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Dylan16807

Making people juggle a different app for SMS is the opposite of being mainstream friendly.

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They didn't have much choice, unfortunately: https://community.signalusers.org/t/signal-blog-removing-sms...

How can there be no RCS API? Eww.

>How can there be no RCS API? Eww.

Actually, there is an RCS API.

However, Google restricts its use to themselves and specific OEMS only. IIUC, that's currently only Samsung[0].

[0] https://www.xda-developers.com/google-messages-rcs-api-third...

Could LineageOS flip a switchand turn it into a free for all? That would be fun and interesting. Not that RCS is a remotely good messaging protocol.

>Could LineageOS flip a switchand turn it into a free for all? That would be fun and interesting. Not that RCS is a remotely good messaging protocol.

IIUC, the RCS API is not part of AOSP[0], and as such, not part of LineageOS. As such, I believe the answer is "no."

[0] https://source.android.com/

They could have supported it until SMS was dead and buried. Also, RCS looks to have an upcoming third-party API, so it was absolutely a choice.

RCS has been around since 2013 and the only alternative client to Google Messages was your device maker's app that was allowed to tie into Google Messages via a device vendor only API (but essentially these were just a skin for Google Messages).

Google has not provided any public API for RCS, and they control the ecosystem fully. If Google wanted other clients to use RCS as a platform, there would be public APIs that Signal, iMessage, Textra, Facebook Messenger and other SMS clients could integrate with.

Alright, thanks for the clarification. It looks like they opened it up for particular apps in the last few years but haven't yet gone beyond that.

On this new Google Pixel 7, the app launcher thing is limited to just 4 apps. Now that I can't use Signal for SMS, it has lost it's convenient spot on my home screen. I find myself using it less, so like you, I'm very displeased about their dropping SMS. The forum thread on Signal's Discourse about the change is full of snide remarks from their moderators, and it's extremely disappointing to see Signal community leaders disparaging their own long-time users over SMS. Turning back on the legacy of TextSecure in this way justifies framing this as a betrayal.

All that being said...

I still trust Signal's Stories implementation over any other. While I believe they could have competed with SMS-capable apps like iMessage, Google Messages, and Samsung Messages, if pivoting into WhatsApp/Instagram/Snapchat/TikTok territory is what they'd rather do, then I believe they can execute it well.

Conversely, when Signal drops support for SMS, I expect to stop messaging anyone still on SMS. So far it's been fairly painless getting the people I actually care about to switch, but YMMV. My mom doesn't care if she has to use a separate app to message me.

Tangential, but you can change the grid size to 5x5 which lets you have 5 apps in that bar. Settings -> Wallpaper & style -> App grid

Great, this is just what I needed.

I use signal for SMS. Is this an iOS thing? If so presumably it's an Apple restriction?

edit: ah, they announced recently that they are removing SMS support in Android. The reasoning is solid IMO, I've accidentally sent insecure messages before.

Sounds like an Android thing: https://signal.org/blog/sms-removal-android/

They can remove the "accidentally" without removing the ability to access as many messages in one place as possible.

how do you use it for sms on ios? their website says they don't support it. https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007321171-Ca...

You can't. No alternate SMS apps on ios.

Do Telegram, Whatsapp, FB Messenger, etc support SMS?

No, because SMS is obsolete and nobody outside of the US(why?!??!) still uses it for anything else other than the occasional confirmation/MFA code.

To give a counter example, here in Sweden, SMS&MMS are used quite a lot. Including bidding for housing. And it's not due to a lack of alternatives.

Okay, but then Sweden is another exception to the norm, not the other way around.

Indeed I forgot the "I've never met you but need we need to make a transaction for some reason (buying a house or a TV second hand), so let's start with SMS which will work for sure".

For anything else, using SMS is like using Notepad to write books. Many better alternatives have come through in the decades since that tech was new.

But the same question applies: why?

It feels very weird to have both a very good end-to-end encryption (the Signal encrypted messages) and a very bad system (SMS) together in the same app. People should just move away from SMS, it's not like it's hard.

I have no idea (and not living here long enough). But if I had to guess, it could be that cheap/free SMS texting came before cheap/free mobile internet and thus it was already established.

Fb Messenger does

Maybe I'm the odd one but I haven't received an SMS in a decade. It's all iMessage, WhatsApp, Telegram and the only SMS are transactional that I receive but never send.

I was only able to convince family to use Signal because they didn't need two apps for messaging. It's pretty much a dead app for me now and the decision makes my conversations profoundly less private and safe.

Did all of your family members only message you and not each other? I don't understand why they would move away from signal when they were messaging each other using signal. Each one would have several signal contacts.

Did they not see any value in signal over SMS? Didn't you have any group chats?

I know that Signal announced plans to have accounts based on usernames rather than phone numbers in the past. I wonder if the removal of SMS has something to do with usernames.

SMS is very rarely used anymore outside of the US and a few select other countries, and for most people Signal and similar messengers serve as a replacement for text messages, not a supplement. It's probably just not a worthwhile market/feature to keep anymore.

Come to think of it, I'm having a very hard time coming up with any sensible use case for using Signal over text message. Presumably both sides still need Signal for the encryption to work, so what's the point? Might as well use the internet to send the message. The only scenario I can see it being useful is when you have GSM, but no internet connectivity, and that's rare these days.

Signal hasn't supported using SMS as a transport for encrypted messages for years now. The impending change that people are discussing is dropping support for sending and receiving ordinary SMS from non-Signal-using parties.

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