshid Hakimy / فرشید

@signalapp it would be cool if we could join meetings in a browser and without an account.
This would actually increase privacy as many people don't need their messages on their desktop (which is almost always more insecure than the smartphone anyway).

CpyJx 🍉

@farshidhakimy @signalapp browser data is intercepted daily by hundreds if not thousands of companies via managed endpoints that have SSL stripping software on them. If you're communicating via a "secure" messenger that works on the web, it isn't as secure as you think.

Farshid Hakimy / فرشید

@Cappyjax @signalapp
SSL stripping is not possible after the first secure connection on any modern browser.
Also every modern browser warns users when they're connected via HTTP.
Even if a malicious actor gets valid SSL certificates without compromising the server, the admins will get warned because of Certificate Transparency.
In addition to that, the source code for the web client would be open source, which means that one could open a static http file locally or host it themselves.

CpyJx 🍉

@farshidhakimy @signalapp I misspoke, security isn't my area. I meant MITM by installing a root cert, not SSL stripping, which is a completely different vector of attack, but from my brief reading, is possible to secure against via cert transparency like you said. This is great! Definitely need to look into this more, would be great to have a web client as an option if security isn't a concern anymore.

Juan Ramon Maqueda

@signalapp Are there any plans to develop and make available Signal in snap and flatpak formats?

Daniele

@signalapp seems great !
Looking forward to test those !

WTangoFoxtrot

@signalapp this is amazing. Now if only the video quality in calls was not of a 🥔 when compared to FaceTime/whatsapp maybe more folks would use these new features.

ilyess

@Wtangofoxtrot Hmm, video quality is excellent for me and has been for years now. Are you having quality issues in multiple devices?

@signalapp

JuLY LION

@signalapp I just want my SMS support back. I've been hopping across half-a-dozen different free SMS apps that are either missing features or have those broken features. Everything just worked with Signal.

I also can't convince my friends to try Signal when I now don't use it.

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