• LinkOpensChest.wav@lemmy.one
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    16
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    Signal kinda put themselves out of the messaging app battle when they dropped SMS support

    I totally get why they did it, but I think a lot of people stopped using it for this reason, unfortunately

    • Tetsuo@jlai.lu
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      1 year ago

      I don’t really want to start a debate on the Signal SMS dropout but …

      They could have put a big red warning and a disclaimer you have to read once for the unsecured SMS. It would have been fine.

      Yes, you would have to maintain that but I think it would definitely have been worth it considering how much reach they lost dropping this feature.

      I stopped using Signal when they did, and that’s one less tech user advertising their secure app.

      It’s a shame because I think this will slowly kill the project.

          • LinkOpensChest.wav@lemmy.one
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            I don’t mind it so much. At least it’s not Facebook Messenger or Whatsapp. I’d rather die than put those on my phone.

            • RaivoKulli@sopuli.xyz
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              Facebook Messenger is dogshit but WhatsApp works well imo. More features than sms or even rcs. Dogshit privacy though, even if security might be good.

              • LinkOpensChest.wav@lemmy.one
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                1 year ago

                I’ve never used it, and I never intend to. I know SMS isn’t ideal for privacy, but at least I can use FOSS apps to interact with it, and it doesn’t mandate intrusive features like “reactions” or read receipts

                • RaivoKulli@sopuli.xyz
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  I’m not sure what’s intrusive about reactions but you can turn off read receipts. Yeah it isn’t ideal either but video calls, sending media/files, group chats (do NOT suggest MMS. Never MMS.) and so on. Lots of features, secure, but yeah privacy is dogshit. Signal is great but I’ve only managed to convert a few people to it.

                  • LinkOpensChest.wav@lemmy.one
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    1
                    arrow-down
                    1
                    ·
                    1 year ago

                    I’d welcome the chance to use something more privacy based than Signal

                    I just never like reactions in an app used for general messaging. They make sense on a more memey plaything like Discord, but not in a messaging app that I’m supposed to take seriously as my primary way to communicate. In fact, simple text only without any other formatting would be ideal. That’s kinda what I like about this place, with the exception of upvotes/downvotes, which could be removed for all I care.

    • SineNomineAnonymous@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Realistically, out of the very few people (in relative terms, of course) that use signaly, I highly doubt there was a huge number that relied on it for SMS. Or even knew about SMS. First, you have to rule out anyone who was using it on iOS (by this point, you probably have thousands of people left out of the entire pool - yes I’m kinda pullin that out of my ass but you get my point - which is nothing).

      So killing SMS definitely wasn’t the make or break for Signal. Not even close to being likely.

      • LinkOpensChest.wav@lemmy.one
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Yeah, I guess I’m not sure about the actual statistics. I do know it was the point when I realized I wouldn’t personally use Signal because everyone I know uses SMS, SMS federates with email, and if I tried switching to a non-SMS app, I’d be screaming into a void.

        The only other message apps people around here use are Snapchat, FB Messenger, and WhatsApp, and I’d rather cut people off than use any of those.