Is it still viable to use Signal for privacy in 2026? It’s centralized, and has had many suspicious occurrences in the past.(Unopen source server code, careless whisper exploit which is still active as far as I know, and the whole mobile coin situation.)

Thoughts?

  • @nutbutter@discuss.tchncs.de
    33•13 hours ago

    A lot of people use Signal. It may not be the best solution out there, but it is so, so, so much better than the proprietary alternates.

    One good thing is that a normie can easily use it as an alternative to WhatsApp, since the app design is so similar. I mean, it is easy for family and friends to understand and start using Signal, compared to something like Matrix or XMPP.

    And if someone needs a little more hardening, they could use the fork called Molly, which has a few more security benefits over the stock app.

    • @moonshadow@slrpnk.net
      2•3 hours ago

      Sure I could just look this up, but: know if molly can restore from regular signal backups off the top of your head?

    • semEnglish
      6•6 hours ago

      Shit these are great features. I had never heard of it before.

      Molly is an independent Signal fork for Android with improved features:

      Fully FOSS Contains no proprietary blobs, unlike Signal

      Encrypted Protects database with Passphrase Encryption

      Multi-Device Pair multiple devices to a single account

      Material You Extra theme that follows your device palette

      UnifiedPush Ungoogled notification system

      Automatic Locking When you are gone for a set period of time

      RAM Shredding Securely shreds sensitive data

      Tor Support Supports SOCKS proxy and Tor via Orbot