- Real multi device support. I want my messages on all my devices, without having to have my phone on.
- An iPad app.
- A desktop app. I'd pay for a native one, without Electron.
These things are basically table stakes for competing with Facebook Messenger, Telegram, and iMessage. If Signal's goal is to bring encryption to the masses they have to solve things like this, since regular people care less about security and more about convenience.
I'm working on a native app that supports Signal, Slack, Twitter etc. It's only 90 KB (!).
*edit Signal support is coming in early March.
Like I explained in the FAQ, the plans and the potential are huge, and it would be really silly to risk it all just to become another data miner. Even if it's very sophisticated, and there's a 0.01% change it's found out, why risk everything? Besides, it's simply illegal. All the information about me and the company is public.
I wonder if you have the same concerns about other closed source software like Sublime Text.
This was an unnecessary personal jab, but I'll respond. Sublime? I don't use it. Software that deals with my credentials just like you do? Yeah, I definitely do. That's why I don't trust closed source password managers either. Text editors? Mine are open source so the thought has never crossed my mind. Other random software like my OS or Visual Studio? Depends; e.g. Microsoft is a huge corporation that has nothing to gain and a lot to lose from keylogging my passwords, but e.g. I wouldn't trust Facebook not to record my audio or fish out my contacts behind my back. Smaller utilities? Yeah, but again, they don't have my credentials at their fingertips, or need Internet access at all for that matter (I turn off auto updates so I can just block internet access for them entirely).
All of which is to say, yeah, I'm not picking on you specifically, but this isn't about me, or about you. I'm just a messenger. Verifiability is the requirement many people have for software that manages their credentials; pinkie promised aren't enough. For some of them, you can make up for some of it by having a big enough reputation to lose, and criminal history to jeopardize in their jurisdictions. For others, you can't. In your case, you don't seem to have that going for you either.
I was genuinely interested, and I expected this answer. This is a very valid point of view. I hope you'll use it once it's open-sourced.
I'm asking because high-dpi support on Linux/Wayland is constantly problematic for desktop applications that don't use GTK+ 3 or Qt.
I still hope they use some of this cash to make a real iPad and Desktop app, though. I'd really love to use the service but those are deal breakers for me.
After the initial linking process, Signal Desktop has always functioned independently of your phone being on.
Yes it has, at least on Android. Within a group, press the three-dots-menu on top and choose mute notifications. You can choose for how long they shall be muted, similarly to other apps.
Adding to your list:
- Working backups for text and media.
Yes pretty please! For Android, any kind of media (bulk) backup option would help, for example. (IIRC iOS doesn't even have plain text backup). This is affecting a lot of everyday common users who cannot move to a new phone (or uninstall and then later install again) without losing all the media in the conversations. Saving the media items one by one (and detached from conversation and context) is not the same and sometimes impossible due to the sheer quantities involved. And so on.
I know the resources have been really scarce but since this is hopefully changing now, this would be greatly appreciated. There's been some recent related work[1] required for encrypted backups to work, though. Also see ongoing discussion[2], GH issue thread[3] and possible implementation PR[4] etc., for anyone curious. Alpha testing[5] may help, too. (Me, I'm trying to find time and energy to help with this, but so far have only be able to grovel and complain). :)
[1]: https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/commit/f36b296e2... [2]: https://whispersystems.discoursehosting.net/t/encrypted-back... [3]: https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Desktop/issues/522 [4]: https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/pull/7380 [5]: https://whispersystems.discoursehosting.net/t/signal-android...
- Improved export functionality on all platforms :: I should be able to export my chats in some readable format from any client.
- More clients :: I should be able to read my Signal messages within emacs.
- Support for non-phone-number identifiers :: I shouldn't need to purchase a new phone number in order to get another Signal account. I completely get how valuable this is in limiting certain forms of abuse, but it also limits certain forms of legitimate use (e.g. Haven).
- Better privacy for contacts :: I shouldn't be sending my contacts to Signal's servers. I don't trust Intel's secure enclave technology any more than I trust Intel's ME. There are ways to discover mutual contacts privately.
Such as? I don't have the URL handy but the Signal team did investigate the literature and known techniques for this a few years ago and found them to be nonviable.
Private set intersection (in which two Signal users compare contact lists to see which contacts they have in common, then trade Signal information for them) would work just fine.
I think Group Video would be interesting but I personally don't do video on Signal, nor did I have a hint that it supported this? I thought it was just audio?
Even so it would equally be amazing if they could improve the usage of a Desktop client and / or maybe allow for Tablet support? I don't want to run my texts through Google Chrome, I rather run them through a more stripped down Chrome (Electron, but it shouldn't be too much different!) that wont be randomly phoning home to Google or require me to open up a browser I rarely use outside of work.
I really would love to see Signal work without phone numbers at some point (email as an alternative would open up Signal for Tablets - really wish Signal worked on Tablets) but I may not know enough about the existing structure to know how feasible this is or isn't.
I think you hit the nail on the head about email though. If the Signal Foundation is serious about making encryption accessible by all I think their next big focus should be:
* Making something that allows table usage of encrypted messaging (wondering if they signed something with Facebook and Co that disallows Signal to run elsewhere?) * Make email encryption painless and straight forward, whether they build their own mail client and plugins (please make this AND mandatory no exceptions) or they make plugins for all major mail clients, especially Thunderbird.
To go along with that-- Support for exporting group messages. I recently moved to a new phone. With the latest versions of signal on android, I had to export a plain text backup of my messages. The problem? All the group messages were removed from their groups and threaded into the individual conversations with the person who sent it. So not only did it ruin the group message, but it also ruined the individual conversations, too.
I ended up downgrading to an older version of signal, creating an android backup of the data and then copying that to my new phone.
- Stickers
I know many consider those to be annoying distractions, but in my experience stickers are the reason why many "normal" users prefer Telegram over WhatsApp.
As a heavy Signal user, from where I sit I personally see the following clear needs:
-Better group support. Right now, to do a group in Signal you have to name the group, which makes it kind of a pain to create ad hoc quick groups. I'm forever naming them "John Sue Bill" or "Jane Roger Amanda". iMessage, by contrast, just automatically makes a group without a name. You get a thread for that group, so you can follow the discussion clearly, and you can leave the group, but it hides the nuts and bolts of the fact that a group has been formed. Also, Signal has no per-group notification settings, so if you're in a "noisy" group your only option is to turn off notifications universally (including one-on-one messages and other groups) or live with it. Lastly, you cannot form a group from Signal Desktop.
-Better support for long messages (or a new product using the same network and security). Signal was clearly designed for short session lengths — brief messages that are composed quickly. But as it has become the catch-all app for encrypted comms — "just use Signal! PGP email sucks!" — many people, at least that I deal with, are trying to use it for email-type purposes. Long messages with arbitrary attachments. It would be nice if, like, putting a line break in a long message didn't mean hitting Control-Enter or Command-Enter. It might even be nice if you could have multiple threads with the same recipient. You know, like email. I am not holding my breath on this one. But if people could email as securely as they chat, using Signal protocol, it would be a huge leap forward in keeping the NSA out of our business. Not to mention Google/Gmail's ad clients etc.
-Ability to search. I can't full-text search my messages, even within Signal. As I use it more and more, this is a hindrance.
-Group video chat. This is very pie in the sky. But a lot of sensitive comms involve groups — think of people organizing a protest, or a corporate takeover, etc. And right now there are few private options.