Because Signal 1) doesn’t ship as default, and 2) requires a login process.
You’ve already lost the majority of the general public with #1. The Venn diagram of people who go through with #2 and the people who already know about Signal is nearly a complete circle.
You see, the problem is that whatsapp came very early, when it released it wasn’t shit and it provided free messages which in many european countries wasn’t a thing yet, everyone hopped on it and used it as main communication platform, this created a big ass network effect that is nearly unescapeable, even today i can’t escape from it because i am the only idiot who uses Signal and Matrix and no one wants to leave whatsapp because they already have an account and all their contacts
I use Signal via Molly and as @[email protected] points out, there’s friction in getting users to on to it. But also the UX isn’t even as good as WhatsApp let alone Telegram.
Telegram’s UI fucking blows. I use Telegram on occasion, but only to follow a handful of software projects that inexplicably only distribute release notes via Telegram 🫥
Signal’s UI is exactly as one would expect. Open it and you have a list of chats. Tap a chat and it opens. Done.
Telegram has been winning awards for their UI since inception. WhatsApp has basically mimicked it. Signal has gone in its own direction which suits 40 year old geeks who use Lemmy, but the actual masses…
Come on, can we at least pretend to have the self-awareness to know what we like isn’t conducive to how the masses use these apps.
It’s like how people on Reddit use to try and say that front facing cameras were useless and so they want small phones without them. 😮💨
Because people stick with the default. There was a time people I know would try different messaging apps but after hangouts got canceled nobody wants to bother.
I don’t even understand how dropping sms support improved security, was it the code required for making it work (I know sms is fairly little on android and remember mms is a pain in the ass) or just because “confusion” about having insecure and secure communications right next to each other?
Signal is pretty great and I use it at least a little myself, but it’s not necessarily perfect. The big elephant that’s always been in the room is its dependence on one backend and the fact they’re based in the US.
Different threat models call for different approaches, and every option has tradeoffs.
Literally everyone should just use Signal. I really don’t understand why we all don’t.
Because Signal 1) doesn’t ship as default, and 2) requires a login process.
You’ve already lost the majority of the general public with #1. The Venn diagram of people who go through with #2 and the people who already know about Signal is nearly a complete circle.
But the same is true for WhatsApp…
You see, the problem is that whatsapp came very early, when it released it wasn’t shit and it provided free messages which in many european countries wasn’t a thing yet, everyone hopped on it and used it as main communication platform, this created a big ass network effect that is nearly unescapeable, even today i can’t escape from it because i am the only idiot who uses Signal and Matrix and no one wants to leave whatsapp because they already have an account and all their contacts
Used to shill XMPP but everyone should use Tox at this point ngl.
downside: Sharing IDs is annoying (QR code if you are on mobile? idk haven’t tried)
updownsides:
I use Signal via Molly and as @[email protected] points out, there’s friction in getting users to on to it. But also the UX isn’t even as good as WhatsApp let alone Telegram.
what ui? there is a namelist, a call icon, a message icon. what in the hell do you need?
one thing missing is support for Android Tablets, its pissing my GF off on her Samsung Tablet and yet it works for my mother on her ipad ffs
Telegram’s UI fucking blows. I use Telegram on occasion, but only to follow a handful of software projects that inexplicably only distribute release notes via Telegram 🫥
Signal’s UI is exactly as one would expect. Open it and you have a list of chats. Tap a chat and it opens. Done.
Telegram has been winning awards for their UI since inception. WhatsApp has basically mimicked it. Signal has gone in its own direction which suits 40 year old geeks who use Lemmy, but the actual masses…
Come on, can we at least pretend to have the self-awareness to know what we like isn’t conducive to how the masses use these apps.
It’s like how people on Reddit use to try and say that front facing cameras were useless and so they want small phones without them. 😮💨
I used signal offical app and honestly it has a good UI and UX, what does it lack? What seems bad? I don’t understand
Because people stick with the default. There was a time people I know would try different messaging apps but after hangouts got canceled nobody wants to bother.
Because signal dropped SMS support.
Because Signal requires a phone number.
But so does SMS, so signal is just a straight upgrade as an alternative.
I don’t even understand how dropping sms support improved security, was it the code required for making it work (I know sms is fairly little on android and remember mms is a pain in the ass) or just because “confusion” about having insecure and secure communications right next to each other?
The latter. I think it was a huge mistake. Now the phone numbers just worsen privacy.
Signal is pretty great and I use it at least a little myself, but it’s not necessarily perfect. The big elephant that’s always been in the room is its dependence on one backend and the fact they’re based in the US.
Different threat models call for different approaches, and every option has tradeoffs.