Finally, we can have usernames in Signal instead of giving our phone number to everybody.
Too little too late, I’m afraid.
I would love to use Signal more, but I have it for only 1 friend. No one else I know uses it. And the fact that they don’t support SMS is I imagine a large contributing factor.
(Yes, I know SMS is inherently insecure & unprivate, but having that support is a good way to get users’ foots in the door, and also what good is a totally secure platform if no one uses it?)
It’s never too late. “Back then”, when I started using Signal (called TextSecure), only one other single friend used it. Nowadays, almost all my personal contacts use it. Every additional Signal user adds a contact in someone other’s address book as a potential Signal contact. It just takes time. Good luck!
Sign-up still requires a phone number… -.-"
Checkout Matrix/Element
or Session,
there you can actually enjoy privacy by signing-up without a phone number/email:Edit: Due to Session’s company residing in Australia,
which appareantly has bad privacy laws,
i don’t feel comfortable with recommending it anymoreAh yes, Signal, known anti-privacy company
You’re referring to anonymity, not privacy.
Matrix/Element is slower than shit. I don’t understand why anyone recommends this.
Session is also slow but that’s not even a problem because I don’t know anyone who’s even heard of it, much less used it, and that’s mostly because it doesn’t have phone numbers.
At least some people I know are on Signal and I can easily discover them by phone #. Or at least I used to.
Been using matrix as my primary communication method (including bridges to other networks for things like Slack and WhatsApp) for over 3 years now, doesn’t feel slow?
I can only tell you my experience using several different softwares across several different hardwares across several different servers on several different networks.
At some point I got fed up with waiting 10-20 seconds for new messages to load every time I opened the apps.
And I’m not the only one.
Might need to check your setup. But, I will concede that after 2 years in - a point at which the DB grew into something massive, what with the massive Matrix rooms I was idling in - I started to notice slowdowns. The whole sliding sync proxy thing (with the new generation Element X clients) fixed everything.
You shouldn’t be having 10-20 second syncs with a new deploy (and limiting the amount of massive rooms your users can join, depending on your hardware), might be something awry relating to your config. If you’re absolutely certain it’s not that, check out the sliding sync proxy until it gets merged into the main spec - it’s great.
I’ve just told you I’ve “checked my setup” a thousand times. I’ve also stated dozens of people also agree with me. So either you put some fancy wizardry into your system or you’re just in denial.
Either way, I’m done being gaslighted and trying to fix a “setup” that don’t exist.
Sorry man, I don’t know what to tell you. I’ve got a pretty medium end VPS on which I host my Matrix instance - only had to add an extension for storage after the first few years when the DB got too big. Things were never as bad as you said early on, and as time passed I absolutely got to the point where it would take 10-20 seconds to sync - but this was after 2 years or so of constant use.
The reason why it takes long is because of the size of the sync payload - logically, for a new server/user, this really shouldn’t be that big (unless you’re in rooms like Matrix HQ). So, genuinely, look into optimization: postgres, your web server (nginx, apache, caddy), and limiting your users from accessing “problematic” rooms.
Barring that just deploy the sliding sync proxy and be done with it. It’s not really a problem that requires you to attempt it a thousand times.
So either you put some fancy wizardry into your system or you’re just in denial.
It’s called pure Debian, baby. Also, you’ll need a decent chunk of RAM if you don’t have that yet. Avoid a pagefile if you can.
So, genuinely, look into optimization: postgres, your web server (nginx, apache, caddy), and limiting your users from accessing “problematic” rooms.
Genuinely: no. I’m done.
Apparently still requires giving Signal your phone number, so not exactly keeping it private.
There’s anonymity and privacy. This keeps you private from other users, and they already keep you private from themselves other than the initial sign up. What this service isn’t, and never has been, is anonymous. They don’t want that and there are big usability issues with an extended anonymous user base. Decide for yourself what you need
You’re thinking of anonymous, not private. Signal is as private as it gets.
Many years late, and still requires having your number. Good first step though, we’ll see once a phone number is not required.
As usual, people are never satisfied. Never stop complaining.