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sudeepj

The comparison will be outdated soon. With recent surge of Signal, expect some features which are most commonly asked.

Signal team did an AMA in last few days [1]

[Few of the Q/A]

Q: Is there any plans to make user ID system, so that we can add friends without knowing the phone numbers?

Ans: Yeah, we're working on it!

Q: Hi, is it possible to backup chat history?

Ans: Thanks, we know this is a big deal and think about it a lot. We're working on ways to do it that would be privacy preserving...

Q: These things would really make the experience for my family and I complete

Support for backups and transfer on Android. Not manual, but automatic like iOS

Support for ChromeOS via Android Tablet support

Support for simple markdown like bold, strike through etc.

Ans: Great list, we're working on all of these!

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/kt91qk/signal_p...

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I don't think the sudden increase in users will accelerate the implementation of new features. These things must be planned and coded.

They did right in stating so soon in the exodus that expected features are planned and coming.

The sudden uptick should create some sense of urgency, else they will loose out to other apps. I can imagine how pumped-up the folks at signal will be (atleast I hope so)

There are lot of low-hanging fruits which are quality of life improvement e.g #1 ask from my non-technical family members: Background wallpaper :)

Another feature: WhatsApp migration

+ Its open source, if they are willing to accept PRs things could accelerate

> The sudden uptick should create some sense of urgency, else they will loose out to other apps.

It seems like you’ve never followed Signal closely (or what happens with feedback and requests). Signal is not one to worry about losing out to other apps. If that had been the case, it would be a lot more feature rich by now than what it is. Signal moves at a glacial pace compared to its competitors.

Good news! https://twitter.com/signalapp/status/1348785240819466242?s=1...

> Here's a sneak peek at some new Signal features that will start rolling out in a few days: > > • Chat wallpapers! >• About field for your Signal profile > • Animated stickers >• For iOS: Media auto-download settings and full-screen profile photos (to match Android) > > Good morning 🇮🇳! https://t.co/KEAbhMswRI

I really don't think Signal is going to dramatically improve on their feature set any time "soon". The gap between any feature Signal copied from Telegram is 2-3 years, they haven't exactly been known to be quick to respond to UI fixes and feature requests.

You mean features like encryption?

No, features like a good desktop client.

Good desktop client might not be absolutely necessary IMHO. WhatsApp does not have one right?

It has a web client. And yes, that's a massive disadvantage for me. I don't want to chat, share files, and make (video) calls exclusively via my phone.

I chat, share files and make calls with Signal's desktop client. What am I missing?

Message delivery is quite unreliable sometimes, it's a bloated electron app, search doesn't really work for me, it has no message forwarding, etc. Video calls don't work at all, I just tried it a couple of minutes ago. It's just not nearly as good as it could be or as alternatives such as matrix are.

Edit: In fact, I just had to kill the desktop client because it stopped working and the UI froze while attempting to start a video call.

Features that the masses actually care about, features like stickers, voice and videos messages and calls, disappearing messages, groups that you can manage membership and channels... wait forget about that last one.

List of features landing in few days:

https://twitter.com/signalapp/status/1348785240819466242?s=1...

Great. Now they are not catching up with Telegram, they are catching up with WhatsApp.

There’s no way Signal is bringing these features, which have been requested for years and resisted a lot (by Signal), anytime soon. If someone’s waiting for these, it’s going to be a long wait, especially if they want to jump ship from WhatsApp this year.

Yep, it's not like Signal is eager to include features. They have shown that again and again.

What us the business model behind Signal? Just everything for free is seems to nice to be true.

What's the business model behind SSH?

Signal is supported by a non-profit foundation https://signalfoundation.org/

To add, it seems they had $50 million in funding in 2018 [1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_(software)

I had this exact discussion in another thread here on HN less than 24 hours ago. Being supported by a non-profit is great, but how is that non-profit funded? They still need to pay their bills. Wikimedia get around $120 million in donations each year, can Signal get close to that?

According to Telegram's Pavel Durov, "A project of our size needs at least a few hundred million dollars per year to keep going." [0]. Telegram has close to 500 million monthly users, how will Signal pay for their operations when they approach the same numbers, which I assume is the goal? A business model will be needed, Telegram only recently started talking about how to bring in money from other sources than the personal savings of the founder.

Edit: Is it really relevant to compare to SSH? Does SSH have user signups or servers that handle large amounts of real time communication? How many developers does SSH have employed?

[0] https://t.me/durov/142

Telegram stores everything. You can send GBs videos and it will be stored and downloadable on any device from anywhere. It's like on a Dropbox or Drive. This costs a lot of money.

On the other hand, I think Signal doesn't store anything once it has been delivered and any backup will have to be made on separate via some DropBox or Drive.

So the cost should be far far less than Telegram

Signal does store stuff if you have desktop clients logged in. It doesn't rely on the mobile client to forward it like Whatsapp Web. But it only stores it until they have all retrieved it, or they have timed out. I don't know how long Telegram keeps stuff.

Desktop client or phone client or tablet client, Signal will store the messages on its servers for several days or until they’re delivered, whichever is earlier.

So Telegram stores files at a cost of a few hundred million dollars each year? It sounds a bit unbelievable that a big majority of their operating cost is simply storage, but I really don't know. Anyway, sounds like a great feature that others should have as well.

SSH you run on your own server, not theirs..

surge LOL it's not even drop in number of whatsapp users

I used for years combo signal+whatsapp, main reason is much better photo quality on signal and I like simpler UI, but I moved my family including parents away from Signal after they started to nag everyone with creating PIN I don't want

and don't get me started un unreliable message delivery if you often switch between wifi and mobile network, whatsapp will deliver messages without any issues, it takes very long time for signal to switch to correct network

so I installed tyo my parents and wife Google messages as backup option with chat feature, but that's not option for me without GMS

looking forward to some IM app with SMS support to replace mine Pulse (which also got into hands of shady company, so it has now blacklisted updates)

also they are talking about those features for years and introducing nonsense instead bringing basics, heck it took them years to be able to send multiple photos at same time, you had to send it one by one until like 2018, I think that speaks volumes about priorities/skills of Signal devs

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