Signal Review: The Good, The Lovely, The annoyance

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always hated the choice of messaging software. I used to use LINE which is a messaging service popular here in Thailand and Japan. I never liked it, the other choice I could use are: SMS and Facebook Messenger, which I don’t think I need to explain why they are horrible. :P

But how have I heard of Signal though?

A few months ago, @runarcn introduced me to Signal and recommended it. I don’t usually agree on everything runarcn said… actually I don’t agree with most things he usually talks about (sorry runarcn :P). I have tried out private options before, such as Matrix or Telegram. I feel like they are kinda horrible in their own right. Matrix for example is not the most user-friendly, plus their uh- “Failed to decrypt” issue is something I’d never want to bring to my friends or family. As for Telegram, it’s not the worst but the fact that their server-side code is not FOSS makes it something I want to touch less compared to Signal. Proprietary software is not like that much of an issue for me, but if I could choose I’d choose FOSS ones. (Provided it is good enough)

The Good

So when I first downloaded Signal on my phone there are two things I noticed:

1. This is very user-friendly!
2. Holy cow! It actually looks good! That’s my first impression, but there’s more to i than that, there’s desktop Linux support! Hooray! If you’ve seen my last article that was kind of an issue for me… I like that it added features that typical user would expect such as: Stickers, GIF, Voice Message, Stories, and Video calls! While I don’t use half of those features myself, I think it’s nice for those switching from other platforms which do have that.

The Lovely

I was gonna do a “The Good, The Bad, The Ugly” kinda style because I thought it’s funny but I don’t have anything that I’d call bad or even ugly, sooooo yeah :P Anyways, one of the things I love about Signal is their stance on encryption, Signal even threatens to pull out of the UK because their government wants them to break the encryption and scan for media that user may send, that is really good dedication to user-privacy. In a recent interview Signal’s President, Meredith Whittaker have been asked about the topic: How do you respond to the government pressure to comply when you’re threatened with an outright ban? “I mean, it’s simple: We can’t provide the information. So you can put a gun to my head — you’ll have to shoot. We don’t have it because it’s end-to-end encrypted. There’s no balancing that’s in our hands because of the guarantees we make.” I doubt that I will need that kind of privacy and security anytime soon, but it’s a very nice to have in this day and age. Another nice thing that I really love is the foundation behind it. It is a non-profit, which is really nice considering that their goals isn’t to make money of my data….

The Annoyance

Like everything in this world, it isn’t perfect. Here are a few annoyances I have with it:

1. No Android tablets support: This isn’t an issue I’d particularly blame Signal for as Android tablets have like barely any market share… This can be fixed using a fork of Signal Android called Molly
2. No usernames: This is kind of an issue if I ever want to use it for online purporses. Signal is originally made to be an SMS replacement, so they haven’t switched over to username instead of phone number. I hope something does happen in the end though.
3. No SMS support: Well, they used to but not anymore :( This is mostly just so I can read SMS on the desktop….
4. The protocol is not federate: This may change, and I think it will with the new EU law, so fingercrossed?

In Conclusion

I really love Signal so far, and I think it is my favorite messaging app to date. I very much recommend Signal to everyone…. if you’re comfortable revealing your phone number (for now), but it should not be a problem for IRL stuff, so anyway: Use Signal and stay encrypted! Amy out!