I'd also like to mention that you can't use the desktop client standalone and Signal requires a phone number to sign up. It would be nice if they got rid of these requirements.

I use Signal and Telegram both - it's clear to me that Telegram provides the better user experience. I like Signal from the privacy standpoint though.

If you're using Android then I think that Signal is kind of a no-brainer to use because it doubles as your SMS client, so if a contact is a Signal user you get the privacy you want, but if they aren't at least you can still text them.

Only problem: if a user (A) signs up for signal and then uninstalls, the phone number is still tied to the signal app. This means that a signal user (B) now can't get messages to user A. The messages gets delivered to a dead signal account. User A must manually deactivate her account, which she is not even informed about when deleting. Also: if user A has her number trabsferred too somebody else (which is often the case with e g work phones) her account is now owned by a random person.

Whatsapp doesn't operate as a standalone client either.

The parent talked about signing up for Signal requiring a phone number. The following point is tangential from that after the signup is completed using a phone number. Signal Desktop is a standalone client that can be launched and used without having one's phone nearby or available or connected to the net. WhatsApp, however, requires the phone to be around and connected for the desktop app to send the chats through. From that perspective, WhatsApp actually offers a worse user experience than Signal.

I never said it did, but I don't use Facebook properties to begin with.

> - Doesn't go in to system tray (unless you fiddle with command line arguments).

This was really jarring for me the first time I used Signal Desktop on Windows. I clicked on the close button and then realized that the app had terminated instead of minimizing to the tray (as such apps would be expected by many users to behave).

Thanks, I didn't know about command line arguments for that. I'll check it out.

Put a link to the exe somewhere (e.g. the start-up folder in the start menu).

Than edit the target to add the argument:

C:\Users\[your_username]\AppData\Local\Programs\signal-desktop\Signal.exe --start-in-tray