[0xb100db1ade]

I wish that Keybase could work with the Signal team on something.

Signal has a lot of experience in UI [1] and security, and Keybase had the identity proofs. I'd love to see them work together rather than compete.

[1] Signal UI used to be horrible but as of the past few months it's improved a ton! It's now my preferred SMS client.

[giggles_giggles]

>Signal UI used to be horrible but as of the past few months it's improved a ton!

That's funny, I've had the opposite experience. Once I got everyone I know to start using it and was completely locked-in, I started having all kinds of weird issues.

My favorite is when my phone has been off awhile. After I turn it back on, I get a notification for every message I sent/received on another device while it was off. Usually takes about 30 minutes for it to fully sync, buzzing and/or producing popups for every message along the way. I have about a dozen equally frustrating issues I could, if I had the time, enumerate.

And of course because it's free, there's no real support. Signal has been a huge disappointment for me. I'm preparing to move back to regular SMS, but now I have to untangle all of the users like my mother that I convinced to use Signal. Caveat emptor!

[pault]

You'd rather opt in to global passive surveillance than deal with an inconvenient UX?

[giggles_giggles]

It's not inconvenient, it's broken. The issue I described above is not the only misbehavior to which I'm frequently subjected. Another example: messages are delayed, often.

Recently I failed to reply to an urgent text about a medical diagnosis from my fiance due to Signal failing to push the message to my phone. This is unacceptable behavior from a critical application.

Do I get on a soapbox about how surveillance is terrible and miss being there for her by insisting on using Signal? No! I want her to be able to get in contact with me if there's an emergency, and that's the #1 priority.

[arthur_pryor]

(note: not trying to say the medical diagnosis scenario you describe is less important than your contribution to getting the world off SMS, just spitballing how we can work towards timely updates in our current world and wean off SMS)

in the situation you describe, or any urgent situation where speed of communication is paramount, what about bombardment through multiple channels? like, i'll often leave my phone out of my pocket, and not pay super close attention to it. and if it lights up with one text message, or one signal message, or whatever, i might not look at it. but if it's buzzing like crazy, or someone starts calling, i'd pick it up.

i guess what i'm saying is, "urgent" to me means signal/text/call/call someone that might be around the person/whatever, until the message gets through. if something is urgent, i would not send it solely by text. i've certainly had SMS messages get dropped or delayed many many times over the years.

can you really only use one messaging app at a time? signal is my primary messaging app, but i don't really find it bothersome to use whatsapp and regular SMS also. different people i communicate with prefer different channels, and often the same person will use different channels with me depending on the purpose (e.g., my dad mostly chats with me by SMS, and most of my immediate family's group chat is on SMS, but when my dad is texting with me about some sensitive personal financial info, it's over signal).

also, i hope that whatever the urgent issue was, it was resolved in an ok way. like i said, not trying to shortchange the urgency of a medical emergency or second guess your decision making or frustration at the time.

[pault]

Yeesh, that is really terrible, I'm sorry to hear that. I understand your reasons, but in signal's defense it is a free service, which is pretty amazing considering the number of users they are able to support. I suppose reliability is a trade-off, but it would be nice if they offered a paid tier with better performance.

[deadbunny]

You are aware that SMS is "best effort" as well? SMS is in no way guaranteed to be delivered in anything approaching an urget timeframe.

[dcbadacd]

The phone number requirement is a killing feature for me, makes it useless. I wouldn't put it even close to the UX bar Keybase has for me.

[0xb100db1ade]

I do, to some extent agree.

I think the idea is that privacy != anonymity. Signal provides the former, but not the latter.

It's tough. I think that usernames could become messy, but I also think it'd be amazing to anonymously tip a news reporter via Signal, but at the same time the latter would not be as safe as Tor etc.

[ocdtrekkie]

I would much rather have more competitors than fewer monolithic systems in this space, to be honest.