No desktop client. There's a Chrome App being worked on, but that's not an ideal setup. I really don't know why they aren't focuing on this, as it's absolutely the #1 issue whenever I talk to someone about Signal. Even the Chrome App packaged in a standalone Electron-like setup would be better.
Small team + high security standards = slow development progress
Why a chrome extension and not a desktop app? Because a desktop app is 3 desktop apps if you want to be cross platform, and since it is secure communication software, all of those edge cases that pop up in cross platform desktop application development really matter.
I think it's better that Signal takes its time and gets it right so that eventually we have a good solution. If Signal were to throw caution to the wind and hackathon up some desktop apps, then we may never have a single good option.
Signals competitors don't share it's security standards, and so it's not really reasonable to compare it to its competitors feature for feature. I expect that adding a given feature or other unit of complexity bears a higher cost for Signal than, say Whatsapp or Telegram. In the meantime, we still have the Signal mobile apps for situations where inconvenience isn't an insurmountable barrier.
So I did some testing, and with a little tweaking the Signal Chrome App can be run under the NW.js alpha as a standalone client. Both need to mature more before the combination becomes fully usable [1][2], but once everything is ready, this looks like a very simple way to set Signal up with cross-platform desktop apps.
[1] Signal-Browser doesn't seem to be able to add contacts properly when used with the production server, and the staging server looks like it's down right now.
[2] NW.js currently refuses to recognize Signal-Browser as a Chrome App unless I rename package.json to something else. Remote debugging doesn't seem to work with Chrome Apps running under NW.js at the moment - the inspector just gives me an empty response for each page I try to access. And there will need to be some way of configuring the Chromium engine to use Signal's self-signed SSL cert, though they'll have to solve this for the Chrome App as well.
I've been using Chit Chat on Mac which I find suits my needs (https://github.com/stonesam92/ChitChat), and which is essentially a wrapper around the web interface
It's .. the same thing. Now, bear with me: I don't say that it doesn't offer something over Telegram (most probably: Far better privacy/security), but it's a centralized service, hosted by a single entity, using your phone number as 'identity'. Ignore the first points, but the latter is so broken, Signal could be the most usable and glorious app ("Everything just works") on the planet and I'd still hate that idea.
Right now, Telegram suffers from the same faults (phone number = identity, closed/central server), but excels in usability and client availability. Signal is - for me, right here - worse. And I _should_ be part of Signal's target group.
Signal uses asymmetrical encryption - your private key is very well able to prove your identity - I'm pretty sure the concept "identity" in Signal is built on that technology. But for contacting people - well - what else would you suggest?!
I don't know your mail address or telephone number. If this message manages to reach you - can you explain your point a bit more?
If the private key would _be_ the identify, that'd be awesome. And maybe I fail to understand ChatSecure/Signal. I'd be glad to be corrected. But as far as I understand, that system ties a user to a mobile number, because 'that is as good a unique identifier as we get' and uses that instead. I think Threema does what you describe - or at least expects you to exchange keys via QR code when you physically meet?
My gripe with telephone numbers is this: I don't want to be tied to an identity I cannot control, to an identify that is public knowledge and unchangeable. I want to contact people via IM without them being able to call me.
Phone numbers are for calls (okay, texts for historical reasons).
I think the identity is connected to what key pair you control / what private key you have on your phone.
F.x. I installed a while ago Signal on my phone and recently went to another country where I used a different SIM card (hence a different phone number) and I could still use my Signal app as usual.
TextSecure (the predecessor to Signal) used to support encrypted SMS. You could send all the encrypted messages you want without using their centralized service. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, they dropped that capability a few months ago. Then, to add insult to injury, the app disables itself if you don't update it for 6 months.
On the bright side, there's now an open source fork called SMSSecure. As the name implies, it does encrypted SMS. It works pretty well. I just hope the open source maintainers are keeping up with security updates to the protocol and not introducing any new bugs...
I want something to replace Hangouts, WhatsApp and Messenger and Telegram fits the bill while it looks to me like Signal doesn't. My Telegram account can be synced on multiple PCs and devices, while Signal seems to be phone only.
> My Telegram account can be synced on multiple PCs and devices, while Signal seems to be phone only.
I believe that is only temporary. The latest version of Signal hints at multi-device synchronization, though it appears to not be fully implemented. One example of this is the Chrome browser extension[0].
Maybe for a synching feature it would be necessary to compromise on security of the data. The data is asymmetrically encrypted - so you'd have to synch it yourself by sending the data encrypted with you second phones key or you'd have to copy the private key itself. But I guess it would be possible. Though I don't miss this feature anyway.
No desktop client (personal computer), no web client (work computer), no multi device support (multiple phones/computers). Telegram has all of these things.
EDIT: Apparently they're bringing desktop and "web" through a Chrome extension and possibly a desktop browser wrapper. Also multi device support for desktops but apparently not yet for mobile.
I can get my parents and others using Telegram. It's got lots of cute features, like short audio clips. "Self destruct", while not really true, at least provides a time based way to erase conversations. (Signal only does this by message count.)
Signal is getting way better, but Telegram is just a better messaging client at the moment.
edit: Apparently alpha versions of NW.js now support running Chrome Apps. This could be interesting. https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/nwjs-general/YuwMHd_uv...