This, centralization, requires phone number, and being USA based. But…
personally, I don’t see Signal as an alternative to decentralized, foss chatting platforms. I see Signal as a replacement for SMS/MMS. I think everyone should be using it as their default SMS/MMS app instead of just a stock SMS/MMS app. It can send and receive SMS/MMS, so you do not need a separate app for family members or friends who are stubborn and don’t want to use it, but also can talk to other people who you have on Signal encrypted.
And then you can use a seperate app for truly private communications, decentralized, foss, e2ee, etc. that Signal fails at being.
Now I am not excusing the fact that Signal is USA based or centralized, I think centralization seems to go hand in hand with SMS/MMS so personally I am ok with that tradeoff. It being based in the USA though, that is concerning to me. But I’d much prefer using it, and getting family and friends on it, then using essentially plaintext SMS/MMS for everything. It’s extremely easy to use and activate, and not confusing even for the boomers in the family. Imo, this is what a lot of decentralized alternatives fail at. Also it does require your phone number, but again I see this as a plus in the sense of a SMS/MMS replacement. I would never be giving out Signal to people I want to talk to online, as I’d be giving out my phone number, and even when they implement usernames, there’d be no point imo as just using a decentralized alternative is the way to go at that point.
Use Signal, replace your stock SMS/MMS app with it. Try to get family & friends on it.
For any online friends, people who you don’t want to give your number to, or need truly serious privacy/anonymity, pick a decentralized, foss, alternative and stick with that.
Not sure off hand, I don’t really consider this a major issue but idk it might detect if they uninstall the app. I’ve never had someone uninstall the app.
At the very least the message sends unencrypted and you will see it sent unencrypted.
Not entirely sure as I said, I understand where you’re coming from. I’d still rather people use Signal than not at all, but yeah I see the issue here.
Maybe try opening an ticket on their forums and you’d get better responses.
https://community.signalusers.org/
deleting app does not delete account on any online service. reason why people are still messaging me on whatsapp and i am calling people on Duo and we are all waiting endlessly. some services like Telegram, Whatsapp (I probably didn’t cover it) etc. have a default inactive account cleanup schedule…not sure about Signal.
It would depend on my use case, I would take into consideration XMPP, Jami, Briar, Self-hosted Mumble, Jitsi, Rocketchat, Self-hosted IRC.
Not all are exactly decentralized and e2ee, a handful are, but those are just what I’d personally consider. Some have different use cases. Some are easier to use than others, for example I’d probably not invite normie friends to IRC, but would consider the other options. Some may not be the best for group voice chat, Mumble is my preference, although not e2ee, it is encrypted. I wouldn’t completely trust unless it was a self-hosted server or I trusted the hoster. Do some research and choose what works best for you and fits your needs.
This, centralization, requires phone number, and being USA based. But… personally, I don’t see Signal as an alternative to decentralized, foss chatting platforms. I see Signal as a replacement for SMS/MMS. I think everyone should be using it as their default SMS/MMS app instead of just a stock SMS/MMS app. It can send and receive SMS/MMS, so you do not need a separate app for family members or friends who are stubborn and don’t want to use it, but also can talk to other people who you have on Signal encrypted. And then you can use a seperate app for truly private communications, decentralized, foss, e2ee, etc. that Signal fails at being. Now I am not excusing the fact that Signal is USA based or centralized, I think centralization seems to go hand in hand with SMS/MMS so personally I am ok with that tradeoff. It being based in the USA though, that is concerning to me. But I’d much prefer using it, and getting family and friends on it, then using essentially plaintext SMS/MMS for everything. It’s extremely easy to use and activate, and not confusing even for the boomers in the family. Imo, this is what a lot of decentralized alternatives fail at. Also it does require your phone number, but again I see this as a plus in the sense of a SMS/MMS replacement. I would never be giving out Signal to people I want to talk to online, as I’d be giving out my phone number, and even when they implement usernames, there’d be no point imo as just using a decentralized alternative is the way to go at that point. Use Signal, replace your stock SMS/MMS app with it. Try to get family & friends on it. For any online friends, people who you don’t want to give your number to, or need truly serious privacy/anonymity, pick a decentralized, foss, alternative and stick with that.
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Not sure off hand, I don’t really consider this a major issue but idk it might detect if they uninstall the app. I’ve never had someone uninstall the app. At the very least the message sends unencrypted and you will see it sent unencrypted.
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Not entirely sure as I said, I understand where you’re coming from. I’d still rather people use Signal than not at all, but yeah I see the issue here. Maybe try opening an ticket on their forums and you’d get better responses. https://community.signalusers.org/
deleting app does not delete account on any online service. reason why people are still messaging me on whatsapp and i am calling people on Duo and we are all waiting endlessly. some services like Telegram, Whatsapp (I probably didn’t cover it) etc. have a default inactive account cleanup schedule…not sure about Signal.
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which ‘truly private […], decentralized, foss, e2ee’ communication method do you prefer?
It would depend on my use case, I would take into consideration XMPP, Jami, Briar, Self-hosted Mumble, Jitsi, Rocketchat, Self-hosted IRC. Not all are exactly decentralized and e2ee, a handful are, but those are just what I’d personally consider. Some have different use cases. Some are easier to use than others, for example I’d probably not invite normie friends to IRC, but would consider the other options. Some may not be the best for group voice chat, Mumble is my preference, although not e2ee, it is encrypted. I wouldn’t completely trust unless it was a self-hosted server or I trusted the hoster. Do some research and choose what works best for you and fits your needs.