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Comment by bhtru | Hacker News Reader

Care to elaborate why you believe Signal is garbage? Is it for technical reasons?

1) Platform sync is bad. 2) Backups drain my battery. 3) Notifications across platform are weird. 4) Video calling quality is now an issue. Previously it wasn't. 5) No usernames and no ingrained privacy controls to prevent users from calling me.

1. Having to share the phone number is the biggest issue for me. This shouldn't be the case in 2021. I can only use Signal with my close friends. OTOH, I can confidently share my Telegram handle with anyone I have known for a some months, even online (not in anonymus forums, of course).

2. Notifications in one platform is weird for me.

3. Video quality is extremely bad to the extent of unusable.

4. Completely agree with the lack of settings whether other users with my number can text/call me on Signal.

The whole point of signal is privacy, so the fact that it's tied to a number is insane to me. I have friends in china that can't use it because china blocks the verification SMS. It's otherwise great app IMO but this is nearly a fatal flaw.

Americans used to use unencrypted telephony every day because they expected the government to uphold constitutional guarantees. That day ended shortly after 9/11 and the passage of the Patriot Act, which I believe today is used against Patriots more than it is used on their behalf.

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