I'll also just add: it's probably not a good idea to use any modifications to an E2EE messenger unless you are comfortable with those privacy/security guarantees possibly being violated by the 3rd party code.
The only exception to this would be if I really trusted the goals of the 3rd party, like Graphene.
i use it only because it happens to have a convenient 'supply trust chain' on GrapheneOS: (built-in) App Store -> Accrescent[0] -> Molly (seems to ship the 'FOSS' version)
i don't use any of the enhancements, but it does receive notifications over the websocket it keeps open in the background vs only waking up on an FCM push notification like the regular app
i wonder if the supply chain risk of having a second entity (that signs the apks!) involved is really worth it to anyone... hope signal can be published on Accrescent or similar someday :p
I've used Molly for over a year. Overnight it lost the device registration and will not contact the servers to re-register. The backup feature also does not work which left me dead in the water for several days with no fix. I switched back to signal and had to start a new database. It was a disaster. YMMV
Does it lock me out of the app like signal if I don't update the app every few weeks? I'm looking for an app that never needs to be updated; Oh, I guess that is email.
The Whisperfish [1] project (a Signal messenger for Sailfish OS) maintains an independent Signal client library written in Rust [2]. It works quite well - unless Signal decides to change their protocols or kick non-standard clients.
My main grievances with the Signal app are mainly centered around UI and UX, and features. Without trying to be mean, I think it's plain ugly and clunky. Features like live location or persistent multi-device messages etc will probably never be implemented with the current strategy of Signal.
The fact that this "improved" version does not show a single screenshot of the UI on their own website, signals to me (pun intended) that this app will address none of my wishes.
One thing that would be really nice from a new user perspective would be to have some screenshots so people can visually see the interface. Just giving some "get new users" feedback, not criticizing at all.
$50 says this is some nation state trying to sow seeds of discord into the Signal user base. Signal is actually becoming so well adopted most of my friends are on it now. Trying to convince them all to use yet another app is going to be pretty tough, especially since there isn’t really any decent evidence that Signal is insecure.
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[ 2.5 ms ] story [ 49.9 ms ] threadWhat database?
This page is clearly written for developers that are already familiar with it.
From this I can already predict this project is going nowhere.
What "proprietary blobs" does Signal have?
I'll also just add: it's probably not a good idea to use any modifications to an E2EE messenger unless you are comfortable with those privacy/security guarantees possibly being violated by the 3rd party code.
The only exception to this would be if I really trusted the goals of the 3rd party, like Graphene.
i don't use any of the enhancements, but it does receive notifications over the websocket it keeps open in the background vs only waking up on an FCM push notification like the regular app
i wonder if the supply chain risk of having a second entity (that signs the apks!) involved is really worth it to anyone... hope signal can be published on Accrescent or similar someday :p
[0] https://accrescent.app/
Happy user for many years now, thanks for the support!
I'm pretty unconvinced that this is a sane or useful thing to do.
Can someone explain, is this different from adding (up to 5) devices to your Signal account? Are these devices all "primary" or something?
[1] https://gitlab.com/whisperfish/whisperfish
[2] https://github.com/whisperfish/presage
But not sure if even the upstream Signal client has this.
The fact that this "improved" version does not show a single screenshot of the UI on their own website, signals to me (pun intended) that this app will address none of my wishes.