Signal is working on a standalone version of its desktop app that does not require a smartphone. Signal Desktop will also gain additional options when used as a linked device.
  • pulsewidth@lemmy.world
    31·
    8 hours ago

    “To register on Signal Desktop, a phone number will still be required.”

    Then this is just a whole lot of not much.

    Users have been asking Signal to allow accounts to be created without a phone number ever since it was released. I just want to use Signal with my kids who don’t have phone numbers, dude. Signal already have usernames and encrypted client-side contacts… What’s the holdup? Why insist a phone number is still required?

      • someone@lemmy.today
        6·
        7 hours ago

        They will also likely require a captcha done using webview, exposing many hardware identifiers to Google.

        They will once again claim this is to protect against spammers and not to track people.

        Signal is obviously a honeypot, as it never would have taken this long to release a desktop App not linked to a phone if it weren’t a honeypot, and they still are requiring a phone number. Any “privacy” company that adopts real privacy features only after huge pushback from the privacy community years later is likely a honeypot. Look at “tuta,” which a former government worker testified under oath is a honeypot: no accepting of Monero ever. Finally, when called a honeypot, they make a deal with a third party to accept Monero.

        Signal is probably releasing this because whoever owns the honeypot wants to link desktops to phone numbers, allowing the desktops to be hacked with something like Pegasus as well.

        Does anyone remember that accidental LinkedIn post showing all the Apps that one company was able to hack? And it showed WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, etc… And it was always based on a phone? And this photo was accidentally posted online before being scrubbed? I forget the details on it and if anyone remembers, please post about it to jog my memory. Well, now perhaps that group wants to hack laptops too.

        I don’t believe this is anything other than more bullshit. It wouldn’t surprise me if they also blocked VOIP for registration. Fuck Signal.

    • ExtremeDullard@piefed.socialEnglish
      22·
      13 hours ago

      Same here. I desperately want to exit the Android ecosystem and I have a cellphone all setup with UBPorts to do so, but the lack of native Signal client is a showstopper for me.

      • Kairos@lemmy.today
        5·
        13 hours ago

        You can use something like signal-cli and the desktop app for basically the same thing.

        • ExtremeDullard@piefed.socialEnglish
          13·
          13 hours ago

          The usability is nowhere near acceptable with a cellphone for daily usage with either or those options, or with the native client in Waydroid because it’s not persistent if Waydroid is closed.

          Signal with anything other than the official client sucks ass. I know, I tried.

          And that’s without mentioning that you still need to have the “master” Signal client running on an Android cellphone, which defeats the purpose if you want to ditch Android.

            • ExtremeDullard@piefed.socialEnglish
              2·
              5 hours ago

              Signal won’t run in the background in Waydroid in UBPorts: as soon as you close Waydroid, whatever runs inside dies.

              Also, if you want to run something else in Waydroid, it can’t run in parallel for some reason. So I’d have to kill Signal to run my banking app for example, then restart Signal - and be careful never to close the window as I use the cellphone throughout the day.

              Not super usable…

          • someone@lemmy.today
            3·
            7 hours ago

            Yes, Signal is completely unusable unless you’re using a phone with a closed source operating system with Signal linked to the phone number.

            Even if they are creating a Linux version, I don’t trust them at this point and think they are likely creating this as a hacking vector. It took them too damn long to do this, and they have never let people with higher threat models register without a number. The whole thing is sus.

            • ExtremeDullard@piefed.socialEnglish
              1·
              6 hours ago

              Yeah I don’t trust the Signal people much either. But I don’t really care: I use it mainly to share grocery lists, photos of work sites with builders, talk to friends or share non-important photos and videos easily and instantly without paying. And I can tell those who want to contact me to install it, it takes them 10 seconds and it’s done. It’s not about privacy for me, it’s about convenience and not paying the phone company.

              That’s why I’m not desperate to make it work with silly workarounds like Mautrix/Signal or put up with Waydroid on UBPorts: if it’s not convenient, it’s not worth it for me.

              • Kairos@lemmy.today
                1·
                12 hours ago

                Use a local Matrix bridge.

                This new update will not change how the desktop app looks. They’re just copying over the code for the signup flow.

                Edit: oh my brain put your and the top level comment together. Sorry.

                • ExtremeDullard@piefed.socialEnglish
                  4·
                  12 hours ago

                  Use a local Matrix bridge.

                  Not an option. You lose the ability to share photos and videos, which I do constantly with friends and family.

                  And it’s hellishly Rube Goldberg.

    • someone@lemmy.today
      3·
      7 hours ago

      Or use SimpleX Chat in a terminal instead desperately using some third party github repo to try to access something that tries to identify you based on numbers and hardware identifiers.