Signal issue: “Request for contacts uses creepy wording” | Hacker News Reader

Signal issue: “Request for contacts uses creepy wording”

github.com

38 pointsfulldecent10 comments

I installed it, and without consenting to sending any notifications or whatever, I started getting Signal messages from long-forgotten people who apparently had ME in THEIR contacts. It apparently notified THEM that I had installed Signal, which I absolutely did not want.

This included a few folks who I wish to distance myself from in every way possible, and have deleted from my contacts. Apparently they still had me in theirs. This also included a few folks who I keep in my contacts only so I'll recognize the number if it rings and know not to answer. Obviously the last thing I want is to remind these people that this I still exist and this is my current number.

The worst part was, for the ones who weren't in my contacts, I had to ask the stranger "Umm, forgive me for asking, but who is this?" in order to ascertain that, nope, I really didn't want to interact with them.

Shit shit shit shit.

Uninstalled it very quickly.

Wow, you'd think something like that would be opt-in, especially since Signal's entire selling point is privacy and security. :/

That's a critical failure in my book.

Isn't this wording just a misunderstanding on the users' behalf? You download a messaging app, you want to message your friends, and it needs access to your contacts. I don't see this as being suspicious. In other apps such as a music player or photo viewer it may be suspicious, but a messaging app has a clear need to know who you can connect with, and I think Whisper Systems saying "We do not store your contacts..." should at least give them the benefit of the doubt (if that's not enough, you can always read the source or speak to Moxie yourself).

Seems like much ado about nothing.

Why does it need access to contacts? You say that like its fait accompli, like its literally impossible to have a messaging app that doesn't access your contacts.

Moxie has written "people [...] expect contact discovery to be automatic in their social apps." The only way for it to be automatic is to access your contacts.

This app is designed for those people, not "cryptonerds" (his word), and this is one of the concessions made to provide that ease of use.

Ah, because they want more customers. Got it.

I'm all for privacy and security, and I find our current situation a nightmare, but I uninstalled Signal just a few minutes after installing it for the first time. I just knew it's not going to be popular (I'm talking messaging app scale). If I know that my family, co-workers and friends would never use it then it's already dead to me.

Two reasons that killed it for me (Android):

- It required so many permissions that I had to scroll down (old permissions api?)

- First app interaction was a blank screen and no straightforward way to find my contact list or quickly send messages. Like 90% of the people I know would uninstall it on the spot after that blank screen. They don't want to feel dumb and they are "too busy to read a tutorial". I also couldn't find a single soul using it.

I don't use signal because there's no real benefit if others don't use it... No one I know cares and I don't particularly care... Not like I text anything important.

Has anyone here installed Signal and NOT seen that popup?

Absolutely.

I'm on Android.

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