Being able to interact with my remaining non-signal contacts was huge. Really going to miss it. In contrast they are now adding a feature I do not care about at all.
It doesn't look like it has anything to do with Signal's direction in particular, but rather the changing environment they're in. (Specifically Android/Google making things harder.)
Having SMS support as a workaround was huge for signal usability for me. Taking it away burns so much good will.
It seems to me like this improves OPSEC for very privacy focused Signal users, but increases the barrier to entry for "casual" users who may not care enough to use a separate app for certain people, but may be convinced to use Signal for SMS.
All that said, I'm not sure how any of that actually plays out in the real world, or if there were that many actual users doing just that.
I'm glad that dropping SMS means nothing to you. But "i don't see how you can known signal in anyway" for dropping a feature sounds disingenuous.
> RCS is coming, and it doesn’t play well with Signal.... and Signal can’t add RCS support because there’s no RCS API on Android. Honestly, the days of any third-party SMS app are numbered.
https://community.signalusers.org/t/signal-blog-removing-sms...
>There are three big reasons why we’re removing SMS support for the Android app now: prioritizing security and privacy, ensuring people aren’t hit with unexpected messaging bills, and creating a clear and intelligible user experience for anyone sending messages on Signal.
https://signal.org/blog/sms-removal-android/
So I think this "myth" will probably persist for a while.
Even if Android saw 100% adoption for RCS I'd still want to message my apple people via sms.
Lots of reasons recently to develop deep distrust for Signal leadership, and start calling into question whether the app is still legitimately private.
How about when Signal started storing people's contacts, their name, their photo, and their phone number in the cloud ignoring cries from their users that Signal should provide a way to opt out and bringing up security concerns, then refusing to update their privacy policy to reflect the new data collection meaning that for years now they've been outright lying to people about what data is being collected and how it's used. That was when I moved off the platform.
If you want private/secure consider looking elsewhere.
Already on it.
Just such a shame that after years of trying to convince friends and family to use signal, I now have to convince them to use something else.
Oh well, that might just be the natural circle of life.
This is the beauty of Matrix - you can change your client, or even your server and keep all your contacts!
They started storing user data in the cloud and never updated their privacy policy even though it's been brought to their attention. (https://community.signalusers.org/t/can-signal-please-update...)
The very first line of their privacy policy reads: "Signal is designed to never collect or store any sensitive information" which is a total lie. For someone like a human rights activist or a whistleblower a list of all their Signal contacts is absolutely "sensitive information". It really used to be true that they didn't collect and store anything, but it hasn't been the case now for years!
If this is the first time you're hearing about the data Signal is collecting and storing in the cloud that should tell you all you need to know about how much they can be trusted.