[serial_dev]

In that case it doesn't make sense to make it required.

Sure, I don't mind if they ask for my phone number if they think that's a better default onboarding flow, but allow users to bypass it.

With all that said, I don't think it's really only about user friction.

[illiac786]

they did not "make it required", Signal was just never developed to support anything else for username/registration. Which is what they have now almost corrected.

[serial_dev]

sounds required to me.

[illiac786]

It's wording then. Making something required sounds like an artificial limitation whereas implementing support for usernames requires a lot of work, it's not like they commented out a couple of lines on purpose.

What is required at the moment is any phone number, not your phone number. You can use a phone booth even.