[n8ta]

Removed SMS support and then added stories. Worried about signal's recent direction.

Being able to interact with my remaining non-signal contacts was huge. Really going to miss it. In contrast they are now adding a feature I do not care about at all.

[Vinnl]

In case you haven't seen the technical motivation for removing SMS yet, see https://community.signalusers.org/t/signal-blog-removing-sms...

It doesn't look like it has anything to do with Signal's direction in particular, but rather the changing environment they're in. (Specifically Android/Google making things harder.)

[n8ta]

"SMS is on the way out". I'll believe it when I see it. Apple isn't going to adopt it because they have no incentive to do so and apple has huge market share. Android hasn't even implemented it yet! We're killing super useful features because 50% (or whatever android market share is) of mobile phones might have something better next year???

Having SMS support as a workaround was huge for signal usability for me. Taking it away burns so much good will.

[Vinnl]

Well, Signal on iOS never had SMS support in the first place (for the same reason that it's now on its way out on Android).

[ryeights]

You can still communicate with your SMS-using friends via the normal means… IMO mixing totally secure and totally insecure communications in the same app (the same list view even!) was always a poor idea.

[spijdar]

From an outsider/non-user's perspective, there are two angles to this: dropping the ability to use Signal as your default SMS handler does make the program much more secure, but it also means the barrier for getting new, casual users to onboard much harder. When it functions as an SMS app, you can get friends/family/whoever to install it and set it as default, and it will opportunistically use E2EE when available.

It seems to me like this improves OPSEC for very privacy focused Signal users, but increases the barrier to entry for "casual" users who may not care enough to use a separate app for certain people, but may be convinced to use Signal for SMS.

All that said, I'm not sure how any of that actually plays out in the real world, or if there were that many actual users doing just that.

[anigbrowl]

I have never had any problem distinguishing between encrypted and unencrypted communication sin signal because they put a giant padlock icon next to the name of the contact. Now I have to use 2 different apps to handle messaging and set up a different color scheme or something to provide a visual cue about which is which if I respond to a notification in a hurry.

[bogota]

I agree i don’t see how you can knock signal in anyway for removing sms. What is the argument that this was some huge misstep i just don’t see it

[dont__panic]

It's fine if you don't use SMS in the Signal app much. But a lot of us only downloaded Signal because it could replace the built-in Android SMS app. By dropping the SMS feature, we now have to use N+1 apps just to receive the occasional shipping notification or 2FA message.

I'm glad that dropping SMS means nothing to you. But "i don't see how you can known signal in anyway" for dropping a feature sounds disingenuous.

[bogota]

I mean thats a slight inconvenience at the cost of not letting people be confused that they are not actually having an encrypted conversation. I still stand by my original statement and don’t understand how people are so mad about that. Sure “it sucks” you need another app now but the comments about this in the threat are treating it like signal is doing something malicious

[abdullahkhalids]

This removed-sms-without-reason is going to be a myth that persists for a while

> RCS is coming, and it doesn’t play well with Signal.... and Signal can’t add RCS support because there’s no RCS API on Android. Honestly, the days of any third-party SMS app are numbered.

https://community.signalusers.org/t/signal-blog-removing-sms...

[smbullet]

That reason might be a nice scapegoat that they invented after criticism because it's mentioned nowhere in their official announcement.

>There are three big reasons why we’re removing SMS support for the Android app now: prioritizing security and privacy, ensuring people aren’t hit with unexpected messaging bills, and creating a clear and intelligible user experience for anyone sending messages on Signal.

https://signal.org/blog/sms-removal-android/

So I think this "myth" will probably persist for a while.

[n8ta]

RCS is not here for Android and will likely never arrive for IOS...

Even if Android saw 100% adoption for RCS I'd still want to message my apple people via sms.

[aendruk]

It would help to dispel that “myth” if Our reasoning: Why we’re removing SMS support mentioned RCS at all.

[anigbrowl]

It's bullshit. Please stop retconning.

[TrueDuality]

While this is true, RCS isn't here yet and when it is there likely will be APIs for it. The argument that there aren't APIs for a feature that isn't present isn't a valid one in my book.

[nyuszika7h]

what do you mean "isn't here yet"? it's already a thing in many places

[anonporridge]

Don't forget integrating and pumping a shitty crypto altcoin, completely ignoring the vastly more legitimate and well trusted privacy coin monero while also potentially opening itself up to legal attack vectors for helping to facilitate money transfers, not just protect speech.

Lots of reasons recently to develop deep distrust for Signal leadership, and start calling into question whether the app is still legitimately private.

[autoexec]

> Lots of reasons recently to develop deep distrust for Signal leadership, and start calling into question whether the app is still legitimately private.

How about when Signal started storing people's contacts, their name, their photo, and their phone number in the cloud ignoring cries from their users that Signal should provide a way to opt out and bringing up security concerns, then refusing to update their privacy policy to reflect the new data collection meaning that for years now they've been outright lying to people about what data is being collected and how it's used. That was when I moved off the platform.

If you want private/secure consider looking elsewhere.

[anonporridge]

> If you want private/secure consider looking elsewhere.

Already on it.

Just such a shame that after years of trying to convince friends and family to use signal, I now have to convince them to use something else.

Oh well, that might just be the natural circle of life.

[autoexec]

I know, I was also a fan and had to go to friends and family and advise against using Signal after I'd told them years ago how great it was. You're right though, every great application seems the grow until it turns to trash and needs to replaced with something else. Very few apps escape that cycle. VLC is one of the good ones holding out.

[jakecopp]

> Just such a shame that after years of trying to convince friends and family to use signal, I now have to convince them to use something else.

This is the beauty of Matrix - you can change your client, or even your server and keep all your contacts!

[barbs]

Do you have sources for the contact upload and privacy policy stuff?

[autoexec]

https://community.signalusers.org/t/proper-secure-value-secu...

They started storing user data in the cloud and never updated their privacy policy even though it's been brought to their attention. (https://community.signalusers.org/t/can-signal-please-update...)

The very first line of their privacy policy reads: "Signal is designed to never collect or store any sensitive information" which is a total lie. For someone like a human rights activist or a whistleblower a list of all their Signal contacts is absolutely "sensitive information". It really used to be true that they didn't collect and store anything, but it hasn't been the case now for years!

If this is the first time you're hearing about the data Signal is collecting and storing in the cloud that should tell you all you need to know about how much they can be trusted.