
Desktop support comes to Signal for iPhone - sinak
https://signal.org/blog/signal-desktop-ios/
======
FiloSottile
As happy as I am that more people will use Signal thanks to the desktop
integration, I am pretty sure I won't use it myself.

I consider Signal the only "secure" public way to communicate with me, and
it's because it's restricted to a native app running on an unjailbroken
updated iOS device, which puts the cost of exploitation in the 1M$ band.

Pairing it with a laptop, in a browser context, kind of defeats that use case.
And WhatsApp is a valid alternative for convenience.

~~~
snthd
>it's restricted to a native app running on an unjailbroken updated iOS device

But it's been on android longer than it's been on iOS?

~~~
brbsix
He was discussing endpoint security so I believe he intended to say his own
personal use is restricted to an iOS device.

------
tshtf
mtgx mentioned this on the earlier thread, and I'm curious to know too
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12585597](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12585597)):

Have they said what are their long-term plans for the desktop app, now that
Google has started deprecating Chrome apps?

[https://blog.chromium.org/2016/08/from-chrome-apps-to-
web.ht...](https://blog.chromium.org/2016/08/from-chrome-apps-to-web.html)

~~~
mi100hael
Fingers crossed they go with a saner native option like QT rather than a slow,
crappy, wrapped web app.

~~~
fredsir
Or platform specific versions using native tooling, sharing only what can be
shared under the hood, and ending up with great apps?

Yeah, what am I thinking? I know that will probably will never happen, but it
would be awesome if it did...

------
bpchaps
Crypto community question - why is everybody so adamant about using Signal?
Outside of work, I don't own a smart phone and refuse to, so signal is not an
option. It's to the point where it's actually gotten in the way with getting
in contact with at least three people I know.

~~~
crooked-v
> why is everybody so adamant about using Signal?

Because it's convenient, secure, open-source, and well-designed.

> Outside of work, I don't own a smart phone and refuse to

That makes you, in the eyes of most people, a weird outlier.

~~~
bpchaps
I dunno, it just feels that the crypto community is shooting itself in the
foot by largely catering to those with smart phones. A huge chunk of
population, (poor, elderly, etc) are in a similar boat as I am and it doesn't
make much sense. Many of the civics/activist/crypto folk seem to only want to
make flashy toys to prove their worth rather than tackling problems in solid
ways :\\.

~~~
mi100hael
I'm not aware of any "solid way" of reliably transmitting encrypted messages
of any useful length within the 160 characters allowed in a single SMS
message, let alone installing a usable method of encrypting the messages.

~~~
bpchaps
That's not really what I'm asking about, though. It just feels like those who
truly need to use something like Signal are shooting themselves in the foot by
requiring others to have a smart phone. This has affected my ability to
communicate with two separate journalists, so I'm not just spouting just to
spout..

~~~
cyphar
You can use Signal on android.

------
tdkl
>Desktop support

Chrome Web Browser support.

------
mei0Iesh
That doesn't seem as good as Wire. Why should I bother with Signal?

[https://wire.com/](https://wire.com/)

~~~
mi100hael
I think the better question is why should I bother with Wire? It's all of 3
months old, (and iOS is already on 2.0? Really?) Signal has been around for a
few years now and uses a well-respected ratcheting encryption library similar
to OTR. It's been well-audited and widely-adopted. It's already the de facto
standard for FOSS E2E mobile messaging.

~~~
tdkl
Wire has launched in 2014 with emphasis on encrypted calls, it was only
recently open sourced.

It also ticks many boxes, only it's not decentralised and the server ain't
open source (yet).

~~~
tagrun
Signal/TextSecure was released in 2014.

Can you be specific about the "many boxes" you're referring to? The most
relevant to the grandparent being: has it ever been audited?

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natdempk
Seems like its failing to import contacts and groups from my phone? Anyone
else having this problem? I can provide debug logs if that would be helpful.

~~~
zmanian
I know a number of people how have had success with syncing but you may want
to post your logs in Github or thumbs up if you are dup of
[https://github.com/WhisperSystems/Signal-
Desktop/issues/909](https://github.com/WhisperSystems/Signal-
Desktop/issues/909)

~~~
natdempk
I've updated that issue with my debug logs, thanks!

------
pxeboot
What is the endgame for Signal? Now that its protocol has been implemented by
several popular apps, will Signal continue to be developed?

------
zmanian
"Use Signal. Use Tor."

~~~
subliminalpanda
Makes me wonder why they don't embed Tor into signal as an alternative (or
fallback) way of connecting to the network.

It could be very useful in countries that routinely censor the web (including
apps like signal).

~~~
zmanian
I can't think of anywhere that blocks Signal but doesn't block Tor.

I think the OWS developers would probably be more interested in a system that
can conceal metadata from the Signal server rather than pure network
surveillance.

