Meh too bad Signal shot itself in the foot by removing SMS support.
I still think it was a very bad decision that will lead to the use of the app to decrease over time.
At least it definitely decreased my use of it.
I understand it’s a hassle to maintain this feature but still was probably worth it for user acceptance and spread to less technical users.
It’s not about being a hassle to maintain, it’s about users thinking they were sending secure messages when they weren’t. The simplest explanation is that Signal is a secure messenger, so the app shouldn’t let you send insecure messages. I’m sure it lost them a few users but they’re not trying to gain maximum market share like for-profit orgs try to.
Also, in Google’s attempt to push RCS, they’re narrowing what application are allowed to use the SMS lib. They already partnered with Samsung so Samsung would removed RCS support and ostensibly deprecated their own Messages app for Google’s.
Google’s long-game is to only have one SMS app on Android, their own, much like the way they’re closing off the rest of the Android ecosystem slowly from every other vector.
Trying to support SMS on Signal long-term would just be an exercise in futility.
It wouldn’t have been complicated to add a warning for SMS messages.
The simplest explanation is that Signal is a secure messenger, so the app shouldn’t let you send insecure messages.
Well that’s the reason I think it will become an app dedicated to a few elitist users. If an app lets me do unsecure things after numerous warnings and popups it should be fine.
That’s how you make thing secure. You convince people afraid of security/complexity to use Signal and hope one day there is more than 1% of their contacts that could handle secure messaging.
a few users but they’re not trying to gain maximum market share
Are you saying they don’t want their messaging app to be popular?
If your purpose is to secure as many people communication then this will never work by targeting only the most technical users…
