[sliken]

Currently signal is asking for a pin periodically to allow migration to a new device every few years when a user gets a new phone.

Instead of typing in a pin few days/weeks for years, why not just have an export feature that users can select. Have users fill out an encryption key, then 1 minute later when they grab their new phone they can type it in again.

Ideally this would work from the desktop client, a tablet client, and phone clients. So if my device dies, is stolen, or sold I can restore my history from any other signal client I run.

Or maybe use the IOS approach which allows users to cloud sync to keep history (if they want), or to turn it off, which is less convenient, but more secure.

Either approach would save 10s or 100s of pin entries, and still provide a good user experience when switching phones.