I want to use Signal but can’t convince everyone to get on it
this post was submitted on 21 Apr 2025
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Matrix/element doesn't make you give out a phone #
That's not why most people aren't on Signal.
Neither do signal anymore i think
Them dropping sms took away a big carrot for adoption though.
Nope, they still require a number.
From their site:
Requiring phone numbers in Signal lets people see which of their friends they can easily talk to on Signal while limiting the potential for spam within the app.
There are options to spoof a number in the States, and probably some areas of th EU, but many other places are SOL.
They absolutely do, but you can hide that behind a username after you've registered now. But you still have to come up with a number to register a new account.
As predicted, here come all the purity tests.
I know there's no way to definitively prove it, but in my mind Apple is the safer alternative vs. anything Google. I know you can do custom roms and all that, but let's face it: It's a huge pain in the ass. I know, I know, "It's not really"... I beg to differ. I went through my purity phase with degoogled roms and all that. Due to driver inconsistencies, updates breaking things (even the phone part), and the inability to use a lot of "normal" apps, I gave up and went with an iPhone. Apple's business model is to sell you the thing at a higher price, thus reducing the incentive to sell your data or enshittify. Yes, that will degrade over time and I'll reach a threshold at which I'll reevaluate my options. Given the two major choices, I choose the less terrible ecosystem of the two.
I refuse to have any Google or Meta products on my iPhone. I know that makes me lame here, but we should also understand that any normie would never go to all the trouble of OS tinkering. The are a lot more people who want to degoogle vs. the people who understand how to do rom flashing. Criticizing a person's degoogle effort as "not good enough" does nothing but drive people directly into the arms of the very evil we wish to diminish. This is a community to banish Google, not everything backed by a for-profit corporation.
Apple is the safer alternative vs. anything Google
Not really. Research has demonstrated that iOS and Android send very similar types of data even when users explicitly request to opt out. Apple was even so arrogant as to not bother responding to the authors of this paper when they reached out for comment (unlike Google which did reply).
https://www.scss.tcd.ie/doug.leith/apple_google.pdf
iOS is also much more hostile towards 3rd party apps than Android, greatly limiting what they can do. This makes moving to FOSS options harder.
Due to driver inconsistencies, updates breaking things (even the phone part), and the inability to use a lot of "normal" apps
Sounds like you haven't tried modern GrapheneOS with sandboxed Google Play Services. Neither of these are issues for me and I've been using it for years after switching from iOS.
The are a lot more people who want to degoogle vs. the people who understand how to do rom flashing
Flashing GrapheneOS takes like 2 seconds and requires nothing but a desktop/laptop and a browser. If you can read, you can install GrapheneOS with minimal effort.
You know our lawmakers have failed when you have to be this concerned about privacy on your own behalf.
it's really shouldn't be this much effort in order to retain your data and I know the argument can be made that you just use services that respect it but without legislation it's incentivized to monetize data which makes it extremely hard to find alternatives that don't.
Agreed; unfortunately, this will always happen as long as money is allowed in politics.
My personal choices are slightly different than yours, but I appreciate your comment. You’re clearly an ally while not being a clone. I often tire of discussions about security and privacy—mainly because I am very pragmatic.
Unlike OP I don’t use Proton’s suite, but considered it. Most of what I want Apple provides (Advanced Data Protection, Private Relay, etc) in a form that meets my minimum requirements. Other things that I use (Signal especially) are well-supported on iPhone.
I’ll talk down Apple all day long in the correct context, but I still believe it is a good choice today. I may re-evaluate at some point in the future when the landscape or my needs change. For now I am very happy.
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Nice, now de-Apple it
And then de-Proton it.
an imperfect ally is not an enemy
This right bloody here, you have to make sacrifices for peace-of-mind otherwise you’ll live your life paranoid on the smallest of things.
One persons opinions don’t suddenly make a service unusable or unreliable.
This is my thing. I've ditched all of proton for the obvious reason, but aside from that, I no longer want everything under one umbrella. Convenience has shown it comes at too great of a cost
I was just about to pay for their service, started a new LLC so that was gonna be a good excuse to start supporting them and then his CEO shows his true colors.
I have been happily supporting Tuta instead. Is a bit slow but the aliases and emails work great.
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which of these are apple?
The iPhone
Don't put all your eggs in one basket (dont use proton for everything)
I usually tell people the same, this is a decision I will have to live with. I am happy with Proton and also happy to support their growth, hopefully it will go well for a long time.
From the other services I tried, Filen and Ente deserve an honorable mention. I was close to just go Mail Plus + Filen + Ente. But as soon as you do Proton Mail + VPN, you then go with Proton Unlimited and that is what makes the most sense financially.
I recommed Tuta for mails. May be not good as Proton but not American, not from Google and most important, private as Proton.
I love Tuta as well, they are great. But not being able to use Tuta with thunderbird was a deal breaker for me. Proton is Swiss btw.
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What's unwatched?
YouTube player app. Open source, no ads, no login, just import your subscriptions and playlists and you're ready to go.
YouTube -> FreeTube (Unwatched on iOS)
How you liking Voyager? I’m bouncing between Arctic and Thunder atm, one day I’ll find the perfect lemmy client.
Mlem is competent, but isn’t especially good at anything, and lacks some features the others offer
(Not OP)
At the moment I use both mlem and voyager. Personally I find that everyday browsing is a nicer experience using mlem, especially since their recent-ish 2.0 update. Though it's missing many of the fancier features that voyager has (eg drafting posts). The user tagging voyager has is super useful too.
After coming from Apollo and Reddit, at first I was just unhappy that the clients were not great. Once I moved past my grief state I realized Voyager was good enough. I’ve stopped re-evaluating (though I’m sure I will again at some point) and just appreciate what I have.
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Voyager is great but you should give Mlem a shot!
fuck yeah mate
Very good. Next step should be the iPhone
A linux phone is on my list, Jolla or similar. One battle at a time.
I recommed Pixel phones with GrapheneOS or any Lineage OS supporting device. Linux phones are good but I dont personally think they are reliable as smartphone.
Maybe not, but buying them will improve future Linux phones.
Buying a google phone just feels dirty, all this talk about privacy and foss but then still filling Google's pocket is something we need to move away from as privacy/foss enthusiasts.
Actually, you are right. But IMO, only donating is better for Linux phones. Sailfish OS from Jolla has some problems according to people bought the phone. And other companies are not enough now. Its better not to use smartphone nowadays.
I'd wish, but I my country u have official goverment ID apps that you need for taxes and stuff. Banking, work and school all often require phones. Not using a smartphone is just not feasible for many people, so might as well encourage alt phones like Linux
In Türkiye, we have same things too. My solution is to have a phone ONLY for that actions. No any other apps. Happy with it.
Yeh, I’ve got a second hand iPhone at the minute, but swapping shitty big tech for shitty big tech feels stupid.
Yeah, Linux phones might not be ready yet and it will mean compromises and workarounds. Will be following closely the development of not Google not Apple phones, before pulling the trigger.
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