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Signal tests usernames that keep your phone number private (www.bleepingcomputer.com)
submitted 2 years ago* by to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
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[–] 119 points 2 years ago (1 child)

Finally

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  • [–] 38 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (4 children)

    Now if they'd just let me run the damned client on more than one device so I can reply to messages from my tablet.

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  • [–] 18 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I'm running it on phone, tab (long ago), and desktop... What do you mean?

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  • [–] 18 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    Maybe they mean how the messages don't sync between devices

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  • [–] 16 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Ah, I thought that was by design.

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  • [–] 23 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    But they do sync. They just don't keep messaging history, which is, as you say, by design. Signal doesn't keep copies of your messages so they cannot give you old message history if you connect your account to a new device.

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  • [–] 13 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    That's true, but once you trust a new device, there's no reason the authority (your phone that has all history) couldn't transfer the history over to the new client.

    I get it would add some complexity, but it could be done in a secure and private way.

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  • [–] 13 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I feel like that is also by design. If your account is compromised, you wouldn't want them to be able to pull messages from your existing devices. It kinda defeats the purpose of them not being stored on the servers.

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  • [+] -1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 child)
    [deleted]
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  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    They removed this support, because it was misleading users who thought they were getting E2EE when using it as an SMS client.

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  • [–] -1 points 2 years ago

    I'd be interested in utilization data before and after that change. Anecdotally, I use Signal much less after SMS was removed. With one app, I could opportunistically use Signal, when the other person had it, and send an SMS otherwise. Now I have to decide what kind of message to send before opening an app and learning my options. Most of those quick messages have moved back to SMS for me.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago

    Yup, exactly. I switch between phone and tablet during the day and signal is the only messaging client that makes me stop what I'm doing and pick up an entirely separate device to check messages and reply. A bunch of my friends ended up on telegram or matrix because the usage model just doesn't work for people who use multiple android or iOS devices.

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